ICCL members Archives - Irish Council for Civil Liberties

Rights-based Policing: Visions for change from the community

Where: Radisson Blu Hotel, Dublin 8

When: 18 July, 18:30 (following ICCL AGM)

Registration: https://gardavisionsforchange.eventbrite.ie

With two months to go until the Commission on the Future of Policing reports, ICCL is convening a discussion between social justice experts and activists who have hands-on experience of Garda interaction with children in the criminal justice and care systems, with young people in Dublin’s Inner City, and with the Traveller community.

Gareth Noble is a partner at KOD Lyons solicitors, working primarily in the areas of children’s law, disability law and human rights.
Fiona Whelan is the artist behind “Policing Dialogues” (2010), which aimed to change Garda culture and practice particularly regarding ‘stop and search’ of young people in Dublin’s Inner City.
David Joyce is a solicitor and Travellers’ rights advocate, who will discuss policy (or lack thereof) on issues such as hate crime, as well as discrimination against the Traveller community by Gardaí

Responding to these experiences and speakers will be Alyson Kilpatrick BL. Alyson was the Human Rights Advisor to the Northern Ireland Policing Board from 2009 – 2017 and has a wealth of knowledge of how a human rights-based approach can change the culture, practices and outcomes of policing even after decades of confrontation and distrust. In February 2018 ICCL commissioned Alyson to undertake research on how a human rights-based approach to policing could be achieved in Ireland, with a grant from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission aimed at improving implementation of the Public Sector Human Rights and Equality Duty.

A key aspect of this rights-based approach is providing equal protection and respect for the rights of all individuals and communities with whom the police interact. A human rights-based approach also requires the police service to respond to the particular needs and experiences of individuals and groups who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, poverty, crime, and other forms of disadvantage.

The aim of this event is to tease out, in practical terms, what difference a human rights-based approach to policing could make to members of communities that have particular experiences with An Garda Síochána. Please come along for the debate.

ICCL’s work in the area of garda reform is supported by the Community Foundation for Ireland through its donor-advised grant scheme.

Members’ Report on Referendum to Repeal the 8th

The overwhelming vote of the Irish people on 25 May to repeal the 8th Amendment was a watershed moment for human rights and equality in Ireland. Many of the ICCL membership have played key roles in the long battle against the 8th over the past 35 years. The members and supporters of ICCL also played an important part in ICCL’s work on this issue. ICCL membership fees support our political work, including when we take a position on a referendum question. Below we set out the specific activities which we have undertaken to contribute to this historic moment.

Irish people celebrate the historic yes vote on 25 May

ICCL’s history of campaigning for reproductive rights

The ICCL opposed the 8th Amendment to the Constitution in 1983 on the grounds that it would cause confusion and be unworkable in practice, and that it would not prevent women living in Ireland from needing and seeking abortions. In 1992 the ICCL opposed the referendum proposal to prohibit abortion where a woman’s life was at risk by suicide, and supported the constitutional amendments that guaranteed the freedom to travel and the freedom to impart and obtain information about abortion services abroad. The ICCL published a detailed policy paper in 2001 arguing against a further proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit abortion in cases of suicide risk. The paper criticised the government’s failure to address honestly the needs of the thousands of women who travelled abroad each year for abortion and the discrimination suffered by women and girls who were unable to travel.

In recent years the ICCL has made submissions to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the UN Committee Against Torture calling for the repeal of Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution, the decriminalisation of abortion, and the introduction of legislation providing for access to abortion in Ireland. The ICCL’s submission to the Citizens’ Assembly in 2016 is available here.

We published a position paper on the 8th Amendment in 2017.

The International Network of Civil Liberties Organisations (INCLO)

ICCL was a founder member of INCLO in 2013 and one of the pillar areas of work of the Network is Religious Freedom and Equal Treatment. Under that pillar, INCLO has taken a particular interest in the issue of abortion rights and ICCL hosted and international convening on abortion rights in Dublin in November 2017. The timing of the event allowed a platform for international activists and experts to share their experiences and perspectives in advance of the final report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the 8th Amendment. Our international colleagues also had the opportunity to meet with leading Irish activists and members of the Oireachtas during the event. For details of the event see here.

Bongiwe Gumede of South Africa’s Legal Resource Centre addresses the INCLO conference in Dublin

ICCL and the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth

ICCL was a founder member of the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth in 2015 and provided logistical support to the Coalition in its early phases. We have played an active part in the Coalition’s work at all stages. In February 2018, as the Government committed to holding a referendum for repeal the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth joined with the National Women’s Council of Ireland and the Abortion Rights Campaign to form Together For Yes as the campaigning body for the referendum. Together for Yes was launched in March with ICCL as a member of its platform of civil society organisations. ICCL actively participated in the campaign platform and director Liam Herrick spoke at the Cork launch of Together for Yes.

Repeal the Eighth coalition flags on Dublin’s O’Connell Street during the 2017 March for Choice

Funding the Referendum Campaign

Once the proposition for the Referendum was published, the Executive of the ICCL Members Association registered as a Third Party for the period of the Referendum. In line with the requirements of the Electoral Acts, by registering as a Third Party which would campaign in the referendum, the ICCL Members Association was committing that only authorised donations could be used to fund any activities which were aimed at supporting a particular outcome in the referendum. Only ICCL members’ fees were used to fund our campaign activities – these being of an order of €40 per person and all from Irish citizens. By registering the ICCL Members Association as a Third Party (as ICCL has done in previous referendums), we separated our campaign activities from the other non-political work of ICCL, including our charitable work and our work which is funded by trusts and foundations.

The ICCL campaign

ICCL launched our own campaign Her Rights, which focused on the human rights impact of the referendum over the past 35 years. You can find details of the campaign here.

ICCL also joined with members of the legal professions and Lawyers for Choice to work with the sub-group Lawyers for Yes, which acted as the legal arm of the overall Together for Yes Campaign. Together with these groups, ICCL provided legal comment and analysis through the campaign. Liam Herrick provided comment at a press conference on 30 April and spoke at a briefing for members of the Oireachtas on 2 May.

In the final week of the campaign, ICCL hosted a multi-media public event at Smock Alley theatre, entitled Under the 8^th, which recalled the history of the 8th from 1983 and celebrated the role of the key leading activists who have led the fight against the amendment – including Pauline Conroy, Justice Catherine McGuinness, Ivana Bacik, Catherine Forde and Máiréad Enright. Read more here.

Activists at ICCL Under the Eighth event

During the course of the referendum, a number of issues emerged about restrictions on artistic freedom of expression, whereby visual artists and writers had events or works censored, restricted or cancelled due to their political content. ICCL led the resistance to these developments. We issued a policy paper on freedom of artistic and political expression and we publicly launched this paper by commissioning our own mural. We unveiled this mural a week before the Referendum, and leading members of the arts community, including poet Paula Meehan and Project Arts Centre’s Cian O’Brien, spoke at the invigorating event in Phibsboro. Read more here.

Orla O’Connor of NWCI and Together for Yes with ICCL’s Liam Herrick, poet Paula Meehan, Project Arts Centre’s Cian O’Brien and artist Giant Sigh

Work for the Future

In the aftermath of the result, ICCL is continuing to work with partner organisations, including the Irish Family Planning Association and the National Women’s Council, to ensure that the legislation is compliant with human rights standards. As we have done since our foundation, ICCL will continue to work for women’s rights including reproductive rights.

We will also shortly launch a project aimed at protecting and widening the space within which civil society can operate. This will aim, amongst other issues, at reform of the Electoral Acts of 2001, at protecting artistic and political freedom of expression during referendum periods, and at reform of the Charities Act so that it includes human rights work as a charitable purpose.

Opinion: should we allow foreign donations to support the activities of Irish civil society organisations?

by Professor Ray Murphy (Irish Centre for Human Rights)

Civil society organisations such as the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Amnesty International play a vital role in promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms. One of the chief ways they do this is by holding the government to account. They are also engaged in advocacy on issues within their respective mandates.

Sometimes the campaigns adopted by such organisations may not be to everyone’s liking, especially the relevant government when its policies are subject to informed criticism. In this way, civil society organisations play a key role in a functioning democracy, especially when it comes to political accountability.

The recent controversy in relation to Amnesty International’s refusal to return a large donation it received from outside Ireland to support the campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment is a case in point. In the eyes of the public, this issue and the abortion debate are conflated. This is a mistake as there are more fundamental issues at stake about the role and funding of civil society organisations in general.

In January, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the EU’s centre of human rights expertise that helps to ensure the fundamental rights of people living in the EU are protected, published an important report on the challenges facing civil society organisations working on human rights in the EU. The report provides a timely insight into the situation throughout the Union and is especially relevant to Ireland, owing to the recent controversy surrounding the interpretation of the 1997 Electoral Act as amended.

The controversy revolves around the interpretation of a 2001 amendment to the 1997 Electoral Act and its enforcement by the Standards in Public Office Commission. The legislation was originally intended to prevent political corruption and regulate political campaign funding. However, it is now being interpreted broadly and it is being applied to the ordinary work of community and voluntary organisations. Legitimate fears have been expressed that there is a real risk that these laws may be used to potentially muzzle legitimate and important voices in civil society such as community organisations, non-profits, charities and international NGOs among others.

The EU Fundamental Rights Agency noted the vague wording of the 1997 Act as amended and the tendency to interpret it in an overly expansive manner. It drew particular attention to the broad definition of political purpose and its potential adverse impact on civil society organisations in Ireland and noted that funding for this sector had fallen dramatically in recent years. In addition, investigations are often triggered by complaints to the regulatory body, so enforcement can inadvertently be selectively targeted.

“The publicity generated by this dispute and the forthcoming referendum on abortion has distracted from the broader debate about the implications for the wider civil society sector”

A further problem with the Electoral Act is the ambiguous language used to define a “third party” (the mechanism used to classify the types of groups which fall under the Act’s provisions). Since 2001, the definition of what constitutes a third party includes any organisation simply seeking to influence government or public policy that has received a donation in excess of €100. This is at the heart of the current dispute between the Standards in Public Office Commission and Amnesty International Ireland. The publicity generated by this dispute and the forthcoming referendum on abortion has distracted from the broader debate about the implications for the wider civil society sector.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of assembly and peaceful association has drawn attention to the work of civil societies in advancing peace, development and respect for human rights. He recommended that they be able to receive funding from domestic, foreign or international sources without undue impediments. The UN Human Rights Council has repeatedly emphasised that undue restrictions of civil society space have a negative impact on implementing international human rights standards.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has also highlighted the shrinking space for human rights organisations and their important role in keeping people informed. He called for a flexible approach to funding sources and for states to refrain from imposing burdensome administrative requirements.

EU countries such as Hungary and states such as Russia, Ethiopia and Israel have sought to prevent foreign sources of funding to civil society organisations. Irish Aid has funded civil society organisations abroad. Non governmental organisations such as Trocaire, Concern Worldwide and Christian Aid have also supported civil society organisations in the Global South. More recently, Irish Aid has stipulated that none of its aid should used for political purposes. This raises the question of how an aid agency is supposed to support a civil society organisation defending human rights against an oppressive regime or in occupied territory.

“Criticising such policies was fine when they applied to other countries, but now a similar situation has emerged in Ireland”

Supporting such activities is important and engaging local civil society actors can be the most effective and efficient use of resources. The irony is that we are now closing down similar activities in Ireland. The challenging environment for civil society is also hampered by similar rules governing the purpose and activities of charities. These constrain the nature of the activities they are permitted to undertake to obtain and maintain their charitable status.

It is not surprising that the EU Fundamental Rights Agency report highlights that it has become harder for civil society groups to support the protection and promotion of human rights due to both legal and practical restrictions on how they operate. The challenges faced vary from state to state and depend on the type and size of the organisations involved as well as the particular domestic and historical contexts.

Criticising such policies was fine when they applied to other countries, but now a similar situation has emerged in Ireland. The legislative framework needs to be reformed and civil society given the space to survive and grow. We have a very active and diverse civil society sector, and like Ireland’s non-governmental organisations, these have served us well. Anything that keeps people engaged and informed must be facilitated and promoted. Democracy is too fragile and important to leave to governments or its agencies to nourish and protect.