A pro-refugee group has urged the Government to lift the ‘veil of secrecy’ that currently hides the practices of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.
The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has made the call following the success recorded since the introduction of measures aimed at improving transparency in childcare cases.
Similar to such cases, refugee appeal hearings are conducted in private and decisions of the Tribunal are not published.
“The strict enforcement of the privacy rule in refugee appeal cases means that legal practitioners, judges and NGOs have very limited access to see how the law is being applied and where it is being applied inconsistently by individual tribunal members,” said IRC chief executive Sue Conlan.
“The child law project has shown that transparency can be introduced without compromising the privacy of the vulnerable individuals involved.
“There is no justification for this continuing secrecy by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.”
According to the IRC, in 2011 some 93 per cent of asylum seekers were refused at oral appeal. In addition, 98 per cent were refused where the appeal was without an oral hearing. The council added that the High Court has been highly critical of the standard of investigation and reasoning in Tribunal decision.
It said common complaints include a failure to consider relevant evidence, concentration on issues peripheral to the protection claim, and lack of independent assessment.
