Civil Society Groups Prepare for UN Spotlight on Ireland’s Rights Record
Press release
In Geneva today, the Your Rights Right Now coalition of 17 leading civil society organisations will highlight topline human rights issues for UN States in advance of Ireland’s examination by the UN Human Rights Council in May of this year.
Speaking ahead of the event this afternoon, ICCL Deputy Director, Deirdre Duffy, said “this human rights review at the highest political stage within the UN human rights system presents an opportunity for the incoming Government to outline tangible plans on specific issues of concern for Irish people. Today UN diplomats will have the opportunity to hear from Irish civil society groups on a range of matters including, lack of access to abortion healthcare in Ireland, failure to ratify important international instruments on disability and ill-treatment, the absence of recognition of Travellers as an ethnic minority and the ongoing failure to address the right to adequate housing in a clear and timely manner”.
Members of the Your Rights Right Now coalition – the Disability Federation of Ireland, Irish Family Planning Association, Mercy Law Resource Centre and Irish Council for Civil Liberties – will provide updates on how Ireland is fulfilling its UPR commitments made during the first UPR examination in 2011.
Commenting on the critical timing of Ireland’s next UPR review on 11 May 2016, Ms. Duffy continued, “the new cabinet will have its feet under the table by the time Ireland is due before the UN Human Rights Council and we will be interested to hear what the Irish State informs the UN regarding its protection of the most vulnerable in the wake of the economic crisis, which was a commitment made four years ago. In taking up the mantle, we hope that the incoming government will deliver a concrete and timely plan for UPR follow up, as a means of displaying their pledge to the protection and promotion of human rights”.
Note to Editor:
The Universal Periodic Review or UPR is a human rights monitoring mechanism created by the United Nations (UN) in 2006. Under the UPR, other UN countries review each other’s human rights record.
The UPR takes place at the UN Human Rights Council. The UPR aims to improve the human rights situation in each of the 193 countries within the UN. The UPR allows States to directly examine each other on their human rights record. In 2016, Ireland will be examined for the second time under UPR. Other UN countries will ask for updates on the implementation of previous UPR recommendations and new issues can be raised too. See www.rightsnow.ie for recommendations made to Ireland under the first UPR. Civil society has the opportunity to contribute to Ireland’s examination by providing evidence to the UN about the situation on the ground.
Specific Issues to be raised at the event today:
- Access to Abortion. Ireland continues to have one of the most restrictive abortion regimes in the world. Ireland rejected a number of recommendations at its first UPR in 2011, which called on the State to introduce legislation to provide for safe and legal abortion services for women and girls. The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 implemented the European Court of Human Rights judgment in A, B and C v Ireland, insofar as it permits access to abortion where a woman’s life is at risk. The denial of care by the health services and the stigma that is associated with the criminalisation of abortion exacerbate the financial, psychological and physical hardships that women who leave the state to access abortion services experience. Despite the recommendations of international human rights bodies and the World Health Organisation, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act re-criminalises abortion, imposing a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.
- Housing. Demand for housing so significantly outweighs the supply of rented accommodation that Ireland’s housing shortage has been said by some to be in crisis. In 2015, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights made recommendations to Ireland on tackling this housing crisis, including the introduction of legislation to regulate rent supplement levels, and to ‘take all measures necessary to meet the critical needs’ of the homeless, and those who are at great risk of becoming homeless. The previous Government’s 2014 Constitutional Convention raised the housing and homelessness crises, but no details of the subsequent Oireachtas Committee tasked with reviewing these issues have been made available.
- Rights of people with disabilities. Ireland has yet to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) which protects a range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as they relate to persons with disabilities. The Government recently published a roadmap of legislative reforms deemed necessary to allow for ratification of the UNCRPD to occur, but a major concern with this roadmap is the Government’s indication that it will enter a reservation to Article 27 in respect of reasonable accommodation.
The ‘Your Rights, Right Now’ Coalition is made up of: Age Action, Educate Together, Free Legal Advice Centres, Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, Immigrant Council of Ireland, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Irish Family Planning Association, Irish Penal Reform Trust, Irish Traveller Movement, Mercy Law Resource Centre, National Women’s Council of Ireland, NUI Galway, Centre for Disability Law & Policy, Pavee Point, Transgender Equality Network Ireland, Union of Students in Ireland, Disability Federation of Ireland.
More information on the coalition can be found at www.rightsnow.ie
Plain English Guide to UPR can be accessed here:
Your Rights. Right Now. Civil Society Report can be accessed here:
http://www.rightsnow.ie/assets/12/CA112F0B-5003-4355-994FBDD31DBB567F_document/DOC_1.pdf
‘UPR video: Voices from the Ground’ can be accessed here: