Ireland’s human rights watchdog, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has cautiously welcomed Government plans to call upon the new US administration to respect human rights by ending rendition, closing Guantánamo Bay and ceasing to use torture to interrogate prisoners.
The rights body pointed out however, that these moves have come very late in the day, after years of campaigning by the ICCL and others against Ireland’s collusion in rendition.
Speaking this morning (1 November 2008), ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said:
‘At the eleventh hour, on the eve of a US election, the Government has realised that the writing is on the wall where its longstanding collusion in rendition is concerned. Playing poacher turned gamekeeper is unlikely to impress the new US administration.’
‘A Government that is genuinely committed to respecting human rights at home and abroad would not be inflicting swingeing budgetary cuts on its own Human Rights Commission and Equality Authority, nor would it have deleted human rights as a charitable purpose from legislation currently before the Dáil’ he added. ‘
The ICCL welcomes the fact that the Government has finally heeded its call to distance itself from the unlawful practices of the Bush administration. However, far more action will be needed before the ICCL is convinced that the Government’s renewed interest in the protection of human rights is driven by principle as opposed to political expediency’ he concluded.