UN ANTI-TORTURE EXPERTS PROBE IRELAND’S RIGHTS RECORD
PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dublin/Geneva, 28 November 2013
The UN’s top anti-torture body, the Committee Against Torture (CAT) has today (28 November 2013) posed a series of tough questions about Ireland’s rights record. The Geneva-based expert Committee has zeroed in on issues including justice and redress for women held in the Magdalene Laundries, the absence of complaints mechanisms for prisoners and Ireland’s highly-restrictive abortion law.
This new list of issues requiring attention comes hard on the heels of the publication earlier this month of a list of UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) concerns about Ireland.
CAT has asked the Government to explain why there has been no prompt, thorough and independent investigation into the abuse perpetrated in the Magdalene Laundries; what measures will be taken to introduce effective complaint mechanisms for prisoners and how women in Ireland can access safe and legal abortions.
“While CAT rightly recognises that there has been progress in addressing some of the acute human rights issues in our prisons – particularly in relation to slopping out and overcrowding – it has once again focused on the persistent accountability deficit in the Irish prison system. It is clear that an independent complaints system is an essential element of the current programme of prison reform, and the best way to achieve this by the creation of an office of Prison Ombudsman”, said IPRT Executive Director Liam Herrick.
“For the second time in a month, Ireland’s cruelly restrictive abortion laws have been called into question by a United Nations treaty body. Today, the UN’s top anti-torture experts have added to an international consensus that the Government must act to end the degrading treatment of women seeking safe and legal abortions. This is especially true of women who have been diagnosed as carrying a foetus with a fatal abnormality” said ICCL Director, Mr Mark Kelly.
“A woman who receives the news that she is carrying a foetus with a fatal abnormality should be treated with dignity and be able to receive appropriate medical care, including a safe and lawful termination, here at home”, said Amanda Mellet of campaign group, Terminations for Medical Reasons (Ireland). Instead, Irish law currently requires that people in this most vulnerable of positions travel abroad, without any guarantee that they will be able to avail of appropriate follow-up care on their return to Ireland. This is both stigmatising and degrading.”
The Irish authorities are required to produce detailed answers to these UN questions and will appear in person before both the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) and the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) in, respectively, 2014 and 2015.
Note to editors
The ICCL and other Irish NGOs provided information to the HRC and CAT to assist them to frame relevant and topical questions about Ireland’s rights record.
The ICCL submission to the HRC can be found at this link:
The ICCL submission to CAT can be found at this link:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/IRL/INT_CAT_NGO_IRL_15586_E.pdf
The List of Issues Prior to Reporting published by the HRC on 13 November 2013 can be found at this link:
The List of Issues Prior to Reporting published by CAT today (28 November 2013) can be found at this link:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/IRL/CAT_C_IRL_Q_2_13042_E.doc
For further information please contact: Ciara Murphy, DHR Communications, at 087-9626231 / 01-4200580