30 March 2021
Our government is failing to properly protect people in its care. The pandemic has highlighted once again the precarious situation faced by people living in the Direct Provision system. There have been a number of outbreaks in centres and people are living in fear. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) received reports of people being locked in to one centre last summer.
ICCL has spoken to residents who say that they’re being punished for just asking for humane treatment. Today we launch a campaign asking for proper independent inspections to help make sure everyone in the care of the state can have a home where they feel safe.
ICCL’s Head of Legal and Policy Doireann Ansbro said:
“People living in Direct Provision should have decent food and adequate medical care. They deserve the highest standards of care but we know that instead this system is retraumatising for many.
We spoke to people in Direct Provision who had diabetes and others observing Ramadan who were intimidated for asking for appropriate food. It is not good enough that people in the care of the State are not being provided with adequate food. Proper independent inspections would change this and help people in Direct Provision to feel safer.”
ICCL has spoken to a number of people in Direct Provision about the current system of inspections. Many were afraid of speaking about conditions for fear of retribution. All told us that the current inspection system is utterly inadequate – that they are just room inspections, that the centres are given advance notice, and nothing changes afterwards.
Khalil* asked if he could be left a proper meal to recover from his fast during Ramadan. Afterwards a long-awaited transfer to another centre was cancelled. He had arranged a job near that centre which he was then unable to take up.
Gladys* told us that despite letters from her doctor, she is still not receiving food safe for her diabetes. When she asked for safer food, she was subjected to a room inspection without notice, which she experienced as intimidation. Gladys shares two small rooms with her three children, including a teenage son who studies in the toilet just to get some peace.
ICCL is asking the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to urgently reform the system of inspections so that they are independent and human rights focused. We are urging her to ratify the UN’s Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) which requires governments to create a National Preventive Mechanism that would inspect all places of detention. ICCL considers Direct Provision to be de-facto detention.
Proposals to end Direct Provision as a system must be expedited. Until such time as that happens, the people who live there must be kept safe, including through independent inspections. And whatever system replaces Direct Provision must also be subject to inspections.
*All names have been changed to protect identities
ENDS/
Join the campaign for independent inspections of all places of detention: https://www.iccl.ie/where-everyone-is-safe/
Read more about OPCAT: https://www.iccl.ie/news/iccl-welcomes-anti-torture-report-calls-for-long-overdue-ratification-of-un-treaty/
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) is Ireland’s oldest independent human rights campaigning organisation. We monitor, educate and campaign to secure human rights for everyone in Ireland.
For comment: Doireann Ansbro
For media queries: sinead.nolan@iccl.ie