Press release, for immediate release
19 September 2011
The Council of Europe has taken a firm line on the need for Ireland to take concrete action to implement last year’s decision on abortion by the European Court of Human Rights.
At its September Human Rights Meeting, the Strasbourg-based Committee of Ministers “underlined the importance of putting in place substantive measures to execute the judgment” and requested to be kept informed of the precise steps that Ireland will take to implement it.
The implementation of the judgment will now be closely supervised by the Committee of Ministers under its “enhanced” supervision process, which applies to judgments raising the most serious problems identified by the European Court of Human Rights or by the Committee of Ministers.
Speaking today (19 September 2011) shortly after the decision of the Committee of Ministers was released, ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said:
“It is probable that a woman in position of the victim in this case would be treated in exactly the same manner today, in clear violation of her rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The mere creation of an “expert group” to look into the matter is not a substantive measure to implement this legally-binding judgment by Europe’s top court. Consequently, the ICCL welcomes this clear signal from the Committee of Ministers that it will take a firm line on the need for abortion law reform in Ireland.”
“We also welcome the decision of the Committee of Ministers to carry out “enhanced” supervision of the concrete steps taken by the Irish authorities to implement the judgment. Given the long history of legislative intransigence since the 1992 Supreme Court decision in the “X” case, there is clearly a need for intensive international monitoring to ensure that the Irish authorities will act to meet their human rights obligations”.
The Committee of Ministers was assisted in its consideration of this case by formal submissions by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and the Irish Family Planning Association, which highlighted shortcomings in the scope, extent and efficiency of the Irish Government’s implementation proposals.
For more information, please contact:
Walter Jayawardene
Communications Manager
Irish Council for Civil Liberties
9-13 Blackhall Place
Dublin 7
Ireland
Tel. + 353 1 799 4503
Mob: +353 87 9981574
Fax. + 353 1 799 4512
E-mail walter.jayawardene@iccl.ie
NOTE TO EDITORS:
The Committee of Ministers decision in relation to the implementation of the case of A, B and C Ireland is available at this link (at agenda item B.4):
https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=CM/Del/Dec%282011%291120&Language=lanEnglish&Ver=immediat&Site=CM&BackColorInternet=C3C3C3&BackColorIntranet=EDB021&BackColorLogged=F5D383
The ICCL’s 4-page communication was submitted to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers under rule 9(2) of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers for the supervision of the execution of judgments and of the terms of friendly settlements (adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 10 May 2006 at the 964th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies). It is available at this link: https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=DH-DD%282011%29645&Language=lanEnglish&Site=CM
The communication by the Irish Family Planning Association is available at this link:
https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=1903720&SecMode=1&DocId=1771596&Usage=2
These communications relate to the implementation by the Government of Ireland of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) in the case of A, B and C v Ireland. The judgment is available at this link: http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=1&portal=hbkm&action=html&highlight=Ireland%20|%20A%2CB%20|%20C%20|%20v&sessionid=78373408&skin=hudoc-en
In its judgment, the Court found “that the authorities failed to comply with their positive obligation to secure to the third applicant effective respect for her private life by reason of the absence of any implementing legislative or regulatory regime providing an accessible and effective procedure by which the third applicant could have established whether she qualified for a lawful abortion in Ireland in accordance with Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution.”
In 16 June 2011, the Government of Ireland submitted an “Action Plan” to the Committee of Ministers indicating that it is “committed to ensuring that the judgment in this case is implemented expeditiously”. It is available at this link: https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1802037&Site=CM&BackColorInternet=C3C3C3&BackColorIntranet=EDB021&BackColorLogged=F5D383
In the view of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the publication / dissemination measures and the individual measures set out in the Government’s “Action Plan” fully comply with the State’s obligations; however, the general measures proposed by the Government of Ireland do not amount to expeditious implementation of the Court’s judgment.