The Government came under pressure over the poor condition of the State's prisons when its human rights record was put under scrutiny today at the United Nations in Geneva.
Questioned for three hours by fellow member states as part of the UN's universal periodic review, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter defended the government's performance in areas such as children's rights and mental health. He said Ireland would act quickly to implement a recent ruling on abortion by the European Court of Human Rights and was "seriously considering" conferring ethnic minority status on Travellers.
Some of the most persistent criticism of Ireland centred on prison conditions, however, with some 15 states expressing concern and urging action on poor sanitation, over-crowding and violence among detainees. Mr Shatter said he would bring these concerns back to Dublin but took issue with claims that excessive violence was a major issue.
"Factually, that isn't the case," he said in response to questions from Denmark and other states. "I don't think our prison system in that context is any different to other EU states."
The hearing in Geneva was the first time Ireland has had to answer for its record under the universal periodic review. A report including recommendations for Ireland is due to be adopted next Monday.
In response to questions about abortion, Mr Shatter said the Government was committed to "expeditious" implementation of the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the A, B and C case. An expert group would be appointed next month, and he pledged to deal with the abortion issue in an "adequate and comprehensive" way.
Mr Shatter reaffirmed an "absolute commitment" to hold a referendum next year to enshrine children's rights in the constitution. "We accept that the HSE has failed to deliver adequately their statutory obligation to ensure children's protection," he said, adding that a proposed single new agency would improve the situation.
A number of countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Slovakia, challenged Mr Shatter on Travellers' rights. He noted concerns about health problems and said he was giving "serious consideration" to conferring ethnic minority status on the community.
The Government was urged repeatedly to ratify a number of international conventions it has signed but not acted on. Mr Shatter said Ireland hoped to sign a new protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by the end of the year. This would allow people to take cases to the UN if they feel they have been wronged by the state on issues such as health, education and housing.
He also vowed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol of the Convention Against Torture.
Signing a treaty signifies that a country intends to abide by a treaty, but a treaty does not have the force of international law until it is ratified. The policy of the government has been that necessary national legislation must first be in place before the government will ratify an international agreement.
President of the Irish Human Rights Committee Dr Maurice Manning said creating national law to support a treaty can be a legitimate reason for a country signing a treaty but not ratifying it.
“You have a choice of a ratifying it but not being in a position to implement it,” Dr Manning said, “Or you can sign the treaty but not ratify it because for you all of the pieces aren’t in place.”
Gerard Quinn, Director of Disability Law and Policy said status of the disability treaty was still within the bounds of what is permissible because of sticky legislation, but that inaction on treaty ratification could have negative side affects.
“Although there is a delay it’s laudable because there are some countries that ratify but leave atrocious laws in place,” Quinn said.
“The other side of the equations is if you do sign, and the period of time between signing and ratification is unduly long, it might in some eyes produce cynicism.”
Deirdre Duffy of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the response is legitimate, but after four or five years, “you then begin to question certain political priorities.”
The organization is not alone.
“A lot of people in the NGO committee feel that the government is being too precious about this,” said former human rights commissioner Michael Farrell.
The review puts Ireland’s record on treaty ratification under external scrutiny. However, there is no mechanism for any international organization to monitor Ireland’s legislative progress.
“That in a way is the whole problem,” said Mr Farrell. “If they can say that they are processing legislation as fast as possible, but there’s nobody there to check that.”
Mr Shatter emphasized that “our current system, while overly bureaucratic and too time consuming” meets the necessary requirements of international law.
