Posts Tagged ‘Ireland’

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Jailed Bahraini doctors should be released now, says Mary Lawlor

March 27, 2013

In a piece in the Irish Times of 27 March 2013 Mary Lawlor, Director of Front Line Defenders, makes a strong plea for the release of the medical staff arrested and ill-treated in Bahrain:

“Medical ethics is apparently too sensitive an issue to discuss in Bahrain following the cancelling of an international conference that was being organised by the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland RCSI and Médecins Sans Frontières. Hardly surprising given that the Bahraini government jails and tortures medical professionals and human rights defenders……………..

….It is a pity that the RCSI did not feel strongly enough on the issue of medical ethics to speak out publicly when colleagues, some of whom had studied in Dublin, were being tortured in police custody in 2011………But the reality is that the government continues to jail those who raise their voices in defence of human rights. At this moment Dr Ali Al Ekri, Dr Saeed Al Samahiji and Ibrahim Al Demistani, a nurse, remain in prison having been convicted of “trying to overthrow the monarchy”, by treating injured demonstrators and speaking out about killings and torture. At the same time another 20 medics and health professionals will find out today whether the charges of participating in illegal gatherings have been upheld against them. They face the possibility of receiving a three-month prison sentence, although in practice, many of them have already spent that time in prison awaiting trial. Even those medics who have been released or who have had charges against them dropped have been removed from their posts. …. Repression in Bahrain is not a secret. Medical ethics would best be served by releasing the medics from prison together with Nabeel Rajab and all those human rights defenders who have had the courage to speak truth to power.”

via Jailed Bahraini doctors and human rights defenders should be released now – Middle East News | Latest News Headlines | The Irish Times – Wed, Mar 27, 2013.

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UN RAPPORTEUR ON HRDs about IRELAND

November 23, 2012

DUBLIN (23 November 2012)  “The overall environment in which defenders operate in Ireland is in general conducive, although more should be done domestically to raise awareness about the profile and role of defenders,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, said today at the end of her first fact-finding mission to the country.

The expert expressed concern about the challenges faced by certain groups of defenders, notably those working on environmental rights and who try to exercise their legitimate right to protest. She also drew attention to the plight of sexual and reproductive rights defenders who are victims of smear campaigns, and those working for the rights of the Traveller community who are excluded from policy making bodies, as well as ‘whistle-blowers’ who are not properly protected.……


The Special Rapporteur also stressed that “blasphemy is currently a criminal offence in Irish legal framework but its codification seems vague, unclear and no longer appropriate,” and welcomed the Government’s initiative to convene a Constitutional Convention which will contemplate the removal of the offence of blasphemy from the current legal framework.  …………….

Ms. Sekaggya recognized that Ireland has been a champion in the protection of defenders at risk in other countries under the European Union Guidelines on human rights defenders. She also acknowledged the Government’s efforts in integrating and promoting the protection of defenders through its development aid.

“Ireland has a unique opportunity to bring human right issues forward now that it has been elected to the UN Human Rights Council and will have the Presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2013,” she said. “In this context, I suggest a first assessment of the implementation of the EU Guidelines on human rights defenders.”
 

for the full end-of-mission statement by the Special Rapporteur: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12823&LangID=E

The United Nations in the Heart of Europe | News & Media | IRELAND IS A SUPPORTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS DESPITE CERTAIN CHALLENGES, SAYS UN EXPERT ON RIGHTS DEFENDERS.

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UN Rapporteur on human rights defenders brings first official visit to an EU country: Ireland

November 19, 2012


United Nations Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya will visit Ireland from 19 to 23 November 2012 to evaluate the situation of human rights defenders in the country. This is the first official mission to a European Union member State by an expert mandated to assess and report on the situation of rights defenders. The UN independent expert pointed out that the coming mission “represents a unique opportunity to provide observations and recommendations on Ireland’s legal framework, institutions and other factors influencing the environment in which defenders work.”

Ms. Sekaggya, who is visiting the country at the invitation of the Irish authorities, is scheduled to meet with Government officials, representatives of the legislative and judicial branches, the Irish Human Rights Commission, a broad range of civil society actors and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. The human rights expert will hold a press conference in Dublin at the Buswells Hotel on Friday, 23 November 2012 at 11:30.

via DisplayNews

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