Breaking News from Dublin and Geneva

Today the UN Human Rights Committee has issued its Concluding Observations (recommendations) following its recent examination of Ireland’s human rights record in Geneva.  Among these very detailed recommendations, the Committee has taken up the concerns about prison policy and prison conditions set out in the NGO Shadow Report which was launched on 14 July 2008 by IPRT, ICCL and FLAC.

Among the recommendations of the Committee are:

The Committee is concerned about increased levels of incarceration in Ireland.
It is particularly concerned about the persistence of unacceptable prison conditions including:

• Overcrowding,

• Insufficient personal hygiene conditions, including slopping out,

• Non-segregation of remand prisoners,

• The shortage of mental health care for detainees, and

• The high level of inter-prisoner violence

The Committee has requested that the State provide it with detailed statistical data showing progress since the adoption of the present recommendation, including on concrete promotion and implementation of alternative measures to detention.

IPRT Director Liam Herrick welcomed the recommendations:

“These recommendations reflect the urgency and importance with which the international human rights system views the problems facing our prison system.”

“Perhaps most significantly of all, the Committee clearly warns against increasingly levels of imprisonment and asks the State to make greater use of alternatives to custody, particularly for groups such as fine defaulters.  As other countries have shown this is a realistic target which could have great economic and social benefits as well as reducing the harm that imprisonment can do.”

Liam Herrick
Executive Director
Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT)
lherrick@iprt.ie
087-2351374

FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) has welcomed the concluding observations of the UN Human Rights Committee on Ireland’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

According to FLAC’s director Noeline Blackwell “The Committee’s observations are welcome as an objective and expert assessment of progress in implementing human rights in Ireland. The Committee has noted some positive developments, but they also raise a worrying number of concerns.  The concerns raised for transgendered people and for those who are imprisoned for failure to pay a civil debt affect some of the most vulnerable people in the land and are concerns that we in FLAC have also raised with the government.”

FLAC states that the failure of the Irish state to allow for birth certificates which would recognize a change of gender by transgender people had been raised by the Committee in relation to 5 separate articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  According to Blackwell, Ireland now stands in a tiny minority in Europe, with Albania, Andorra and the Vatican, in failing to make provision for such birth certificates.

FLAC stated that the Chairperson of the UN Human Rights Committee Mr. Rivas Posada had already stated at the end of the oral session on Ireland’s report on the 15th of July that he found the Irish state delegation’s explanations as to why almost 1,000 people ended up in jail for debt related matters “not convincing”. FLAC said that this comment had now been followed up by a written concern about the fact that the government did not intend to amend the law which “may in effect” allow imprisonment for those who are unable to pay their civil debts.  FLAC has today called on the Irish government to end the system which effectively jails people who cannot pay a debt.  Blackwell called the system “truly archaic, grossly inefficient and a breach of international human rights law”.  The organization which campaigns for reform of debt law as part of greater access to justice, says that the current system benefits no one, and is costly, inefficient and very unfair.

FLAC also welcomed the recommendation that the government should publicize the text of the report that it  to the Committee and the committee’s recommendations.

Dublin, 24 July 2008

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has welcomed the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s Concluding Observations on Ireland, released today following the State’s examination in Geneva last week [Download here]. The Committee’s list of concerns catalogues Ireland’s failure to uphold human rights guarantees under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The Human Rights Committee took up major concerns outlined by the NGO Shadow Report which was launched on 14 July 2008 by the ICCL and partner NGOs. Concerns included CIA rendition operations through Shannon Airport, summary removal of migrants without any due process, inequalities in upcoming civil partnership legislation and abortion reform.

Extraordinary Rendition

The Committee expressed concern about “allegations that Irish airports have been used as transit points for so-called rendition flights of persons to countries where they risk being subjected to torture”. It underlined to the Government that care needs to be taken in relying on official assurances from the United States and also recommended that Ireland should “establish a regime for the control of suspicious flights and ensure that all allegations of so-called renditions are publicly investigated”.

Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and Criminal Justice Reforms

The Committee expressed concern at the backlog of cases before the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and at the possibility of complaints involving potentially criminal conduct being referred to the Garda Commissioner. The Committee was also concerned that the law does not guarantee that lawyers should be present during questioning and that provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2007 further restrict the right to silence.

It called on the Government to take “immediate measures to ensure the effective functioning of the Garda Síochana Ombudsman Commission”.

It also recommended that the State should “give full effect to the rights of criminal suspects to contact counsel before, and to have counsel present during, interrogation” and that the Government should amend the law “to ensure that inferences from the failure to answer questions by an accused person may not be drawn, at least where the accused has not had prior consultations with counsel.”

Abortion and the Right to Life

The Committee was critical of Ireland’s failure to deal with the issue of abortion and informed the Government that it must bring its laws in conformity with the ICCPR. This means that our laws should not criminalise women for having abortions because it results in women having unsafe and illegal abortions. It also means that therapeutic abortions should be available for women who have a fatal foetal abnormality and when a woman’s life is in danger.
Summary Removal

The Committee expressed concern at provisions in the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008 allowing for summary removal of migrants without any form of due process or access to the courts. It pointed that the denial of recourse to legal protection is a violation of article 13 of the ICCPR. It recommended that the Government “should amend the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008 to outlaw summary removal”.

Refugee Appeals Tribunal

The Committee was particularly concerned about the “alleged lack of independence of the proposed substitute for the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (the Protection Review Tribunal) due to the appointment procedures of its part-time members.”

Civil Partnership

The Committee acknowledged the Government’s intention to adopt legislation on Civil Partnership, but expressed concern that no provisions regarding taxation and social welfare have been made. The Committee recommended that the Government “ensure that its legislation is not discriminatory of non-traditional forms of partnership, including taxation and welfare benefits”.

Reaction

Commenting on the Committee’s Concluding Observations, ICCL Deputy Director Tanya Ward, who attended the Irish examination in Geneva last week, stated:

“This time the Human Rights Committee has been particularly critical of Ireland’s poor performance under this human rights convention. It did not accept the Government’s defence of its stance on extraordinary rendition and called on Ireland to establish a proper regime to investigate these flights.

“The Committee was also very clear that proposed reforms in the Civil Partnership Bill must include taxation and welfare for same-sex couples and that the summary removal of migrants without any due process, provided for in the Immigration, Residence and Protection bill, should be outlawed” she continued.

“The Committee’s concluding observations provide a crystal clear picture of Ireland’s failure to live up to its human rights obligations, and an extensive ‘to do’ list for improvement. The ICCL calls on the Government immediately to acknowledge the Committee and the Irish NGO community by addressing their concerns in a substantive and meaningful manner”, she concluded.

Our Shadow Report, launched last week by Justice Michael Kirby has continued to receive wide coverage in the Irish broadcast and print media, as has Ireland’s examination by the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva. Please see the links below for a selection of the coverage. We have now also made available for download interviews of Mark Kelly (Director, ICCL) on RTE Radio 1 lunchtime news, and the Pat Kenny Show. Please visit our Resource Download Library to hear these interviews (courtesy of RTE).

Irish Times: UN committee to question rendition stance

Irish Independent: Legal experts warn Mountjoy is a disaster waiting to happen

Irish Independent: How dare the UN take us to task on human rights

Irish Examiner: Ireland’s human rights - State has neglected its duty of care

RTÉ Online: Irish rights record criticised in report

RTÉ TV: http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0714/1news_av.html?2398586,null,230

The UN made available a press release on the weekend in which preliminary observations on Ireland’s examination last week by the Human Rights Committee were laid out as follows:

Preliminary Concluding Observations

RAFAEL RIVAS POSADA, Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee, in preliminary concluding observations, highlighted that a number of points and concerns raised by the committee were still pending responses and, as promised by the head of the delegation, would be supplemented and provided in writing at a later date. The Committee would continue to follow step-by-step the human rights situation in Ireland.

Committee Experts had raised a number of questions and concerns on what articles and rights in the Covenant were covered by domestic legislation in Ireland, Mr. Rivas Posada noted. There was an indirect system of referring to the Covenant and the articles covered in the Covenant. Reference had been made to the language used in the famous Article 41 of the Constitution, which was in direct opposition to the Covenant. It seemed that there was still remnants of the traditional culture in Ireland, which played down the role of women in society and such Constitutional articles might be a symptom of that.

Mr. Rivas Posada observed that Ireland considered that a state of emergency existed in Ireland and as such validated the existence and continued emergence of special courts. That had left doubts within the Committee as to what extent the State party could clearly uphold the established standards in the articles of the Covenant.

On the subject of abortion and education a number of doubts and concerns remained, Mr. Rivas Posada continued. Also, whereas Ireland had made efforts to expand freedom of religion and expression, nonetheless, concerns remained in regard to freedom of children and women which had influenced policies leading to equality and freedom of religion. Lastly, on the issue of imprisonment for civil debt, the delegation had repeatedly explained that the phenomenon did not exist. Nonetheless, it was an obligation imposed by the judge and if not upheld under civil contempt charges an individual might go to prison. That explanation was not convincing to the Committee and that provision was in direct violation of Article 14 of the Covenant which prohibited imprisonment for debt.

Download the full text of the press release in our Resource Download Library under ‘UN Materials’. The Irish Government’s supplementary responses, mentioned above, were issued to the Human Rights Committee on Friday 18 July 2008 and can also be downloaded in our Resource Download Library under ‘Government Materials’.

Geneva & Dublin,

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has expressed deep disappointment at the Government’s stoic response to the questions put to it by the United Nations Human Rights Committee today.

A number of the key concerns laid out in the NGO Shadow Report launched yesterday were put directly to the Government today by the UN’s top human rights experts. These included CIA rendition operations through Shannon Airport, prison overcrowding, summary deportation of asylum seekers, and imprisonment for debt.

Extraordinary Rendition

Committee member Judge Rajsoomer Lallah (Mauritius) criticised the “ambivalence” of the Government’s response to complaints about the proven use of Shannon airport to refuel specific rendition flights, and asked why aircraft searches are not being carried out by the Irish authorities. In response, the Government merely reverted to its reliance on flimsy diplomatic assurances from the U.S. Government.

Prison Conditions

As regards prison conditions, when asked about measures to end the unhygienic and humiliating practice of ‘slopping out’, the Government accepted that more than a quarter of inmates are still being kept in such unsanitary conditions. It acknowledged that it was no longer possible to provide humane conditions in Mountjoy Prison and cited “significant expansion and replacement programmes”, designed to address overcrowding and poor conditions. However, the UN Human Rights Committee reminded the Government that “one cannot build oneself out of a prison overpopulation problem” and suggested that alternatives to imprisonment be explored.

Summary Deportation

Committee member Professor Ivan Shearer (Australia) pointed out to the Government that upcoming legislation (the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill) allowing for summary deportation of migrants is in breach of Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since it denies the right to appeal or review. In response, the Government claimed that migrants are entitled to seek judicial review of their case. The Government failed to mention, however, that such arrangements do not apply to all migrants present in the country and that consequently some individuals will remain at risk of deportation without access to a fair hearing, in breach of international human rights law.

Reaction

Commenting on the Irish Government’s performance, ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said this afternoon:
“The Government has responded to the UN Human Rights Committee’s searching questions with a stoic reliance on diplomatic assurances, and by re-hashing policy statements which fail to engage with the substance of the Committee’s questions. This has been a missed opportunity for genuine engagement between the UN’s top human rights experts and the State.”

He added that:

“We welcome the Government’s praise of the NGO Shadow Report and the contribution of civil society to the Human Rights Committee’s monitoring process. Such praise, however, will remain hollow unless it is accompanied by moves to address in a substantive manner the concerns laid out in that Shadow Report, and in our submissions to the UN this week.”

FLAC, Tuesday, 15 July 2008

The UN Human Rights Committee said today that the Irish government’s explanation of how people are jailed for debt in Ireland was “not entirely convincing”. Mr Rafael Rivas Posada, Chair of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), was responding to Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr Sean Aylward at the HRC’s examination of Ireland’s Human Rights Report in Geneva.

Mr Sean Aylward claimed that imprisonment for debt in Ireland does not exist. He explained that people were imprisoned only for contempt of court, not for non-payment of debt. While the percentage of people in prison for debt-related offences was tiny, he “wished it was a nil percentage”.

Mr Posada said the HRC would come to its own view about this over the next weeks before issuing its Conclusions about Ireland’s report.

Reacting in Dublin today, FLAC Senior Policy Researcher Paul Joyce said: “We can suggest ways that the percentage of people in prison for debt-related offences might be substantially reduced or eliminated. The initial hearing at which a decision is made to order repayment of a debt by instalments is often not attended by the debtor, as that hearing is in open public court and attendance is not compulsory. This usually results in an instalment being ordered that the debtor cannot afford. This in turn leads to default in payment and a further application to have the debtor imprisoned. The debtor will usually not appear at this hearing either, having at this stage well and truly opted out of what is a long-winded and intimidating process.

“Access to timely legal and debt advice, a compulsory examination of a debtor’s finances taking all debts into account before instalments are set, and hearings in private in a less intimidating environment would all decrease the number of applications for committal. Ultimately, ordering a person’s imprisonment in his or her absence and without up to date details of financial circumstances must end. Getting into debt is not a crime. We need to acknowledge this and put in place a much more user-friendly system.”

Imprisonment for debt was one of a number of issues of some concern to the HRC examining human rights in Ireland, including Ireland’s legislative failure to guarantee the rights of transgendered people – making Ireland one of the three countries in Europe not to have done so.

Attorney General Paul Gallagher SC was replaced by Mr Aylward for today’s session. He headed up a contingent of senior civil servants responding to questions on how the state is meeting its commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The Irish government delegation was unable to answer all the HRC’s questions within the time constraints imposed but has undertaken to provide any outstanding information before this Friday (18 July). The HRC will draw up its observations on Ireland’s performance under the ICCPR for publication in early to mid-August.

For further information contact:

Paul Joyce, Senior Policy Researcher

T: 01-874 5690 E: paul.joyce@flac.ie

Our Shadow Report, launched yesterday by Justice Michael Kirby has been getting wide coverage in the Irish broadcast and print media, as has Ireland’s ongoing examination by the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva. Please see the links below for a selection of the coverage.

Irish Times: UN committee to question rendition stance

Irish Independent: Legal experts warn Mountjoy is a disaster waiting to happen

Irish Examiner: Ireland’s human rights - State has neglected its duty of care

RTÉ Online: Irish rights record criticised in report

RTÉ TV: http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0714/1news_av.html?2398586,null,230

RTÉ Radio: http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0714/news1pm_av.html?2398608,null,209

Dublin & Geneva

The Attorney General, Mr. Paul Gallagher SC, is currently undergoing a grilling in Geneva by the UN’s top human rights experts.

The UN Human Rights Committee this morning heard a delegation of Irish non-governmental organisations (NGOs), outline its concerns about Ireland’s lacklustre performance under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Representatives of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres), the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) were joined by several other Irish NGOs to brief the Human Rights Committee in advance of Ireland’s formal examination this afternoon, 14 July 2008.

Speaking directly from Geneva, ICCL Deputy Director Tanya Ward said:

“For far too long, Ireland has relied on flimsy diplomatic assurances from the U.S. Government to defend its collusion in extraordinary rendition through Shannon Airport. We are bringing a global focus on the State’s domestic failure to live up to its UN human rights obligations.”

Liam Herrick, Executive Director of IPRT stated:

“Although our wealth has grown during the eight years since Ireland’s last report to the Committee, physical conditions and regimes in our prisons are still below acceptable international standards. As we saw only this weekend, increasing levels of violence are making our prisons more dangerous. We are also deeply worried about Government plans to expand the use of imprisonment by increasing prison places and introducing new penal facilities for children and migrants”.

Noeline Blackwell, Director-General of FLAC added:

“We are concerned that the Government is introducing discrimination into the nursery school by denying Child Benefit to the children of asylum seekers and new immigrants into the country. And Ireland is becoming increasingly isolated in Europe because of our failure to accord recognition to transgendered people in their new gender.”

In attempting to defend the Government’s human rights record, the Attorney General has admitted that fully 30 per cent of prison cells still have no in-cell sanitation.

Furthermore, with regard to children in prison, the Attorney General has repeated a commitment that 16 and 17 year olds will be removed from the prison system “as soon as possible”. However, he has made no mention of a time-frame and, at the same time, plans for child detention facilities within Thornton Hall prison are to go ahead.

Most surprisingly, the Atttorney General has not mentioned overcrowding, which is currently a very serious issue in Mountjoy Prison and the Dóchas Centre. There is now a record prison population of 3,600, and there is still no sign of an enforceable ceiling being placed on prisoner numbers.

The Human Rights Committee will continue its scrutiny of Ireland’s human rights record tomorrow (15 July 2008), at which time FLAC, ICCL and the IPRT will issue a further news release.

One Family calls for equal respect and value for all one-parent families under the Irish Constitution as the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Free Legal Advice Centre and the Irish Penal Reform Trust launch a Shadow Report for the UN Human Rights Committee’s examination of Ireland’s compliance with the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

Half a Million people in Ireland live in a one-parent family. One in 6 families in Ireland are a one-parent family.

Monday 14 July 2008: A leading national support organisation for one-parent families, One Family, is calling for equal respect and value for all one-parent families under the Irish Constitution. One Family welcomes today’s (14 July 2008) launch of a shadow report detailing Ireland’s compliance to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). One Family along with many other NGOs have contributed to the production of this report which will be used to further the promotion of human rights in Ireland .The report, being launched by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Free Legal Advice Centre and the Irish Penal Reform Trust incorporates recommendations on Article 23 of the ICCPR to the effect that the Irish Constitution be changed to give full equality to all families under Irish law and also to ensure an ending to the practice where the welfare of the child is not given paramount consideration in all family law proceedings.

One Family has long maintained that the definition of a family as laid down in the Irish Constitution “is no longer valid in today’s society” and is completely “out of touch with reality” as it is defined traditionally through judicial interpretation to mean the family based on marriage.”

Candy Murphy, Policy Manager of One Family said “It is extremely important to recognise one-parent families for the strong family units they are and we are calling on the Government to change the Irish Constitution to reflect this. In our view all families should be recognised within the Constitution and families in difficulties supported, particularly those that are especially vulnerable. It’s about equality for all families and particularly all children.”

One Family has being in existence for 36 years and provides a range of services for one-parent families in Ireland. Services include parenting and skills training, counselling and parent mentoring and a wide range of information supports.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Catherine Joyce, Communications Manager 01 664 0125/ 086 343 2542

Candy Murphy, Policy Manager 01 662 9212/087 293 3180