21 February 2022
Ahead of the Cabinet meeting on the Institutional Burials Bill tomorrow, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has reiterated the key human rights issues which government must ensure are addressed in the new draft. If the government does not properly address these issues, its response will fall short of internationally binding human rights law.
ICCL has previously called for a transitional justice process to be applied to the whole system of family separation and incarceration in twentieth century Ireland. Transitional justice is based on five pillars: the right to truth; the right to justice; the right to reparation; guarantees of non-recurrence; and memorialisation.
- Victims of human rights violations are entitled to an effective remedy, which may include justice, truth and/or monetary compensation. This is particularly important from to ensure people have sufficient information to bring those responsible for human rights abuses to justice. This right is also relevant to people excluded from the proposed redress scheme.
- The State must effectively investigate unlawful or suspicious deaths as well as allegations of torture or ill-treatment. This will be important when Cabinet discuss exhumations, the jurisdiction of the coroners, and the role of An Garda Síochána. Inquests into those who died in Mother and Baby Homes must be provided for and if the Coroner’s jurisdiction is applied, government must ensure it is properly resourced to conduct effective coronial hearings.
- According to the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances, families of people who went missing in circumstances like those at the Mother and Baby Homes have the right to know the truth about the disappearance, the fate of the disappeared person, and the progress and results of any investigation. This is particularly important from the perspective of the women and children affected by forced adoption.
We reiterate our call for a transitional justice process to be put in place.
We also reiterate our call on government to ratify the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances to provide a blueprint for dealing with these gross, ongoing, rights violations.
ICCL previously wrote to a number of UN experts regarding the Mother and Baby Homes, leading eight of them – including those working on torture, enforced disapearances and contemporary slavery – to write to the Irish government warning against creating additional obstacles to justice.
ENDS/
Find ICCL’s 2021 submission on the previous Institutional Burials Bill: https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ICCL-submission-on-Institutional-Burials-Bill.pdf
Find our Opening Statement to the Oireachtas Children’s Committee: https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ICCL-Opening-Statement-to-Childrens-Committee-on-Institutional-Burials-Bill.pdf
Find the letter from 8 UN experts to the Irish government: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=26772
Find ICCL’s 2021 report on the need for reform of the coroners system: https://www.iccl.ie/report/iccl-report-on-the-coroners-system/
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) is Ireland’s oldest independent human rights campaigning organisation. We monitor, educate and campaign to secure human rights for everyone in Ireland.
For comment: Doireann Ansbro, Head of Legal and Policy
For media queries: sinead.nolan@iccl.ie