Ireland's UNHCR World Refugee Awards 2005

national | racism & migration related issues | feature

Sunday June 26, 2005 23:23

by redjade

Awards In Five Categories Given To Fourteen People

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RAR's National Day of Action
Against Racism

On the 16 June 2005 the UNHCR's 3rd Annual World Refugee Day was celebrated at the Dublin City Council office on Wood Quay and awards were given in five categories to fourteen people living in Ireland who are actively involved with asylum seekers and refugees. Presentation of the awards was by Dublin Lord Mayor Michael Conaghan and South African Ambassador to Ireland, Melanie Verwoerd. Rosanna Flynn, of Residents Against Racism, was one of the winners of the award.

Rosanna Flynn: '...things have moved on, or rather, I'm afraid things have moved back. We are now integrating people for deportation [....] The time for tip-toeing around the Irish Government is over. I'm afraid we have a 'Bogus Minister of Justice' - he talks about 'Bogus Asylum Seekers' all the time - we must confront him and Bertie Ahern, who after all keeps him in the job. And it verges, in Michael McDowell's case, on incitement to racial hatred. He talks of 'Cock and Bull Stories,' he says if not for the United Nation's Human Rights rules he'd be out at the airport to send them back immediately. [....] We are entering a new phase of Anti-Racism activism in Ireland - it's got to be confrontational. If you play things by the book and keep your head down you are almost certain to be deported. You have got to make noise about it....''