In every action of the Irish Section of Amnesty International lies the imprint of the unseen, unacknowledged, powerless person whose inalienable civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights are being violated. The work of the section lobbying the Government is of immense importance.
Behind all the campaigning, the recommendations and the endless letters is the fate of a real person, who has or had, a unique history and whose rights as proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should have been protected.
The relationship, thus, between the Government and Amnesty International’s Irish Section is not a straightforward one. There is a natural tension between the determination of Amnesty to build an ever increasing real political commitment to human rights and the Government 's conflicting priorities and strategic interests. The Section policy is to build relations with the Irish Government in order to be as effective as possible in its human rights work.
Constructive engagement has included lobbying
for a central place for human rights policy in the Government’s
1996 White Paper on Foreign Policy, and in the mandates of the human
rights mechanisms established on foot of the White Paper. It has also
involved active membership of the Joint Department of Foreign Affairs
/ NGO Standing Committee on Human Rights and, where appropriate,
qualified support for Government efforts to develop its human rights
policy in practical ways. The central purpose of this work has been
to constantly remind the State of its legal obligations to promote
and protect human rights both within Ireland and through its foreign
policy.
Over the years, it has become apparent that the State has not always been in a position to ensure that its domestic and foreign policy are in compliance with international human rights standards. However, until now, there has been no detailed public review of the Government’s human rights performance, against which its compliance with international standards could be meaningfully assessed. The preparation by the Irish Section of a detailed audit of Ireland’s compliance with international human rights standards therefore seemed to represent a natural progression in the Section’s constructive engagement in this area.
While the audit is detailed, it does not claim to be comprehensive. In the area of domestic policy, the audit focuses on the State’s protection of three key rights: the right to freedom from ill-treatment, the right to seek asylum and the right to a fair trial. Foreign policy issues are examined using a case study approach, in which the emphasis is on the lessons which ought to be learned from Ireland’s recent Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
On reading the audit, it is clear that it has effectively highlighted a number of issues of acute and immediate concern, including the lack of accountability of Irish law enforcement officials and the failure to tackle gross violations of human rights in the Chechen Republic. However, while it is always important to draw attention to such matters, this is not the audit’s principal purpose. Rather, it seeks to engage with the enduring paradox that while States are the principal violators of human rights, they are also vested with primary responsibility for protecting those rights.
Ireland has made some laudable efforts to develop its human rights policy, but the audit clearly shows that more concerted action is required to strengthen the State’s existing human rights mechanisms.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has a Human Rights Unit, but it is tiny, overworked and has laughable resources. Dáil Éireann has at least two Parliamentary Committees which could play a far greater role in monitoring the effectiveness of the Government’s human rights policy. This audit should be read as a call to action by the officials, parliamentarians and Ministers who have the capacity to buttress these mechanisms.
The audit is also a platform from which the Irish Section expresses its support for an entirely new human rights mechanism: the Irish Human Rights Commission. It would be presumptuous of Amnesty International to seek to set the agenda of this new body, but I hope that the Commission will share many of the concerns expressed in the audit, and respond favourably to the Irish Section’s offer to assist its work in any way possible.
As Ireland looks forward to a two year tenure on the Security Council of the United Nations, more eyes than ever will turn upon the State’s own human rights performance, both at home and abroad. In the constructive spirit which has been the hallmark of relations between Amnesty International’s Irish Section and the Irish Government, it is my hope that the publication of this audit will serve to sharpen our scrutiny of the extent to which the State’s domestic and foreign policy is in compliance with international human rights standards.
There has to be no higher aspiration than Civil Service. Government Ministers, parliamentarians and government officials chose this work. In doing so, they cannot allow overwork, tiredness, politics or apathy to blind them to their unique personal responsibility that every policy and action they take, must by its nature be just and fair and for which they
are held accountable.
Mary Lawlor