15 November 2024
ICCL met members of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the Council of Europe’s human rights monitoring body on racism, discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in Europe, during its November monitoring mission to Ireland.
As part of its mandate, ECRI monitors progress made by Council of Europe member States, making recommendations to address any identified issues of racism and intolerance.
This is the sixth time ECRI is examining Ireland’s record. The Commission last published its views and recommendations on advancing human rights in Ireland in 2019, followed by an update in 2021 on the status of implementation of priority recommendations in the area of Traveller accommodation, hate crime and extreme hate speech.
In June 2024, ICCL provided written information on a variety of issues including hate crime, policing of minorities, discriminatory bias associated with the use of facial recognition technology in policing, and algorithmic amplification of online hate. During the meeting with the ECRI delegation, ICCL provided updated information, including on the passage of hate crime legislation and the disappointing removal of measures to switch off algorithmic recommender system from the Online Safety Code.
We look forward to reading ECRI’s final report on how Ireland can keep advancing the agenda to tackle racism, intolerance and discrimination. We also call on the State to publish its written contribution to ECRI to ensure full transparency in this human rights monitoring exercise.