The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Designate (IHREC designate) welcomes the strongly-worded Concluding Observations issued by the UN Human Rights Committee today on Ireland’s record on civil and political rights as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Concluding Observations reflect the concerns and recommendations made by the IHREC Designate at Ireland’s hearing to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva last week.
Welcoming the Concluding Observations, Betty Purcell, spokesperson for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Designate said “The UN Human Rights Committee is very clear on what needs to be done by Ireland to meet its civil and political rights obligations. Now it is time for the State to act. The IHREC calls on the State to debate the conclusions of the Human Rights Committee in the Oireachtas and to set up a Parliamentary oversight mechanism to that end. It also calls on the Government to establish a cross-departmental Task Force to address in a timely way how the State will implement the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee.”
On the overarching issue of effective remedies for people seeking to vindicate their rights, Ms Purcell welcomed the UN Human Rights Committee’s focus on the lack of accountability on the part of the State for societal and institutional practices that have led to abuse, mistreatment and neglect of women and children. The Committee recommended that the Irish State ‘should conduct prompt, independent and thorough investigation into all allegations of abuse in Magdalene Laundries, children’s institutions and mother and baby homes, prosecute and punish the perpetrators with penalties commensurate with the gravity of the offence, and ensure that all victims obtain an effective remedy, including appropriate compensation, restitution, rehabilitation and measures of satisfaction.’ Ms Purcell concluded: “In our briefing of the Human Rights Committee in Geneva, we recommended that such investigations must be carried out by an independent statutory body, and ensure the participation of survivors in truth and fact finding and we now welcome the UN Committee’s strong support of our position. We are also very pleased to see the Committee’s support of a prompt, independent and thorough investigation into cases of symphysiotomy.”
On the issue of asylum, Ms Purcell said, “The State’s commitment to introduce legislation on Ireland’s protection system for asylum seekers through a single protection procedure is welcome. However, it is long overdue and should be enacted without delay. We welcome the Human Rights Committee’s recommendation in this area, as well as a call for time spent by asylum seekers in direct provision centres to be ‘as short as possible.’ Nevertheless, appropriate accommodation must be found for those families and children who have lived in direct provision centres for an unacceptable length of time where poor living conditions are having an enormous impact on their dignity and mental and physical well-being. Any complaints procedure must be independent and have the confidence of those seeking redress.”
Ms Purcell said “the IHREC welcomes the UN Human Rights Committee’s recognition of the discrimination faced by the Traveller community and endorses its call for ‘concrete steps to recognize Travellers as an ethnic minority group’ and to ‘amend the Housing Act of 2002 to meet the specific accommodation requirements of Traveller families’. We also support the calls for effective policy and an action plan to redress situations of inequality and promote Traveller and Roma community culture.”
The IHREC Designate also welcomes the Human Rights Committee’s recommendation that Section 37(1) of the Employment Equality Acts be amended ‘in a way that bars all forms of discrimination in employment in the fields of education and health’ and calls on the Government to engage on this issue again, on which IHREC has recently provided advice to Government.
The IHREC’s 2013 Observations to Government on the Protection of Life In Pregnancy Bill were reflected in the Human Rights Committee’s Concluding Observations, which have called for the Irish Government to revise the legislation for cases of rape, incest, serious risks to the health of the mother, or fatal foetal abnormality; as well as to clarify what constitutes a “real and substantive risk” to the life of the pregnant woman.
The IHREC also welcomes the Human Rights Committee’s recommendations in relation to the independence of the new Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, application of the Covenant in domestic courts, gender equality, transgender people, violence against women, mental health services, police complaints procedures, corporal punishment, conditions of detention, Imprisonment for failure to pay fines, right to counsel, counter-terrorism measures, trafficking, freedom of religion, and blasphemy.
Ms Purcell concluded “We welcome the Concluding Observations of the UN Human Rights Committee and looking forward to positive developments on the part of the State to progress the Committee’s recommendations in a timely and effective manner.”
ENDS/
For further information please contact, Fidelma Joyce, IHRC, Mob: 087 783 4939
Spokespersons are available for comment.
Notes for Editors:
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Designate is recognised by the UN as Ireland’s National Human Rights Institution with ‘A’ status. It has a role to monitor Ireland’s compliance with its human rights obligations and report to the UN in this regard.
In all, the Committee made recommendations in 19 areas namely:
- Application of the Covenant in domestic courts
- National Human rights Institutions
- Gender equality
- Violence against women
- Abortion
- Institutional abuse of women and children
- Symphysiotomy
- Mental health services
- Police complaints procedures
- Corporal punishment
- Conditions of detention
- Imprisonment for failure to pay fines
- Right to counsel
- Counter-terrorism measures
- Asylum-seekers and refugees
- Trafficking
- Freedom of religion
- Blasphemy
- Travellers and Roma.
IHREC designate had the opportunity to brief the Committee in its role as Ireland’s National Human Rights Institution at the State’s examination on 14-15 July 2014 in Geneva.