Un Committee Raises Numerous Human Rights Issues with Ireland
By Patsy McGarry
The Government has been challenged by the UN Human Rights Committee on what measures it has taken “to prohibit all corporal punishment of children in all settings”. It has also been asked to explain the narrowness of abortion provision in the new Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, and the lack of an independent inquiry into the Magdalene laundries. Ireland’s treatment of asylum seekers and Travellers has also been raised, as have the issues of overcrowded prisons and why members of the judiciary must take a religious oath. The committee queried measures taken by the State to ensure Garda co-operation with the Garda Ombudsman and, where Roma communities in Ireland are concerned, it asked the Government to “please clarify specific measures taken to ensure their . . . right to be protected against arbitrary interference with their family life”. On women it asked for measures to be taken “to meet the 40 per cent target in all State board positions as outlined in the Programme for a National Government 2011- 2016”. Detailed list of issues The committee yesterday published a detailed list of issues it plans to raise with the Government at a hearing in Geneva next July. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed last night the Government had received the queries and would be responding to them prior to the hearing, which begins on July 7th. In the document published yesterday the committee sought clarification on whether the State intended to broaden access to abortion in Ireland “including when the pregnancy poses a risk to the health of the pregnant woman, where the pregnancy is the result of a crime, such as rape or incest, cases of fatal foetal abnormalities, or when it is established that the foetus will not survive outside the womb”.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.