An Irish civil liberties organisation will petition United Nations member states to recommend that Ireland introduces safe zones for women accessing pregnancy termination services.
With Ireland due to face its third UN Human Rights Council review in November, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) is calling for a focus on historical abuse, gender and LGBT+ inequalities and the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ICCL is also urging Ireland’s peers to advise that this State abolishes the Special Criminal Court.
The Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review aims to improve the human rights situation on the ground of each of the 193 UN member states. Under this mechanism, the human rights situation of each state is reviewed by other countries every five years.
On Thursday, the ICCL will present its submission to a Universal Periodic Review pre-session.
The civil liberties organisation, with endorsements from eight other human rights charities, highlights that ongoing anti-abortion activity outside centres for reproductive health can cause distress and pose a “serious risk to a range of rights” of a woman accessing an abortion. The Government has committed to introducing “exclusion zones” outside medical facilities, but no legislation has yet been introduced, the ICCL submitted.
The ICCL’s head of legal and policy, Doireann Ansbro, said the organisation is also asking states to recommend a “full, systemic investigation” into the process of family separation, forced adoption and “systematic abuse” in Ireland in the 20th Century.
“This system traumatised many living survivors and it is imperative that they have justice as soon as possible,” she said.
Scrutiny
The ICCL is asking states to recommend Ireland reviews its scrutiny processes for introducing emergency laws and powers during the pandemic. The submission notes that “no derogations to human rights treaties were declared” when the Irish Government passed emergency legislation in March 2020 empowering the Minister for Health to make regulations to restrict movement, events and other business.
Ireland must also “strengthen and reform” its Data Protection Commission by conducting a broad review and appointing two new commissioners.
“Data protection laws and safeguards are essential for protecting human rights, notably the right to privacy,” the ICCL said, noting that it has been widely reported that other member states believe Ireland’s commission is “unable to discharge its duties” under the General Data Protection Regulation.
