Pia Janning is Research and Policy Officer (Equality) with the Irish Council of Civil Liberties.
In May 2016, Ireland was reviewed for the second time under the Universal Periodic Review. 262 recommendations were made to Ireland by its fellow UN Members, spanning a vast array of issues including reproductive rights, housing and homelessness, the impact of austerity, Traveller ethnicity, hate crime, disability rights, the rights of migrants and many more.
This September, the State provided its final response to the recommendations made. 176 recommendations were accepted, 46 partially accepted and 40 rejected.
While the positive engagement of the State in the UPR process was welcomed, the non-acceptance of 40 recommendations is worrying, including on the continued existence of the Special Criminal Courts and the negative impacts of budget cuts on economic, social and cultural rights such as health and an adequate standard of living. The State’s position that social welfare supports protected the most vulnerable during the economic crisis stands in stark contrast to the experiences reported by Your Rights. Right Now coalition members, in particular of vulnerable groups such as older people and people with disabilities.
For example, in its Pre-Budget Submission 2016, Age Action calculated that between January 2009 and January 2015 the weekly incomes of older people dependent on the State Pension and secondary income supports (Household Benefits Package and the Fuel Allowance) fell by €13.18 per week. While Budget 2016 provided a €3 increase in the weekly rate of the state pension along with the restoration of 75 per cent of the Christmas Bonus, almost half of the income lost by pensioners between 2009 and 2015 has still not been restored.
The abolition of two key transport supports for people with disabilities in 2013-the Mobility Allowance and the Motorised Transport Grant-without replacement and the negative impact on people with disabilities, was also highlighted by the Disability Federation of Ireland.
The State’s non-acceptance, without proper justification, of 16 out of 17 recommendations made to it on abortion, was disappointing but not surprising when one considers that since 2011, 4 UN Treaty Bodies have all recommended that Ireland bring its abortion laws in line with international human rights standards, with very little change. Furthermore, in Mellet v Ireland, June 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee concluded that the State had violated Ms Mellet’s rights by denying her access to abortion services in Ireland upon learning that her pregnancy had a fatal foetal impairment. The only accepted UPR recommendation relates to the need for further consideration of the issue.
While a Citizen’s Assembly has been established to consider, inter alia, abortion law reform, no details have yet been published on how the Assembly will function, how recommendations will be considered and in what timeframe. The positive recommendation of the 2013 Convention on the Constitution was a key milestone in securing Marriage Equality, but many issues considered by the Convention remain outstanding, including reform of Article 41.2 regarding the role of women in the home, blasphemy laws, and the recommendation to give greater constitutional protection to economic, social and cultural rights. Given the complexity of the issues proposed to be considered and the potentially significant outcome of a new Citizens’ Assembly, it is imperative that the structure, composition, timeframe and terms of reference of the Assembly reflect best international practice.
While the State accepted the majority of the UPR recommendations, specific details of how and when was clearly lacking in many of the Government’s responses including on issues such as the recognition of Traveller ethnicity and the ratification of outstanding treaties including the Optional Protocols to the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Istanbul Convention. The State did reiterate its plan to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by year end.
The approach adopted by the State in responding to recommendations may also be open to criticism. For example, one recommendation asked the State to “strengthen the policies of supplementary payments of income and housing assistance, in order to avoid more families being unable to pay their mortgages.” In its response the Government simply stated that “there is a range of housing supports available to families who are renting accommodation and the Government has put in place a number of services to assist homeowners in mortgage arrears”.
While such policies and supports may be in place, the question is whether they are in fact working. According to FLAC, statistics published this month show that while the number of cases of mortgage arrears continue to fall, a total of 82,092 homes were in mortgage arrears at the end of June 2016. Social welfare supports for those struggling to pay their mortgages have been eroded in recent years and have not been replaced. The Mortgage Interest Supplement Scheme, which provides financial support to borrowers struggling to pay their mortgage interest repayments, has been closed to new entrants since January 2014 and will be wound down completely by December 2017. In June, the Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness recommended that targeted use of the Mortgage Interest Supplement Scheme be restored to assist those with a short-term mortgage arrears problem through their financial difficulties. However, this recommendation was not taken on board in the new Housing Action Plan, Rebuilding Ireland.
In recent times, in the context of assessment by UN bodies of Ireland’s human rights obligations, a stated position of the State has often been that the UN is not a court, conclusions are merely non-binding recommendations and it is up to us to bring our own domestic affairs into order, not the UN.
However the mandate afforded the UN to review a state’s human rights record is drawn directly from UN States by agreement. Ireland actively participates when UN human rights treaties are being negotiated. The State has voluntarily signed up to treaties and pledges to protect and realise the rights therein. Ireland positively engages in UN processes such as the UPR and is recognised for its contribution. But the UPR is not simply one event that takes place in Geneva every four and a half years and can then be forgotten about.
The State has signalled which recommendations enjoy its support, however the real work starts now and the State must set out how and in what timeframe recommendations will be implemented. This is not an easy task. It will require real commitment to the meaning and intention behind human rights treaty standards and recommendations made, in-depth analysis of relevant laws and policies, detailed planning, multi-stakeholder engagement, including with civil society, cross-departmental cooperation and above all, political will.
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Right Now UPR Coalition
Your Rights. Right Now is a coalition of 17 NGOs, civil society organisations and Trade Unions, led by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. See www.rightsnow.ie for further details.
All of the views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the policies and positions of each member organisation.