At Annual Report launch, Commission says it will monitor An Garda Síochána progress
While new levels of transparency in An Garda Síochána are to be welcomed, the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) believes the organisation is still some distance from it being fully human-rights compliant.
President of the IHRC, Dr Maurice Manning said: "The Commission has always made it clear that it does not see a clash between effective policing and respect for human rights. ‘Good’ policing is ‘human rights-based’ policing".
The IHRC has a mandate to review both law and practice for compliance with Human Rights Standards. "Therefore, the Commission undeniably has a role in monitoring, not only the legislative frame-work for policing, but also operational policies and their implementation, to ensure that An Garda Síochána becomes fully human rights compliant," said Dr Manning. "Forthcoming research commissioned by the IHRC should greatly assist in identifying priorities and action for the years ahead," Dr Manning went on to say.
In launching the Irish Human Rights Commission’s (IHRC) 2006 Annual Report, Dr Manning addressed the goals and achievements of the Commission, and the challenges for 2007. He focused particularly on the issues of policing, migration policy and legislation.
In relation to human rights and immigration issues, legal uncertainty will continue if the Government fails to amend its current immigration policy and legislative approach, according to the President of the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC), Dr Maurice Manning.
Dr Manning said that the Commission had identified a number of areas where inconsistencies emerge in the Government’s approach. These include tensions in legislative content, created by mixing asylum and protection issues with general provisions on the immigration of foreign nationals within the Immigration, Residency and Protection Bill. Dr Manning also stated the Commission’s concern at the significant level of Ministerial discretion with regard to application exceptions or exclusions on grounds of security, public policy or public health.
The IHRC also highlighted the issue of family reunification, an area of policy where Ireland continues to fail to fully respect and protect the human rights of people working here and the rights of their spouse and children. Migrant workers are also likely to experience the denial of a broad range of economic and social rights if the law and administrative practice do not adapt to the needs and rights of every person living in the State.
"The Commission believes that there should be clarity and certainty of individual rights. Immigration policy should be set out in primary legislation and decision-making around immigration should be transparent and consistent," said Dr Manning.
He continued: "Ireland should take the lead within Europe in protecting migrant rights, and the IHRC is committed to working with the relevant actors to bring Irish law and administrative practice into compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families and other relevant international human rights standards".
Cognisant of the need to understand human rights standards in order to implement them, the Commission restates the imperative that the different arms of State work with it to achieve this.
The Commission is concerned that legislation, in particular human rights legislation, is not examined in detail or often not discussed by the Houses of the Oireachtas and particularly the Dáil.
"It is important that all political parties and Oireachtas committees engage in early and structured dialogue with the Commission, and we would ask the Minister to look again at a proposal put to him, that just as legislation be human-rights proofed to ensure that Government policy is consistent in the human rights area," said Dr Manning.
Also speaking at the launch, Acting Chief Executive, Des Hogan looked at some of the work undertaken throughout the year by the Irish Human Rights Commission.