Amnesty notes increase in racially-motivated attacks

An erosion of tolerance towards minorities and an increase in racially-motivated attacks on refugees and asylum-seekers were among the main observations on human rights in Ireland in the Amnesty International annual report for 1999, published yesterday.

Progress in Northern Ireland was also noted in the report, which detailed human rights abuses and improvements in more than 140 countries and territories.

Amnesty noted with satisfaction the Republic's draft legislation for the creation of a human rights commission with powers of inquiry, monitoring and review.

It also raised issues of asylum legislation; procedures on complaints against the Garda; inquests; inquiries into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in 1974 and the bombing of a pub in Dundalk in 1975; the review of the Offences Against the State Act; the disestablishment of the non-jury Special Criminal Court; and the repeal of provisions permitting internment without trial.

It noted the appointment of the former chief justice, Mr Liam Hamilton, to carry out a judicial inquiry into the bombings and into allegations of security force collusion with loyalist groups. While noting Mr Hamilton's "private" inquiry, Amnesty has called for a public inquiry.

Amnesty also said certain provisions in Irish legislation failed to make a distinction between professional profiteers and those assisting genuine asylum-seekers.

On the European level, Amnesty expressed concern about the rise of right-wing policies in Austria and restraint practices in Switzerland and Belgium involving blocking breathing passages, which had led to death.

On a worldwide level, Amnesty said the countries causing concern on police brutality were as diverse as the US, Ecuador, Jamaica and Brazil. The Russian military offensive in Chechnya and the ethnic abuses in Kosovo were of particular concern.

Arguing that none of the human rights tragedies around the world in recent years had been unpredictable or unavoidable, Ms Mary Lawlor, Amnesty International's Irish director, said the warning signs "were all there for the world to see and governments to take action on".