On the 23 and 24 May 2011 the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) reviewed Ireland's human rights record in preventing torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment for the first time.
Coinciding with this review, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) launched their Joint Shadow Report to the Review of Ireland under the United Nations Convention against Torture. This makes 50 recommendations to Government about meeting its human rights obligations. The Report is a response by civil society to the State's 2009 report to UNCAT, and has been endorsed by 31 Irish NGOs including FLAC. It covers a wide range of issues facing Ireland, including the falling rate of refugee recognition; non-refoulement, deportation and extraordinary rendition; and inhuman and degrading conditions in prisons. The Report's recommendations include the eradication of "slopping out", the provision of access to a lawyer during Garda interviews for detainees, and the introduction of an independent oversight of decisions to refuse leave to land at ports of entry.
The public hearing before UNCAT involved a high-level government delegation, as well as an advance briefing from a team of Irish NGOs (including the authors of the ICCL and IPRT Report). The Committee expressed serious concern about Ireland's increasing decline in recognition rates for refugees, with Ireland currently rejecting 98.5% of refugee status applications. The Committee suggested that the recession was provoking tough policies on immigration, urged reform and noted that the current rate of 1.5% (well below the EU average recognition rate of 27%) was "a little extreme". Commenting on the low recognition rate at the launch of the Report, John Stanley of the Irish Refugee Council said "it is impossible to exclude the risk that some people with a well-founded fear of persecution may be returned to places where there is a risk of torture and ill-treatment."
Readers of the Bulletin may recall the Irish Human Rights Commission's Report to the UN Committee Against Torture ahead of the Committee's review. Details of the IHRC briefing to UNCAT on the need for a comprehensive policy to protect the rights of people in all places of detention and a complete overhaul of penal policy can be found here.
On 3 June 2011 UNCAT will make concluding observations and recommendations to the State. However, UNCAT has no power to force the Government to comply.
To see the Joint Shadow Report in full, please click here.
To see the webcasts from the UNCAT hearing and responses last week, please click here and here.