Campaigns for Change
Campaigning for change in policy and legislation is an important part of our work here at Nasc. There is a symbiotic relationship between the practical work in our legal clinics and our campaign work: while our campaigning priorities are directly influenced by the issues we see our clinic service users face, so too is our one-on-one Free Legal Service informed by the relationships we form with other stakeholders (both NGOs and government) through our campaign work.
Further information on each of our current major areas of focus as well as related publications and links can be found by accessing the individual campaign pages below.
Nasc is a founder member of the NGO Forum on Direct Provision, a network of organisations committed to campaigning for changes to protect the health and welfare of asylum-seekers housed in residential institutions here.
In 2011, Social Protection surpassed naturalisation as the most common reason for contacting our Free Legal Service. Nasc co-published a report into the barriers facing immigrants accessing social protection in early 2012 and we are now working with the Department of Social Protection to develop measures to improve matters.
Nasc is a founder member of the Cork City Integration Strategy Committee. Since 2008 we have been working to shape Cork into a city that welcomes cultural and ethnic diversity. The committee is working to develop new actions to promote integration in Cork city throughout 2012. If you would like to get involved in this work please contact us.
Following campaigning and legal action by Nasc, the guidelines around access to social housing for non-Irish nationals have been revised. We welcome the new rules which should see an end to discrimination against long-term residents from outside the EEA.
In 2011, our legal information and advocacy service began assisting Roma people in Cork in accessing the labour market and social protection. This experience has informed our submission to our government and to the European Commission for measures to ensure equality for Roma people in Ireland, in the context of Ireland’s first Roma Integration Strategy, which was published at the end of 2011.
Immigrants and their advocates are awaiting what we understand is the imminent publication of a revised Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill. Nasc was part of a coalition of eight human rights organisations that prepared a Briefing paper on the previous government’s Immigration Residence & Protection Bill of 2010.
Irish citizenship is currently a privilege granted on an ad-hoc basis by the Minister designated by the government of the day. The process is often torturously long, leaving people in limbo for years. We believe that citizenship needs to be a right protected by legislation, realisable in a transparent and timely manner.
We believe that national policymakers have failed to address the problem of racism. We believe the government should introduce systems to monitor racist incidents in Ireland. In the absence of a State-sponsored system, we have worked with Gardaí in Cork and the Irish Network Against Racism to develop an independent process for reporting racist incidents.
Residents of Ireland who have been recognised as refugees have a right to “family reunification.” Workers from other EU countries have similar rights. No such right exists for other legal residents of Ireland. We believe that a framework facilitating family reunification for all legal residents of Ireland is desperately needed.
Immigrants and their advocates are awaiting what we understand is the imminent publication of a revised Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill. Nasc was part of a coalition of eight human rights organisations that prepared a Briefing paper on the previous government’s Immigration Residence & Protection Bill of 2010.
Nasc is a member of the Domestic Violence Coalition, which is campaigning to remove the barrier to protection caused by the ‘dependent’ residence status of many migrant victims of domestic violence in Ireland.
