Welcome to the winter edition of the Irish Human Rights Commission’s (IHRC) Human Rights E-Bulletin. The IHRC is Ireland’s National Human Rights Institution with a statutory remit under the Human Rights Commission Act 2000 to ensure that the human rights of all people in Ireland are promoted and protected in law, policy and practice. This bulletin provides a quarterly update on the activities of the IHRC. Highlights of this edition include the much publicised IHRC Report on the "Magdalen Laundries" and our annual Human Rights conference with the Law Society of Ireland: this year its theme was "Emerging Human Rights Issues".
Contents
1. Commissioner Helen O’Neill
2. Have Your Say on Ireland’s Human Rights Record
3. Report to CERD Committee on Racial Discrimination
4. Emerging Human Rights Conference
5. Launch of Human Rights Guide for the Civil and Public Service
6. Conference on Religion and Education launches wider Consultation
7. IHRC Report on Magdalen Laundries
8. Amicus curiae intervention in the Supreme Court
9. Submission to the Gender Recognition Advisory Group
1. Commissioner Helen O’Neill
Professor Helen O’Neill was appointed a Commissioner in 2006. She is Professor Emeritus in the Centre for Development Studies in UCD where she was its founding-Director. She obtained her BComm degree at UCD and her Masters and PhD degrees in Economics at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She was President of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes from 1993 to 1999, President of the Association of Canadian Studies in Ireland from 2000 to 2002, and has chaired the Irish government’s Advisory Committee on Development Cooperation and the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace.
Professor O’Neill has been a member of a number of international committees including the policy committee on developing countries of the International Council of Science (ICSU). She has been a visiting professor in a number of international institutions. She has carried out assignments for international organisations (including the World Bank and UN Industrial Development Organisation) in over a dozen African countries and the trans-Caucasus region. She has acted as expert to the Economic and Social Committee in Brussels on a wide range of issues in international relations and regional development and has acted as a consultant to EU Directorate General of Development.
Professor O’Neill has represented the IHRC as advisor on human rights issues in a number of developing countries. She is currently a consultant to Irish Aid. She has published widely on topics in development, human rights and international relations and given guest lectures in universities in all five continents of the world. She was honoured in 2006 with a festschrift (Trade, Aid and Development, published by UCD Press).
Commissioner O’Neill is an active contributor to the overall work of the IHRC. She is a member of the Racism, Immigration and Human Trafficking Committee and the Education and Awareness Committee.
Working Structure of the IHRC
The work of the IHRC is delivered through two divisions: Research, Policy & Promotion, and Enquiries, Legal Services & Administration.
Research, Policy and Promotion
The Research, Policy and Promotion Division carries out the work of the IHRC in legislative review, research, policy, awareness including media and events, human rights education and international relations including the IHRC’s role as chair of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions.
2. Have Your Say on Ireland’s Human Rights Record
In October 2011, Ireland’s Human Rights Record will be examined for the first time under a new United Nations (UN) process called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR aims to improve the human rights situation in all countries by creating a process where governments are held to account by other countries regarding their human rights record. Through the UPR process, Ireland will have the opportunity to explain how it is progressing on human rights and to outline actions it plans to take to improve human rights to fulfil its international human rights obligations.
The IHRC is encouraging the public and civil society organisations to have their say on Ireland’s human rights record by addressing correspondence detailing their human rights concerns to the IHRC at upr@ihrc.ie. These contributions will help inform the IHRC’s report on Ireland’s record.
Civil society organisations can also submit their own reports. To assist in this process, the IHRC is holding a series of practical briefings on how to prepare a report for the UPR for those interesting in making submissions. The first UPR briefing took place in Dublin in December. The IHRC will hold further briefings in January/February 2011. For more information contact Avril Hutch, UPR Project Officer at upr@ihrc.ie
Read more about Having Your Say on Ireland’s Human Rights Record : www.ihrc.ie/upr
3. Report to CERD Committee on Racial Discrimination
On the 10th of December, the IHRC published its report on the Government’s record on racial discrimination to coincide with World Human Rights Day. The IHRC called for better protection for the rights of asylum seekers, members of the Traveller Community, migrant workers and their families and victims of human trafficking. In particular, the IHRC drew attention to the failure by the State to recognise the Traveller Community as an ethnic minority, the long waiting time for the processing of asylum applications and the drastic cut in funds for the human rights infrastructure. The IHRC report also outlined concerns over proposed new legislation requiring non-nationals to carry identification documents at all times which could lead to discriminatory treatment and racial profiling. The report has been sent to the United Nations (UN) Committee responsible for monitoring Ireland’s record under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Ireland will be examined by this Committee on its record in February 2011.
Read IHRC Report on Racial Discrimination: www.ihrc.ie/publications/list/ihrc-nhri-cerd-shadow-report-to-un-committee-novem/
4. Emerging Human Rights Conference
On the 20th of November 2010, the IHRC and the Law Society of Ireland held their 8th annual conference on Emerging Human Rights Issues. The Conference addressed an array of human rights issues including data protection, immigration & trafficking, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights as well as human rights perspectives on business and the environment.
The keynote speaker was Professor Michael O’Flaherty, member of the UN Human Rights Committee. The conference was opened by Mary White TD, Minister of State for Equality, Integration and Human Rights. Other plenary speakers included Dr. Lydia Foy; Dr Katherine Zappone, IHRC Commissioner, Barbara Nolan, European Commission Representation in Ireland; Dearbhail McDonald, Irish Independent
Of particular concern this year was the integration of human rights within business and financial practice. Dr. Maurice Manning President of the IHRC informed those in attendance that "Now is the time to put human rights principles and standards that promote transparency and accountability at the heart of such efforts to reform business practice and financial regulation".
Read conference papers: www.ihrc.ie/newsevents/pastevents/2010/11/20/emerging-human-rights-issues-conference/
5. Launch of Human Rights Guide for the Civil and Public Service
The IHRC launched its Human Rights Guide for the Civil and Public Service in September. The Guide is supported by an innovative e-learning platform accessible on our new micro website (www.ihrc.ie/training).
To facilitate the ongoing training needs of the Civil and Public Service the IHRC is also offering a range of tailored courses free of charge. The IHRC recognises the integral role the Civil and Public service plays in the protection of Human Rights in Ireland and hopes that through this initiative Ireland will become a leader in this regard. This work coincides with the second phase (2010 – 2014) of the UN World Programme for Human Rights Education. Copies of the Guide are available for distribution through the Civil and Public Service, contact us (www.ihrc.ie/training/contact) for further information.
Enquiries, Legal Services and Administration Division
The Enquiry and Legal Services section of the Division is usually the first point of contact between members of the public concerned about human rights and the IHRC. This service informs the overall work of the IHRC and ensures that the IHRC is aware of human rights issues as they are emerging and as they effect people in practice. It is on the basis of these communications that the IHRC exercises its enquiry and legal functions.
6. Conference on Religion and Education launches wider Consultation
The IHRC co-hosted a conference on "Religion and Education: A Human Rights Perspective" with the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin on 27 November, 2010. The conference heard from experts from academia, the Department of Education and Skills, Teacher Unions and both representatives of various religions in Irish Society and those from a secular perspective. The purpose of the Conference was to open the debate on religion and education from a human rights perspective and to launch a consultation process on the issue which has now commenced. On the basis of the feedback received and further analysis, the IHRC will make recommendations to Government on the measures required for the State to meet its human rights obligations in this area. Individuals and organisations are invited to write to the IHRC with their views and comments.
Submission should be emailed to the IHRC on info@ihrc.ie by 31 January 2010 clearly marked Religion/Education Consultation.
Read IHRC Discussion Paper on Religion and Education:
www.ihrc.ie/publications/list/ihrc-discussion-paper-religion-education/
7. IHRC Report on Magdalen Laundries
The IHRC published an assessment of the human rights issues arising from the treatment of women and girls in "Magdalen Laundries" on 9 November 2010. In it the IHRC called on the Government to immediately establish a statutory inquiry into the treatment of women and girls in these laundries. The assessment was conducted in response to a request by the "Justice for Magdelene’s Group". The following findings form the basis for the IHRC recommendation to establish a Statutory Inquiry:
1. That for those girls and women who entered "Magdalen Laundries" following a Court process, there was clear State involvement in their entry to the Laundries.
2. That questions arise as to whether the State’s obligations to guard against arbitrary detention were met in the absence of information on whether and how girls and women under Court-processes resided in and left the laundries.
3. That the State may have breached its obligations on forced or compulsory labour under the 1930 Forced Labour Convention in not suppressing/outlawing the practice in laundries and in actually engaging in trade with the convents running the Laundries for goods produced as a result of forced labour.
4. That the State may have breached its obligations to ensure that no one is held in servitude insofar as some women and girls in the Laundries may have been held in conditions of servitude after the State assumed obligations under Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights in 1953.
5. That the burial, exhumation and cremation of known and unknown women from a "Magdalen Laundry" in 1993 at High Park raises serious questions for the State in the absence of detailed legislation governing the area. That it is important to establish whether all bodies are identified and accounted for in such communal plots, whether there are death certificates for all those buried in those locations, and whether their remains were properly preserved and reinterred.
The IHRC awaits the Government’s response to its recommendations.
Read the IHRC Assessment: www.ihrc.ie/publications/list/ihrc-assessment-of-magdalen-laundries-nov-2010/
8. Amicus curiae intervention in the Supreme Court
On 22 December, the IHRC was granted leave by the Supreme Court to appear in the proceedings Pullen v Dublin City Council. The case concerns Section 62 of the Housing Act 1966 as amended which allows for summary evictions of public authority tenants. Previously the IHRC had been invited by the High Court to appear in the case.
9. Submission to the Gender Recognition Advisory Group
In October the IHRC met with the Inter-Departmental Gender Recognition Advisory Group further to its recommendations submitted to the Group on the measures the State should take to strengthen, protect and uphold the rights of transgender people under Irish law. The IHRC called for the swift enactment of the proposed legislation in line with International Human Rights Law and recommended a simultaneous information campaign in order to counter the mental health and stigma issues which may arise.
Read the IHRC submission: www.ihrc.ie/download/doc/ihrc_subm_to_gender_recognition_advisory_group_final.doc