HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE URGES IRELAND TO INCORPORATE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS INTO DOMESTIC LEGISLATION

Press Release
HR/CT/574

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE URGES IRELAND TO INCORPORATE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS INTO DOMESTIC LEGISLATION

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA 14 July (UN Information Service) -- The Human Rights Committee this afternoon concluded its consideration of the second periodic report of Ireland by urging that country to incorporate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights into its domestic legislation.

In preliminary observations and recommendations, Committee Chairperson Cecilia Medina Quiroga said the Committee was worried that the Covenant was not incorporated within Ireland's domestic legislation while the European Convention on Human Rights would be embodied in national law. Human rights were a universal order and should not be seen only in the European context, she said.

Reacting to the comment, the Irish delegation said that the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights was part of the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement which aimed to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

Formal, written conclusions and recommendations on the Irish report will be issued towards the end of the Committee's three-week session on 28 July.

The report of Ireland was introduced yesterday afternoon by a nine-member Government delegation. These officials, led by Michael McDowell, Attorney-General of Ireland, were on hand throughout three meetings to discuss the document and to answer questions put by Committee members.

Ireland is among the 145 States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and as such it must submit periodic reports on its efforts to implement the provisions of the treaty.

After concluding its consideration of the report of Ireland, the Committee went into private session to discuss draft general comments. It will also meet in private all day Monday, 17 July, to discuss communications by individuals who believe their rights under the Covenant have been violated. When the Committee reconvenes in public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 18 July, it will take up the initial report of Kuwait (document CCPR/C/120/Add.1).

Discussion

In response to questions raised by Committee experts before adjourning the morning meeting, the delegation of Ireland said that there was an increased tendency in the society for women to work outside their homes. More and more women were working both inside and outside their homes. The Government had also put in place legislative provisions which encouraged the non-discrimination of women in the workplace and it supported the principle of equal pay for equal work.

With regard to religious education, the Constitution provided that each religion could manage its own affairs and it was up to the parents to educate their children according to their preference and faith, the delegation said. Religious minorities had the right to use State funds to develop their community schools. In some cases, affirmative measures were taken by the Government to allow religious minorities to make use of the advantages provided by the State.

On the question of false asylum claims and whether their increasing number in the country might be linked to the lack of an immigration policy, the delegation said that such a suggestion had also been made domestically by at least one non-governmental organization. But any view of that nature was mistaken. Ireland had a well-established immigration policy by which non-European nationals who sought to enter the workplace might do so in compliance with the law. Last year alone, 6,000 work permits were issued to non-nationals.

The delegation said that those who sought asylum were entitled to refugee status, not on the basis of any desire to enter the workforce or because of skills which they might have, but on the basis of the 1951 Refugee Convention criteria alone.

Those who wished to enter the Irish economy, and who in order to do so abused the asylum process, did a great disservice to those who were genuinely in need of the protection of the State by clogging up with their false claims the process whereby refugee status was established, the delegation said.

Preliminary Observations and Recommendations

In brief preliminary observations and recommendations, Committee Chairperson Cecilia Medina Quiroga said the report was well organized and the dialogue with the delegation had been well-versed. She welcomed the progress made in Ireland in the implementation of human rights provisions. However, she expressed preoccupation that the Covenant was not incorporated within domestic legislation while the European Convention on Human Rights would be embodied in national law. Human rights were a universal order and should not be seen only in the European context.

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