Low levels of political representation among Traveller and Roma women in Ireland have been criticised during a Government delegation’s appearance before a United Nations committee.
Ireland was examined on Friday by a UN committee on women’s rights with regard to its compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Ireland last faced questioning by the Geneva-based CEDAW committee in 2017.
The delegation also heard calls for guarantees to protect the human rights of sex workers, an assessment of the number of victims of child trafficking, and for complete restorative justice in relation to the mother and baby home redress scheme.
The delegation was also questioned on women’s healthcare including access to abortion and contraception.
The marginalisation of migrant, Traveller and Roma women dominated concerns voiced by the CEDAW committee, which consists of 23 human rights experts, with employment levels and political representation among topics raised. The implementation of education strategies addressing sexism and gender stereotyping was also discussed by the delegation.
Committee vice-chairperson Marianne Mikko said Ireland had “not produced meaningful representation” of minority women in politics. Ms Mikko highlighted Government failure “to adopt legislative quotas which accelerate the participation of minority women in political and public life”, as called on by the last committee in 2017.
“One Traveller woman in the Senate is good but not sufficient,” she said.
Speaking as a representative of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, Lisa Hughes outlined some initiatives the State has taken to increase the inclusion of Traveller and Roma women in public life.
Ms Hughes said: “A specific action to promote the participation of Traveller and Roma women in political and community participation is included in the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, published last year.”
She added that a policy paper was discussed at the steering committee of the strategy when it met on May 21st last year “to look at the Roma capacity to engage with policymaking”.
Mother and baby redress scheme
In her opening statement, committee rapporteur Jelena Pia-Comella said the committee “remains concerned at the lack of rights based investigations and reparations to the survivors of abuse” in mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries, schools, residential institutions and survivors of the practice of symphysiotomy.
Responding to concerns raised surrounding the scope of the mother and baby redress scheme, Carol Baxter, assistant secretary justice from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality said that payments given to date “range in nature from €11,000-100,000, so they very much reflect the fact that people who were in Magdalene institutions often had very difficult experiences there”.
Ms Baxter confirmed the scheme is available to people living abroad “and has always been”, when asked.
“The State has been very conscious of the need for a proactive approach to make sure that the broadest number of women qualify,” said Ms Baxter, adding that it had commissioned senior counsel Mary O’Toole to look at cases where there was a dispute over the length of stay in the institutions.
The committee were told that Ms O’Toole reviewed 231 cases and “already has recommended additional payments”, and in a majority of cases payments have been made.
Her report has been finalised and will be published very shortly, Ms Baxter said.
Women’s healthcare
In the afternoon session Ana Peláez Narváez, of the UN committee raised the issue of community provision of abortion services, asking: “Given the low percentage of GPs providing abortion services, how are you combatting the stigma against abortion and conscientious objection by medical professionals?”
Ms Narváez also questioned barriers to accessing contraception, noting that the free contraception scheme currently excludes anyone outside the ages of 17-35. “How you are going to actually make it universal?”
Speaking on behalf of the Department of Health, Dilly O’Brien said “all 19 maternity hospitals in Ireland are now providing termination services.”
Ms O’Brien said that “there have also been a substantial increase in community providers,” the number of which “now stands at 462, a rise of over 50 in the past three years, with very good geographic spread to meet the needs of the women in Ireland.”
The committee was told that the number of women availing of termination services in 2023 was 10,033, while 214 Irish women went abroad to seek such services in 2022.
Addressing the committee’s questions on contraception, Ms O’Brien said that the scheme is being expanded “in a phased manner”.
“It is envisioned that it will encompass the full reproductive age range of women aged 17-55 once the scheme has been fully implemented in due course.”
