Human Rights in Ireland

“The gravity of this case is in my view of a different order from, for example, a murder committed by one individual upon another as a result of some sudden quarrel. There was a degree of general premeditation; it was a racist crime driven by hatred; it involved a gang of like-minded attackers; a lethal weapon was employed and known in advance to be carried; the victim was completely blameless and helpless. The high level of public interest in this case is at least in part a reflection of the abhorrence felt by right-thinking people at the nature of this crime. This, too, should be reflected in the sentence.”

Thus Mr Justice Treacy summarised the thinking behind his imposition of Detention at Her Majesty’s Pleasure upon Gary Dobson and David Norris – who were yesterday convicted of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. The sentence is the juvenile equivalent of a life sentence and the two will now be imprisoned, or on release on license, for the remainder of their lives. Dobson will serve a minimum term of 15 years and 2 months, while Norris, the younger of the two, will serve a minimum term of 14 years and 3 months. These terms take into account the fact that the offence was motivated by racial hatred, but also that it was committed by a group of men who were juveniles at the time.

On January 19 next Martin Scheinin, former UN Special Rapporteur for the Protection of Human Rights in the Pursuit of Counter-Terrorism and Professor of International Law at the European University Institute will give a lecture entitled “UN Security Council Terrorist Listing and Judicial Review: The Current State of Play”. The lecture, hosted by the Centre of European Law at King’s College London, will be chaired by David Anderson Q.C. of Brick Court Chambers. Anderson is the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation and Visiting Professor at King’s College London. The event promises to explore some of the difficult issues surrounding asset-freezing at UN and EU level. The lecture will be hosted at Parliament Chamber at Inner Temple. It is open to the public but registration is required. To register, see the CEL website.

Gary Dobson & David Norris have been found guilty of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. The Lawrence murder and the failure of the Metropolitan Police Service in dealing with it prompted a damning report from Lord Macpherson following an Inquiry that concluded in 1999. The report famously described the Metropolitan Police Service as ‘institutionally racist’ – though the precise meaning of that term, and its application to the MPS, was contested after publication. The identity of those suspected of Lawrence’s killing was controversially revealed by the Daily Mail in February 1997 when it emblazoned its front page with the headline ‘MURDERERS’ and pictures and names of five men. The paper challenged the five men, of whom Dobson & Norris were two, to sue if the accusation was false. No suit was brought. An initial attempt at a private prosecution by the Lawrence family had resulted in an acquittal for lack of evidence. However, the availability of new evidence – based on hair and DNA samples found on the suspect’s jacket, resulted in the Crown Prosecution Service pursuing the case once more. The retrial follows a change to the UK law on double jeopardy that was introduced by the Criminal Justice Act in 2003. Joshua Rozenberg discusses the change and its effect on the Lawrence case over at the Guardian Law. A timeline of the case is also available. Dobson & Norris will be sentenced tomorrow.

One could be forgiven, amidst the furore over the European Court of Human Rights’ Al-Khawaja judgment last Thursday, for missing the first report of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation on the operation of the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc Act 2010. The Report runs to over 100 pages and is the most comprehensive account of UK terrorist asset freezing in print. It is the third report of the current Independent Reviewer, David Anderson Q.C., since he took up the post in February. Asset freezing is something of a speciality of his, as he has appeared in litigation in both EU and UK courts on the matter. It is therefore unsurprising that the Report exhibits the same attention to detail that made Anderson’s previous two efforts essential reading. Read Full Post »

Following tonight’s successful performance of Whoop it up for Liberty! in Druid Theatre, Galway we would like to share the texts from which extracts were chosen and included in the performance. This link will bring you to a google document which contains the original, full extracts, which have been modified for use in tonight’s performance. It also links the documents to their original source, if available online, and, where relevant, contains links to the images which we feel connect with the pieces chosen for the performance. Thanks again to everyone for supporting this project – we hope we have made a contribution to the open democratic arts, and to exploring further some aspects of Ireland’s human rights history. The performance has been recorded, and we hope to share some clips from the recording with you in the near future.

Many thanks to everyone who supported our funding efforts for Whoop it up for Liberty! Thanks to your support, we reached our funding target and are well on our way to producing this exciting performance in Druid Theatre, Galway on 10 December. Rehearsals are gearing up, and we have an amazing mix of people with personal experience of rights-violations, professional actors, and community activists involved in the performance.

We released many of the tickets for this event to those who donated to the project on Fund It, however, there are still a limited number of tickets available to anyone who would like to attend the performance in Galway on 10 December. The venue is fully accessible, and there will be a hearing loop provided at the performance. We are currently looking into providing other accessibility features, and would like for anyone who is interested in attending to let us know what their requirements are, and we will do our best to ensure that the performance is inclusive and accessible to all, within the constraints of our budget.

To reserve your ticket for the performance, contact Liam Thornton, and if you have specific accessibility requirements, you can contact me. We will be recording the performance on the night and will hope to make the recording available online afterwards – and will also publish the script of the performance on the blog after the performance.

One of the most cutting criticisms of the International Criminal Court is that of imperialism, best captured in the cries that it is “A European Court for Africans.” This reproach is not always disinterested of course – the revival of anti-colonial language at the time of the Bashir indictment would have been more convincing was it not accompanied by Sudanese stonewalling over the Darfur atrocities. However, the Court makes the argument for globalised justice for itself when it attempts to dictate the course of bona fide national processes of criminal accountability. The prime example is its statement on the arrest of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, against whom warrants of arrest were issued by the Court in connection with the Libya situation by the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Ambassador Christian Wenaweser. He began in an unobjectionable manner, stating that “by arresting Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi the Libyan authorities have taken a major step towards ensuring accountability and due process rights and towards fulfilling their obligations under international law”, before commending Libyan authorities for their cooperation with the Court to date. He reminded his audience that under the Rome Statute, Libya retained primary jurisdiction over all crimes committed on its territory, but went on to say that “it must be ensured that Saif Al-Islam is tried in a court of law and in accordance with international standards. Should the Libyan authorities wish to try him in Libya, they can make the case before the Court that their national judicial system is willing and able to do so in an independent and impartial manner”. Philippe Sands in today’s Guardian argues that the new Libyan government is “bound by a legal framework: it cannot lawfully ignore the ICC judges and decide that Saif will be tried under local law. Unlike Iraq, where there was no international indictment of Saddam, the decision on Saif is not an exclusively Libyan affair. Read Full Post »

On Friday November 18th the First Irish Penology Symposium will be hosted by the Law Faculty at Griffith College Cork. The event, organised by Clíodhna Dineen, GCC & Dr. Liam Leonard, IT Sligo, will take place in the Sullivan’s Quay campus and will run from 9am to 5pm.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Ciarán McCullagh, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Sociology, UCC who will discuss “Prisons and the Failure to Reform”.

For further information click here.

 As announced in August, the Human Rights in Ireland blog will host a performance on 10 December at 6pm in Druid Theatre, Galway to celebrate Human Rights Day. The event is called 'Whoop it up for Liberty!' - an ironic quote from Connolly's Reconquest of Ireland. As part of the performance, actors, local people and community activists will read aloud from texts commemorating key moments in Irish history which relate to the theme of human rights. The performance will feature first person narratives which highlight the experiences of workers, women, people with disabilities, travellers, language rights activists, asylum seekers, children, prisoners and many others as they relate to human rights in Ireland – from historical perspectives right through to the present day. Thomas Conway, literary manager of Druid Theatre, will direct the performance, which will be followed by a question and answer session where the texts and themes will be further discussed.
 

Since this is a not-for-profit event, we are seeking support to cover our production costs. The director and actors involved are generously volunteering their time, and in order to do justice to the inspiring texts used to create the script, we would like to make this as professional an event as possible. The event has been listed as a creative venture on Fund It to secure crowd source funding for the performance. This link will take you to the Fund It page for the event where you can watch a video clip of some of the actors involved reading from a draft script - and we would appreciate if readers of the blog could repost the link via social media. Donations received will go towards the cost of hiring the venue and rehearsal space, lighting and sound, recording the performance, providing catering for the cast and crew after the performance, producing programme notes for the event, and making the performance accessible to all.

 

This will be the first time an event of this kind has been performed in Ireland, using first-person narratives to explore historical and present-day experiences of human rights across a broad range of issues: identity, belonging, democracy, politics, solidarity, and exclusion. We hope that people will contribute what they can to make the event a success – and we hope to see as many of you as possible on 10th December in Galway!

The Socio-Legal Research Centre at Dublin City University will host the third in its “Law on…” seminar series on Thursday November 17^th 2011 at 6.30pm.

The theme of this seminar will be “Law on…Risk” and it will focus on risk assessment in the criminal process in the context of mentally disordered offenders, persons seeking parole and temporary release.

The seminar will be chaired by The Honourable Mr Justice Roderick Murphy of the High Court (Judge in Residence at the School of Law and Government, DCU) and it will be addressed by Kris Gledhill, Lecturer in Law, University of Auckland, New Zealand and Áine Hynes, Chairperson of the Irish Mental Health Lawyers’ Association.

Certification of attendance for the purposes of the CPD scheme will be available to attendees on request (2 hours).

The event is free of charge but prior registration is requested by emailing yvonne.daly@dcu.ie

See speaker profiles and further information below. See also www.dcu.ie/socio-legal Read Full Post »