Amnesty International has criticised Ireland for failing to fully implement UN recommendations to adopt a child rights-based approach to Government policy and practices.
In its annual report published today, the human rights organisation said it was concerned at the State's
Labour party spokeswoman on children, Senator Kathleen O'Meara
failure to incorporate the UN Children's Convention into Irish domestic law.
The report on global human rights records for 2006 said their findings for Ireland raised concerns over issues such as:
- limitations in the mandate of the Ombudsman for Children in investigations related to children in prison and police stations,
- racism and xenophobia faced by children from ethnic minority communities,
- the lack of privacy protection for children prosecuted in higher courts,
- the fact that corporal punishment is not prohibited, and
- the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years for serious crimes.
Amnesty International said Ireland "inappropriately" continues to admit children into adult inpatient mental health units, with up to 300 children currently living in these facilities.
Labour party spokeswoman on children, Senator Kathleen O'Meara said the criticism levelled by Amnesty International was "a serious cause of concern" and demonstrated a need for action on child trafficking.
Amnesty International expressed concern in the report over legislative proposals to reform immigration legislation, published last September. It said the proposals highlighted an absence of "specific protection measures for victims of trafficking".
Ms O'Meara said the Labour Party had consistently demanded laws which would ban child trafficking but said its calls to the Minister for Justice had fallen on deaf ears.
"Ireland remains the only country in the European Union which has still not introduced anti-trafficking laws, and despite the promises from the outgoing government that they would introduce new legislation, none ever appeared. We have not even signed up to all the international conventions and treaties in this area," she said.
Ms O'Meara also said the issue of children being admitted to adult inpatient mental health units needed to be addressed "as a matter of urgency".
The Amnesty report was also severely critical of the Garda Siochána for its use of "lethal force" in April 2000 when Longford man John Carthy was shot dead outside his home in Abbeylara Co Longford.
It said "a series of command failures by police scene commanders" during the 25-hour long siege had led to the 27-year-old man's death. "Insufficient precautions were taken to avoid or minimize the risk to life," it said. Mr Carthy was suffering from depression at the time of his death.
The annual report highlighted the naming of Ireland as one of the states responsible for passive collusion in the US-led programme of secret detentions and renditions during the so-called "war on terror".
On a global level, the report said it was concerned that "powerful governments and armed groups are deliberately formenting fear to erode human rights and to create an increasingly polarized and dangerous world".
Noeleen Hartigan, Programmes Director at the Amnesty International Irish Section said: "Through short sighted, fear-mongering and divisive policies, governments are undermining the rule of law and human rights, feeding racism and xenophobia, dividing communities, intensifying inequalities and sowing the seeds for more violence and conflict".