On Tuesday, July 15, Ireland’s fourth periodic review under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) concluded in Geneva with some strong words from the chairman of the UN Human Rights Committee, Sir Nigel Rodley, who called Ireland to task for its failure to investigate a litany of rights abuses and its consistent failure to make truth finding and accountability central to the redress provided to victims of human rights violations.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) led a 30-member civil society delegation to Geneva to brief the Committee members in advance of the hearing on a broad range of issues, including:

·The need for the state to formally recognize Travellers as an ethnic minority

·Redress for women who endured the barbaric practice of symphysiotomy in maternity hospitals

·The victims of the Magdalene laundries

·Continued church dominance of schools

·Discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities

·Women’s reproductive rights and Ireland’s extremely restrictive abortion laws

Over the course of two days of hearings between UN Human Rights Committee members and Irish government officials, much was said about Ireland’s “support for the role of the treaty monitoring bodies [such as the UN Human Rights Committee] as a cornerstone of Irish foreign policy.” This would be expected given Ireland’s prestigious position on the UN Human Rights Council. However, when it came to meeting treaty obligations at home, while there were many references to legislation that was “being progressed” or general reference to the development of implementation plans, strategy reviews or taskforces, the Irish government had little concrete reform to report.

Indeed, as Committee members continued in vain to seek answers from the government delegation about why Ireland, which views itself as a protector and promoter of human rights abroad, could not develop a strategy to bring abortion laws in line with the Covenant or why it continues to deny survivors of symphysiotomy an independent, transparent and effective truth-finding process, the clock was running down rapidly and the spotlight was about to move off Ireland.

The ICCL and other NGO delegates therefore wholeheartedly welcomed the frank comments of Sir Nigel Rodley when concluding the hearing. In his summing up, Mr. Rodley said:

“The Magdalene laundries, the mother and baby homes, the child abuse, the symphysiotomy – it’s quite a collection and it’s a collection that has carried on [for a] period that it’s hard to imagine any state party tolerating. And I guess I can’t prevent myself from observing that [they] are not disconnected from the institutional belief system that has predominated in the state party.”

On Ireland’s regressive laws on women’s reproductive rights, Mr. Rodley commented:

“The recognition of the primary right to life of the woman who is an existent human being has to prevail over that of the unborn child and I can’t begin to understand by what belief system the priority would be given to the latter rather than the former. It is good to see that in 2013 at last that is clearly being clarified. I’m sorry that the clarification does not extend to the health of the woman.”

Following on from the Geneva examination, the Committee will issue a series of recommendations to Ireland next week. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and her cabinet colleagues have two options: continue with business as usual and prepare for a repeat performance during Ireland’s next examination before the Committee in four years; or inject real political leadership into the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations. With a revitalized cabinet in place and Ireland’s current membership on the prestigious UN Human Rights Council, we have reason to hope that the latter road may be travelled by Ireland this time. Committing to a full parliamentary debate on the forthcoming recommendations from the Human Rights Committee would be a clear sign that the government is genuinely committed to mending its ways.