19 April 2021
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has identified serious human rights difficulties with the current mandatory hotel quarantine system, and has called for the current system to be suspended if these issues cannot be addressed.
ICCL Executive Director Liam Herrick said:
“The Irish Constitution and numerous international treaties contain a number of safeguards against arbitrary detention, including requirements of necessity and proportionality, and the requirement for a robust appeal process. Unfortunately, the reports on hotel quarantine so far shows that these standards are not being met.”
ICCL has carried out an analysis of the main human rights issues raised by this regime. In it we signal particularly that the Constitution requires that the State employ detention as a very last resort. It is not clear that government has fully exhausted all other options of disease control before reaching for quarantine, including supervised home quarantine and testing systems.
ICCL also flags difficulties with the lack of clear and consistent criteria and decisions on designated states; the inadequate provision for consideration of individual circumstances and hardship cases; the insufficient appeals process; and the lengthy stay required in quarantine when international public health advice suggests 5-7 days should be sufficient.
ICCL is also alarmed at reports of poor conditions in the detention centres engaging issues in relation to private and family life.
ENDS/
Find the legal briefing on mandatory quarantine here: https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ICCL-briefing-on-mandatory-quarantine.pdf
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: Liam Herrick
For media queries: sinead.nolan@iccl.ie 087 4157162