Promoting Social and Economic Inclusion of Refugees

Republic of Ireland                                            Jessica Hagstrom. Hockinson High School  

Promoting Social and Economic Inclusion of Refugees  

        Ireland has taken in a total of 760 refugees this past year under the Government Humanitarian Program, which was put into effect for the people fleeing in from the Middle East and North Africa (McGee).  Recently Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald has agreed to bring in 520 refugees throughout 2017. This would increase our amount of refugee acceptance to over 1,000 in two years. According to a study from 2016, it was an average of 10 refugees per week being taken in (MacGuill). Due to the increase of refugees, trying to gain access in Ireland we have a limited acceptance rate. The problem is the Irish Refugee Protection Program allows a small amount of access at a time. Since Ireland works hard on assimilating the newly welcomed refugees. Ireland is not willing to stop the assimilating process, just to increase the acceptance rate.    

        Globally, the refugee crisis happening is the largest figure ever recorded, at a staggering 65 million refuges displaced. According to the UN Refugee Agency, “ just three countries ravaged by conflict are, Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia” (What’s). Many frontline countries are being swamped with influxes of refugees and do not have enough resources for them. Another staggering aspect is half of the refugees being taken in by the frontline countries are all children. This requires these countries to have open schooling option for the children, however they do not have the resources to do so. This affects worldwide, not just for the frontline countries, since the world needs to take in refugees as well. Ireland has the resources to help take in the refugees; this is why Ireland will not stop taking in refugees.  

        Ireland is a part of the EU initiative, which allows European countries to take in refuges based on their GDP, population, and other criteria. This past year Ireland was given a target of 270 refugees (Cormaic). With this initiative we have agreed upon, the government will select individuals to take in first and start integration. Our integration program has been in use since 2000, but has just recently been reinstated due to the high increase of refugees. The program takes the newly stated refugees through a training course in Dublin, which is deigned to help them simulate into the Irish life, before they are resettled in nearby Irish towns. Ireland would like to make note that we are one out of 30 states that participate in the EU initiative resettlement program.  

        Ireland was a participant in the 1956 Refugee Convention. According to the UNHCR, “ the refugee convention recognizes basic human rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and how to ensure that refugees have access to these rights”(Committee). Throughout these conventions the UN as advocated for social development as well as encouraging other countries to adopt the policies to take in more refugees. This is a good proposition for the UN to try to encourage other countries, since not all countries have open doors to refugees, and if the crisis is increasing we need as much help worldwide.  

        In 2015 Ireland agreed to the EU initiative, which was designed at an UN Refugee Convention.  The Orientation for the newly stated refugees goes through and shows the fundamentals of western appliances, food, and road safety. Still throughout this program Ireland sponsors a yearlong education program for the refugees, to either learn English or Irish (Murphy). Most learn English since they are in the western part of the world. With this initiative we set out to simulate the refugees as best as possible for their welcomed arrival to the Irish culture.