Human Rights in Ireland

Jim Yong Kim will be the next President of the World Bank. Two aspects of his appointment are interesting, first his expertise is in health and second the fact he was not born in the United States. While neither of these facts on their own are striking in the context of the World Bank they are remarkable. As with the appointment of Christine Legarde to the IMF, perhaps this appointment is not as revolutionary as it could have been, but nonetheless an important break with the post-World War II settlement in global governance has been made by both appointments.

Much as all heads of the IMF have been European, all previous Presidents of the World Bank have been US born, this was part of the settlement agreed, though not legally binding, at the Bretton Woods conference which created both organisations. Jim Yong Kim moved to the US at the age of five and is an US citizen however this should not take away from the important change that the appointment of a non-white waspish American leading this global organisation represents. Read Full Post »

The Department of Foreign Affairs has announced that Ireland is to sign the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This is a welcome decision by the Government, though no date has been set for ratification. In many ways ratification is the most important step as it enables individuals to rely on the Optional Protocol, however the decision to sign the Protocol should be welcomed. The ICESCR was opened for signature, alongside its companion treaty, the International Covenant for Civil and Poltical Rights (ICCPR) in 1966 and came into operation in 1976. The decision to separate these rights is rooted in both Cold War politics and the belief of some states at the time and currently that Economic, Social and Cultural Rights should not have the same enforcement mechinisms and are of a different character to their Civil and Political Rights counterparts. This stance is also reflected in the status of the section on the Directive Principles on Social Policy in the Irish Constitution.

Ireland signed the ICCPR in 1973 and ratified it in 1989. In the same year, Ireland also ratified the ICCPR’s Optional Protocol, which allows individuals to take claims to the ICCPR’s attached Committee. The Optional Protocol for the ICESCR was not open for signature until 2008. ICESCR’s Optional Protocol also allows individuals to take complaints based on the treaty to its attached Committee (CESCR). Read Full Post »

The publicity surrounding the visit of Vice-president Xi Jinping to Ireland affirms the important role China now plays within the international legal order. Other than perhaps the pomp and ceremony surrounding the visits of US Presidents, his visit is as well publicised, if not better, than what most heads of state usually receive. Such ceremony, even though Vice- President Xi is the Vice-President rather than President of China. Admittedly, according to most reports, he is the heir apparent to China’s Presidency. When President Hu Jintao steps down next October Xi Jinping will, most likely, succeed him. In fact, he was greeted in a similar fashion in the United States last week. The fact that the Chinese Vice-President is greeted with such ceremony indicates just how important states now consider good relations with the Government in Beijing.

The publicity surrounding the visit has centered on trade relations and improving ties, though the Tánaiste stated that human rights issues were raised,

in the context of our candidacy for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, and I underlined the importance Ireland attaches to human rights and our view that human rights are universal Read Full Post »

In December of  2009 we discussed on the blog the announcement that Ireland was to take over the Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2012. The OSCE is a regional European security body that has over 56 participating states including members in Europe, Central Asia and North America such as the United States, the UK, the Holy See, France, Russia and Canada. Ireland joined the organisation as an original member in 1973, though the organisation in its current form emerged in 1994 in the post Cold War era.  Its work covers areas such as arms control, anti-trafficking, combating terrorism, conflict prevention, democratisation, elections, gender equality, minority rights, policing, rule of law, tolerance and non-discrimination.

Since the announcement the OSCE has undergone the Chairship of Lithuania and Kazakhstan, the latter having been an extremely controversial choice given its human rights record. Indeed quite a number of human rights organisations have been critical of both the choice and the lack of reform in Kazakhstan following and during its tenure. Indeed Amnesty International 2011 Report on Kazakhstan states that,

Reports of torture or other ill-treatment remained widespread, despite government promises to adopt a zero tolerance policy toward its practice. Impunity for such human rights violations persisted. The authorities stepped up efforts to forcibly return asylum-seekers and refugees to China and Uzbekistan under national security and counter-terrorism measures.

Given, what many argued was an ill-considered choice of Chair for the OSCE, it is incumbent on the states which followed, Lithuania and now Ireland, to re-establish the OSCE’s reputation, most particularly in the field of human rights. On this note, the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore presented the priorities for Ireland’s term of as Chair of the organisation. In his address to the Organization, the Tánaiste stressed that Ireland’s priorities would be, Read Full Post »

While, there probably has never been a year that has not been ‘interesting’ for modern international law,  the past twelve months has seen several developments which were entirely unpredicted this time last year. This post aims to give a general overview of the various developments in international law over the past year. While significant events such as Libya and the Durban environmental conference, particularly Canada’s decision to leave the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon emissions, have dominated the news, a number of other significant events have also contributed to an absorbing year for international law. The events chosen here are mainly picked based on their impact on the development of international law at a general level, more specific developments in particular human rights fields are left for those more expert in their fields to discuss.

At the United Nations the suspension of Libya from the Human Rights Council, the attempts of Palestine to become a member as well as its successful application to join UNESCO, the establishment of a Special Rapporteur for Transitional Justice, as well as the annual General Assembly speeches and the usual Security Council wranglings regarding sanctions on Iran were dominant.

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The Arab League has taken an uncharacteristic turn in its activities over the past ten months. While the Arab Spring is takings its toll on states in the region, it appears that the most important regional organisation in North Africa and the Middle East, the Arab League, is catching some of the euphoria of change. This is unexpected, particularly from an organisation dominated by undemocratic states whose main purpose was seen by many to simply attack Israeli policies and be an ineffectual talking shop for support of the Palestinian cause. Its decision to support NATO airstrikes against Libya in conjunction with the UN was surprising enough however its recent activities with regard to Syria is frankly, astonishing. The extent of this change is evidenced by Syrian claims that the Arab League are acting on the basis of some Zionist plot.

The League of Arab States, as it is officially called, was established in 1945 by six original members Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Currently it has 22 members, including Palestine, located across the Middle East and North Africa. The Charter sets out the aims of the organisation which is mainly centred on co-operation and economic relations and more critically safeguard the independence and sovereignty of its members. The first Arab League summit was not held until 1964.  Under Article III, decision-making is based upon 1 member 1 vote. Under Article V, the resort to force to resolve conflicts between two member states is prohibited:

Any resort to force in order to resolve disputes between two or more member-states of the League is prohibited. If there should arise among them a difference which does not concern a state’s independence, sovereignty, or territorial integrity, and if the parties to the dispute have recourse to the Council for the settlement of this difference, the decision of the Council shall then be enforceable and obligatory. Read Full Post »

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman have been named as this year’s recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. In announcing the award, the Committee underlined the importance of women in the securing of peace and stated that:

In October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325. The resolution for the first time made violence against women in armed conflict an international security issue. It underlined the need for women to become participants on an equal footing with men in peace processes and in peace work in general.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is the current President of Liberia. She is Africa’s only female Head of State, was named by Forbes magazine as the 62nd most powerful women in the world and by the Guardian as one of the most important women in politics in the world. President Sirleaf, was first elected President of Liberia in 2005, following the civil war, under President Charles Taylor, which had claimed thousands of lives and had been part of the wider war in the region, including  other states such as Sierra Leone. President Sirleaf has overseen the transition to peace in Liberia and has been heavily involved in securing debt relief from multilateral agencies such as the IMF and states such as the United States . An issue discussed in another post here. Read Full Post »

The time of year has come around again, when speeches are made to the world via the UN General Assembly and the IMF and World Bank have their annual meetings in Washington D.C.. We have covered these speeches previously here and Darren has covered the most pressing issue before the UN, Palestinian statehood, here.  This post sets out the other issues which have been central to annual meeting at the General Assembly, as well as the meetings of the IMF and World Bank.

One of the more interesting calls made at the General Assembly relate to all three organisations and that is China’s proposal that the G20 play a bigger role in global economic governance. The G20 are a group of 19 countries plus the European Union who meet to discuss and make proposals for economic change. This is entirely informal institution, whose membership is entirely based upon economic weight and influence. The G20 already play an extremely important role in global economic regulation, for example, the  more major reforms that have gone before the IMF over the past few years regarding the financial crisis have been discussed at the G20.  Read Full Post »

A recent documentary on RTE radio 1 highlighted the Irish Army’s return to Lebanon. The Irish Defence Forces involvement in UN peacekeeping in Lebanon has had a long history and has even entered the pop culture of, in particular, 1980s and 1990′s Ireland in the guise of Christy Moore song Welcome to the Cabaret and films such as The Snapper. The re-deployment of Irish troops in the region is indicative of the volatility of Lebanon and the region as a whole at the present time but it is also emblematic of the continued commitment of Ireland to peacekeeping. In a previous post on Chad the continued presence of Irish troops abroad seemed to be equivocal with the reasons given for withdrawal appearing somewhat weak and irrational. The re-deployment in Lebanon would appear to underpin Ireland’s commitment to such actions in the future and should be considered a welcome return to Ireland’s strong support of UN led missions.

Ireland’s first involvement in peacekeeping was in the Congo in 1960. Ireland had joined the UN in 1955. Ireland is currently engaged in nine overseas missions as part of UN peacekeeping operations. These missions are located in the north-west African coast, Republic of Congo, Somalia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo among others. Read Full Post »

Since the publication of the Cloyne Report there have been a number of calls, including a Facebook campaign, for the expulsion of the Papal Nuncio in Ireland, Giuseppe Leanza. As some commentators have pointed out, diplomats from foreign states can be asked to leave the state or in legal terms designated persona non grata. This is a very old part of international law, or more specifically diplomatic law, but it also raises several other issues such as the unique position of the Holy See, as the Vatican is refered to in international legal terms, within the international legal order. The Papal States ceased to be sovereign states in 1870 when overran by Italian forces after the creation of the new Italian state in 1861. The Lateran Treaty of 1929, between Italy and the Holy See, recognised the state of the Vatican City and its sovereignty in its international relations with other states. The Vatican City is an anomaly in the accepted body of international law for the establishment of a state. Under the Montevideo Convention a state must have control of its internal and external affairs, a permanent territory and population. Italy carries out a number of important administrative functions for the Vatican City and its only residents are those in the Catholic Church who support the work of the Holy See. Read Full Post »