ICI News Bulletin - Issue 81

Thursday, 27 January 2011

1. Public lecture on inclusion of second generation migrants to look at access to third-level education

2. Years of uncertainty end for ICI client

3. Young family granted permission to stay in Ireland

4. ICI contributes to review of Ireland's human rights record

5. Irish delegation to brief MEPs on anti-trafficking work

6. Dignity Project to highlight findings of two-year study of service provision for victims of trafficking

7. ICI mentoring guide featured as example of "good practice" on European Web Site on Integration

8. UN Independent Expert looks at social protection of migrants in Ireland

9. Report to examine homelessness among migrant communities in Dublin

10. Refugee and immigration lawyers discuss new student rules and asylum processes for LGBTI persons

11. EU-funded project promoting tolerance and accommodation of differences launched

12. Cypriot delegation visits Dublin on fact-finding mission

Public lecture on inclusion of second generation migrants to look at access to third-level education

The ICI will host a public lecture entitled, “Inclusion of Second Generation Migrants and Beyond – Lessons Learnt from Old Countries of Immigration” at the Gresham Hotel on Monday February 21. The lecture will be given by Professor John Mollenkopf, of the City University of New York. The event will focus on access to third-level education for migrant children in Ireland.

This event will be co-funded by the European Programme for Integration and Migration, which is an initiative of the Network of European Foundations. To register, please contact PA to the CEO Saorlaith Ní Bhroin – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information, please contact Integration Manager Fidèle Mutwarasibo – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Years of uncertainty end for ICI client

An ICI client was recently granted permission to remain in Ireland with full access to the labour market after many years of uncertainty. The client, a Bangladeshi national, legally entered Ireland in 2003 with a residence permit based on marriage. He remained legally resident until May 2006, when his permit and that of his wife were not renewed after she was unfairly dismissed from her job when she became pregnant.

Following applications for a change of status in 2006, our client and his wife received notification of the Minister for Justice and Law Reform’s intention to deport them. Their residence status was regularised in October 2007, after legal proceedings were issued. Our client’s wife was issued with a residence permit with full access to the labour market for five years, while our client was granted permission to remain for four months for the purpose of the making of a work permit application. After further applications, our client was granted a work permit in February 2008 which was renewed on one occasion. However, he was later made redundant and was then granted a permit as a dependent of his wife.

Finally, after being resident in Ireland for more than seven years, our client has been granted a residence permit which allows him full access to the labour market (Stamp 4).

 

Young family granted permission to stay in Ireland

We were also very pleased to receive the news that, after representations by the ICI, the immigration status of a young couple with three children has been regularised.

The US citizen husband had come to Ireland as a minor but, unlike his mother and siblings with whom he had arrived in the State in 2000, he did not manage to obtain a secure residence status after the expiry of his last permit in 2006. His Chinese citizen wife came to Ireland as a student in 2004 but, after she became pregnant, she was unable to renew her student permit and became undocumented in 2007.

The couple became effectively homeless and had to rely on the charity of family and friends for their accommodation and maintenance. Both are musicians and have contributed to many charitable causes, performing for Concern, Gorta and Sports Against Racism Ireland and giving special performances at Whitfield Prison and for the Dublin Simon Community. They have now both been granted permission to remain in Ireland with their young children and extended family.

 

 

ICI contributes to review of Ireland’s human rights record

The ICI is one of 18 civil society organisations participating in the Cross Cultural Steering Group which is seeking to facilitate the participation of civil society organisations in the first examination by other UN member states of Ireland’s domestic human rights record. The process, called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), is a new mechanism under which UN states directly examine each other on their human rights record.

The examination can be used to promote awareness of international human rights obligations in Ireland and to hold the Government to account for its performance.

The UPR campaign will be launched on Monday (January 31) at The Wood Quay Venue, Dublin Civic Offices, Dublin 8. To attend the launch, please RSVP to Lydia Ishak before 4pm tomorrow, Friday January 28 via email – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 01 488 5808. The campaign website will also go live on Monday. Visit www.rightsnow.ie to get involved.

 

Irish delegation to brief MEPs on anti-trafficking work

The ICI and Dublin Employment Pact will brief MEPs on an EU-funded anti-trafficking project at the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday. The two organisations are the lead partners in the Dignity Project, which is a Daphne-funded initiative involving partners in Ireland, Scotland, Spain and Lithuania.

The event will be chaired by Mr Proinsias de Rossa MEP and will offer MEPs an opportunity to learn about the challenges of combating human trafficking at a national level. The Dignity Partners will make recommendations on what must be done at European level to ensure adequate protection for victims of sex trafficking.

For more information, please contact Anti-Trafficking Coordinator Nusha Yonkova – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Dignity Project to highlight findings of two-year study of service provision for victims of trafficking

The closing conference of the Dignity Project, entitled “National and International Experts on Trafficking and Prostitution – the lessons from Dignity Project”, will be held at the Wood Quay Venue in the Civic Offices in Dublin 8 on Monday February 7. The Dignity Project is a Daphne-funded initiative with partner organisations in Ireland, Scotland, Spain and Lithuania. The ICI and Dublin Employment Pact are the lead partners in the project. The project has been studying and documenting examples of good practices in delivery of services to victims of trafficking that are identified in each partner country.

The conference will be chaired by Ms Barbara Nolan of the European Commission and Mr Proinsias de Rossa MEP. Speakers will present the findings from the Dignity Project and will involve experts from organisations in Sweden, Scotland, and Ireland. The Project’s independent evaluators will present the outcomes and recommendations from the Dignity Project Final Evaluation Report. A panel of respondents including political responses from Dáil members, human rights advocates and journalists will close the morning session.

The afternoon session will comprise two parallel workshops - “Legal Issues for Victims” and “Services for Victims” – at which Irish and international practitioners and experts will share models of good practice, views on progress made and the remaining challenges for inter-agency service delivery to victims of sex trafficking.

For more information, please contact Anti-Trafficking Coordinator Nusha Yonkova – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

ICI mentoring guide featured as example of “good practice” on European Web Site on Integration

The ICI’s “Guide to Running a Mentoring Programme” was featured in the January edition of the European Web Site on Integration’s (EWSI) monthly newsletter as an example of good practice for the promotion of integration.

The “Guide to Running a Mentoring Programme” was published in December 2009 and is designed for organisations establishing mentoring programmes for migrants and Irish citizens or well-established residents. It sets out the steps involved from recruitment through to evaluation. The booklet was produced in response to the positive reaction to the ICI's pilot mentoring programme and calls for it to be rolled out nationally.

The ICI has been reappointed as the Country Coordinator for Ireland for the second phase of the EWSI project. The EWSI is an initiative of the European Commission under the responsibility of the Directorate-General Home Affairs. It provides policy makers and practitioners working on integration in Europe with a tool for the exchange of information and good practice. The web site can be accessed at www.integration.eu. If anyone has details of an example of “good practice” of an integration project and would like to promote it on the EWSI please contact Research Intern Geoff McEvoy – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

UN Independent Expert looks at social protection of migrants in Ireland

Integration Manager Fidèle Mutwarasibo attended a meeting with the UN Independent Expert, Magdalena Sepúlveda, on the Question of Human Rights and Extreme Poverty earlier this month. Fidèle highlighted the reluctance of migrants to access social welfare for fear of compromising their pending and future applications for citizenship or long-term residency in Ireland.

Fidèle also spoke about the lack of clarity on the rights and social protection of those granted leave to remain in Ireland, including victims of domestic violence and victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation. He stressed the need for a human rights-based approach to social protection in Ireland and the need to move away from discretionary provision in some aspects of social protection. The end-of-mission statement from the expert is now available at: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=10658&LangID=E. For more information, please contact Fidèle – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Report to examine homelessness among migrant communities in Dublin

The ICI and Focus Ireland recently commissioned TSA Consultancy to undertake research on the experiences of homelessness among migrants in Dublin. The research will seek to profile and capture migrants’ experiences of homelessness in order to gain an understanding of their pathways into and through homelessness.

The research will help to generate an insight into their experiences in Ireland, their experiences of services received and their current needs. The research is co-funded by Dublin City Council’s Office for Integration. For more information, please contact Integration Manager Fidèle Mutwarasibo – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

 

 

Refugee and immigration lawyers discuss new student rules and asylum processes for LGBTI persons

The Refugee and Immigration Practitioner’s Network, jointly organised by the Irish Refugee Council and the Immigrant Council of Ireland, heard a presentation on the new international students’ immigration regime on Tuesday night. Gerard McGrath, of McGrath McGrane Solicitors, gave an overview of the new rules and transitional arrangements to about 40 practicing lawyers and NGO staff.

Patricia Brazil BL, Averill Deverell Lecturer in Law, Trinity College Dublin gave a presentation on applications for asylum by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and inter-sex persons, and principles of best practice and guidelines for assessment. The presentations were followed by a question and answers session as well as an interesting debate on the timing and order of the decision-making process for applications for subsidiary protection under the European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulation 2006 and the consideration of submissions made following a notification of intention to deport pursuant to Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999. The meeting was chaired by ICI Senior Solicitor Hilkka Becker. For more information, please contact Hilkka - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

EU-funded project promoting tolerance and accommodation of differences launched

Integration Manager Fidèle Mutwarasibo attended a workshop on tolerance hosted by University College Dublin’s School of Politics and International Relations on Friday January 21.

The workshop, “Pluralism in Ireland: Tolerance or accommodation of differences”, was organised to mark the launch of the Irish element of the EU-funded project “ACCEPT Pluralism 2010-2013”. ACCEPT Pluralism is a research project, funded under the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme and aims to explore and understand tolerance of ethnic, racial and religious diversity in European societies and seeks to identify key messages for policy makers.

In his presentation “Embracing the permanent nature of immigration in Ireland: Moving from tolerance to acknowledgement and appreciation of diversity”, Fidèle called for appreciation of diversity in Ireland in all its shapes and forms. For more information, please contact Fidèle – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Cypriot delegation visits Dublin on fact-finding mission

Representatives from the Cypriot Centre for Migration Identity and Rights Studies visited the ICI on a fact-finding mission this month. The delegation was looking at the ICI’s work on anti-trafficking, anti-racism, promoting migrant parents’ involvement in the school life of their children and enhancing and fostering young migrants’ access and mobility in the labour market.

Integration Manager Fidèle Mutwarasibo told the delegation about the work the ICI has undertaken in researching the experiences of migrants in Ireland and the provision of information and support. Fidèle also spoke about the role of communications and the ICI’s Law Centre in bringing about immigration reform and in shaping migration discourses and discussed immigration and integration debates in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland. For more information, please contact Fidèle – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it