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Annual Report
2004
for peace, justice and human rights
British Irish RIGHTS WATCH is an independent non-governmental organisation that has been monitoring the human rights dimension of the conflict, and latterly the peace process, in Northern Ireland since 1990.
Our services are available free of charge to anyone whose human rights have been violated because of the conflict, regardless of religious, political or community affiliations.
We take no position on the eventual constitutional outcome of the conflict.
A HUMAN RIGHTS DAY MESSAGE
This year has seen the beginning of the fruition of years of hard work on some of our cases. In particular, our efforts have been vindicated by the recommendations by Canadian judge Peter Cory for public inquiries in the cases of Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane, Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill, loyalist leader Billy Wright, and Lurgan lawyer Rosemary Nelson. It has, though, been a crushing disappointment that the government has chosen not to implement Judge Cory’s recommendation in the Finucane case, instead bringing in legislation that will mean the end of independent public inquiries. The public inquiries in the other three cases are also problematic, particularly where their terms of reference are concerned. It seems that this government finds it particularly hard to face the truth about collusion.
Despite the tenth anniversary of the 1994 ceasefires, the peace process in Northern Ireland is as fragile as ever, and, sadly, demand for our services remains high. We pride ourselves on being available across the community in Northern Ireland, and our clients include teachers, journalists, nurses, soldiers, prisoners, police officers, lawyers and many others, of all religions and political persuasions. One day you may find us meeting the Prime Minster or the Taoiseach, and the next stuffing hundreds of envelopes. Whatever it takes to make the world, or at least our corner of it, a better place, we are there working away. Some of the issues we have worked on in 2004, to name but a few, include: alternatives to plastic bullets; conditions in prisons; the reform of policing; the freedom of the press; the Dublin and Monaghan bombings; and observing the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. We have also, of course helped many individuals, but details of their cases must remain confidential.
Many thanks for all their hard work to our Director, Jane Winter, our Deputy Director, Lorna Davidson, our Administrative Assistant, Elizabeth Folarin, our Bloody Sunday Observer, Russell Miller, and to all our interns and volunteers. My gratitude also to all our funders and all those who have made donations in support of our work. All of their contributions are warmly appreciated.
Angela Hickey,
Chairperson,
British Irish rights watch,
10th December 2004.
2004
The following extracts from our Director’s monthly reports show our contemporaneous perspective on the human rights dimension of events over the past year.
january
DUBLIN AND MONAGHAN BOMBINGS
BIRW has made a detailed submission to the Joint Oireachtas sub-committee which is examining Judge Baron’s report on the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. We have argued that nothing short of a public inquiry is required in view of the many questions that Judge Baron was unable to resolve. The extraordinary indifference of the Irish government of the day to the bombings disclosed by the report cries out for explanation, as does the disappearance of key files from the Department of Justice. It is also imperative that the British government, who denied Judge Baron access to a large quantity of intelligence material, should be persuaded to divulge what it knows, especially in light of the judge’s conclusion that the bomb plot originated in Northern Ireland.
february
REPORT ON STEPHEN McCONOMY AVAILABLE ON BIRW WEBSITE
On 16th April 1982, at the age of eleven, Stephen was shot in the back of the head by a plastic bullet fired by a soldier during a lull in rioting in Derry. He died on 19th April 1982. BIRW has been researching his case over many months. We would like to thank the Pat Finucane Centre, the Bogside History Project, Monsignor Raymond Murray, Kevin McNamara MP, Madden & Finucane, the University of Hull, the National Library of Ireland, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Liberty, the Public Record Office and Sue Chipperfield, all of whom assisted us in our work. Our report into this tragic case is now posted on our website. Stephen’s family, who were devastated by his death, are seeking an independent investigation, an official acknowledgment that Stephen was not involved in rioting, and the prosecution of the soldier who was responsible for Stephen’s death.
march
STEPHEN LIVINGSTONE
It is with deep regret that I report that Professor Stephen Livingstone went missing off the Antrim coast on 13th March, and is presumed dead. I first met Stephen when we lobbied the United Nations on my first trip there in August 1993. Stephen was already making his mark in the field of human rights and he went on to make a massive contribution. At the time of his disappearance he was on a sabbatical year from Queen’s University, Belfast, where he had headed the human rights centre, he was a member of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission, and he was a long-term member of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, which he at one time chaired. Stephen was always tremendously generous with his time. He spoke for free at BIRW seminars and I am sure I shall not be the only one to miss the ability to pick up the telephone to him whenever I had a particularly knotty human rights issue to resolve. His loss will be sorely felt across the human rights community, and his partner Karen is in our thoughts.
CORY REPORTS delivered to the families
On 31st March the UK government finally delivered the four reports addressed to it by Judge Cory to the families of Patrick Finucane, Robert Hamill, Billy Wright, and Rosemary Nelson. Unlike the two reports delivered to the Irish government, the UK reports had been heavily redacted. They are due to be laid before Parliament on 1st April, and the families have signed undertakings not to disclose the content of the reports before that date.
There cannot be any doubt that the reports would remain unpublished had it not been for American pressure and for a series of actions for judicial review launched by three of the families in the Northern Ireland courts.
april
VISIT TO THE UNITED NATIONS
On 5th April I went to Geneva, where the Commission on Human Rights was in session. I met Mr Despouy, the new Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and staff working for the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and the Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders. We discussed, among other topics, the situations of lawyers and journalists in Northern Ireland. On 16th April the Irish government broke with their self-imposed tradition of not speaking on Ireland-specific topics while chairing the European Union, to speak out on the floor of the UN about the failure of the UK to initiate an immediate public inquiry into Patrick Finucane’s murder.
may
DAVID McILWAINE AND ANDREW ROBB
These two young men died horribly on a lonely country road near Tandragee in February 2000. Over four years later the inquest is still incomplete. Recently the boys’ parents won a judicial review granting them access to numerous police papers relating to their son’s death. However, the immediate reaction of the Chief Constable of the PSNI, Hugh Orde, was to say that he was considering taking out Public Interest Immunity Certificates to prevent access to certain documents. Meanwhile, media reports give credibility to the families’ long-held belief that a police informer may have been involved in the murders. One is left wondering what it is that the police want to hide, and whether yet again the requirements of informers are being allowed to take priority over bringing murderers to book.
june
“less lethal” force
One of the recommendations of the Patten Commission on the reform of policing in Northern Ireland was that research should take place to find a less lethal alternative to plastic bullets. On 16th June I met members of the Policing Reform Division at the Northern Ireland Office who are servicing the working party which is carrying out this research. Also at the meeting were the Committee on the Administration of Justice, the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets, Relatives for Justice, and the Pat Finucane Centre. All of us were concerned to learn that the working party has concentrated on commissioning a different kind of plastic bullet, which it is hoped will cause less head injuries, and an individually-targeted CS gas canister. Although plastic bullets have not been fired in Northern Ireland since September 2002, the police are still trained to use them and they could be deployed again tomorrow. Seventeen people, many of them children, have been killed by rubber and plastic bullets in Northern Ireland. Research shows that children are often involved in rioting. To our horror, the guidelines on firing plastic bullets have been amended to allow firing at children if they are posing a risk to life or of serious injury. CS gas has a worse effect on people who suffer from asthma. Children tend to be more prone to asthma than adults. We shall be raising these concerns with the United Nations Committee Against Torture, who have called for a ban on plastic bullets, when they meet later this year in Geneva.
july
movement on the nelson, hamill and wright inquiries
On 28th July I attended meetings between Northern Ireland Office (NIO) officials and the families of Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright to discuss the forthcoming public inquiries following the recommendations of Judge Cory. Two crucial aspects of these inquiries have yet to be decided: the terms of reference, and who will chair the hearings. Judge Cory has already found that there is a case to answer concerning state collusion in all three cases. BIRW is concerned that the NIO is too intimately concerned in establishing these inquiries. Public confidence in the administration of justice and the rule of law has already been significantly undermined by these murders and their aftermaths. These are cases where justice must not only be done but very clearly be seen to be done. The members of these tribunals will carry a heavy obligation to fulfil that requirement, and their foremost task will be to gain the confidence of the families and the many independent observers around the world who are following these cases closely.
august
p j mcgrory memorial lecture
This year saw the tenth anniversary of the P J McGrory Memorial Lecture at the West Belfast Festival, which was chaired by Paddy McGrory’s widow, Phyllis. Paddy was a highly respected defence lawyer, and it was appropriate that the tenth lecture was delivered by Geraldine Finucane, widow of Pat Finucane. No-one who heard her could have failed to have been moved by her dignity and by the dreadful details of her fifteen-year long battle for justice.
second visit to the maze
On 12th August I visited the Maze prison for a second time with David Wright, Billy Wright’s father, and others. The prison has now passed from the control of the Northern Ireland Prison Service to that of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, who were very helpful. We were allowed to visit any part of the prison that was relevant, and found this second visit most instructive. The site of Billy Wright’s murder is being preserved until such time as the public inquiry into his death no longer needs access to it. A deserted prison, and a murder scene at that, is a desolate place and I admire David Wright’s courage on insisting on seeing it for himself.
response to home office consultation on terrorism v liberty
We have responded to the Home Office’s consultation paper, Counter-terrorism Powers: Reconciling Security and Liberty in an Open Society. We have told the government that, if our work in Northern Ireland has taught us anything, it is that terrorism is not overcome by adopting the terrorists’ methods or values. It is overcome by being better than the terrorists, even if sometimes occupying that moral high ground comes at an almost unbearable price. We are not saying that safety is not important, or that governments should not take every reasonable step available to them to try to prevent terrorist attacks, but “security”, as mentioned in the Discussion Paper’s title, is probably impossible to achieve in this uncertain world, where so many people are deprived of the “liberty”, also mentioned in the title, enjoyed by the privileged few who live in “open” societies. Rather than adopting the notion of “reconciling security and liberty” we prefer to recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, that, “The price of freedom is constant vigilance.” In the current context, that phrase can, perhaps, be read in two ways, but we are certain that our precious freedom cannot be preserved at the price of repression, no matter how few are oppressed nor how popular the measures.
september
ken barrett convicted
The gambit of introducing new legislation [to deal with the Finucane case] was dreamed up after an earlier stumbling block was removed when on 16th September Ken Barrett was convicted of being one of the gunmen who murdered Patrick Finucane. He pleaded guilty, which meant that absolutely no new information came to light as a result of his trial. Weir J handed down a mandatory life sentence and recommended that Barrett serve 22 years before being considered for release, but in reality Barrett will be released next year under the early release provisions of the Good Friday Agreement. So the Stevens 3 team may have got a conviction, but justice seems to be a little thin on the ground. BIRW’s Deputy Director Lorna Davidson attended the trial on our behalf.
MARTIN O’HAGAN
The 28th of September saw the third anniversary of the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan. BIRW continues to be concerned that the police investigation into his death appears to have run into the sand and that some journalists in Northern Ireland continue to work in fear of their lives.
october
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION BACKS COLIN WORTON
This month the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has sent a report to the government recommending changes in the way that people acquitted of crimes are treated. Their report was prompted by the case of Colin Worton, originally tried with the UDR Four for the murder of Adrian Carroll in 1983. Although Colin Worton was acquitted he spent two and a half years on remand and he lost his job in the army. Three of the UDR Four were also acquitted on appeal, and, unlike Colin Worton, received compensation. Neil Latimer, the fourth UDR soldier, is still fighting to clear his name. The Human Rights Commission has recommended that Colin Worton receive an ex-gratia payment. For more information about his case, please see the report posted on our website.
POLICE OMBUDSMAN FINDS IN FAVOUR OF JOURNALISTS
On 3rd October the Police Ombudsman released details of her investigation into the raids on the home of journalists Liam Clarke and Kathryn Johnston and the offices of the Sunday Times on 30th April 2003. She strongly criticised the handling of searches at the journalists’ homes and described the seizure of journalistic material as unlawful. She has recommended disciplinary action against eight police officers involved in the operation, ranging in rank from Constable to Chief Superintendent. British Irish rights watch had complained to the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression about the raids, and supplied the Police Ombudsman with a copy of our report.
NOVEMBER
inquiry bill: a recipe for whitewash
On 25th November the Inquiries Bill was published in the House of Lords. This repeals the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921, under which major public inquiries have been held in the past. Public inquiries are a crucial element of the investigation and scrutiny of events that raise issues of public concern, and of ensuring their non-recurrence. This is particularly so when there are serious allegations of wrong-doing or negligence by government or its agents. For this reason, many of the provisions of the Inquiries Bill are deeply troubling because they introduce an unacceptable level of governmental control over a process that must, by its very nature, be independent and command public confidence. Should the Bill be enacted, its effect on inquiries such as the long-overdue inquiry into the murder of solicitor Patrick Finucane, or any future inquiry into the allegations of bullying and mistreatment at Deepcut Barracks in Surrey, would be devastating. We have posted our critique of the Bill, which is even worse than we predicted last month, on our website.
COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CRITICISES UK
Lorna Davidson attended the UN Committee against Torture session in Geneva between 16th and 18th November. At this session, the fourth periodic report of the United Kingdom was being examined by the Committee. BIRW had submitted a written report on issues relating to Northern Ireland in advance of the Committee’s session, and on November 16th we participated in an oral briefing for the members of the Committee. While the Committee’s review of the UK focused mainly on issues such as the treatment of Iraqi detainees by the British armed forces and the admissibility of evidence obtained by torture in legal proceedings, it also probed the UK on the need for continued emergency legislation in Northern Ireland. In addition, individual Committee members raised the effect of the House of Lords’ judgment in the McKerr case on the right to an effective investigation of cases where individuals were killed by state agents, or where collusion was concerned, in Northern Ireland. The Committee’s concluding observations reflect these concerns, which were emphasised by BIRW and the Committee on the Administration of Justice.
REPORT ON ACTIVITIES IN
2004
As always, 2004 has been a very busy year. In the past twelve months our director, Jane Winter, and her Deputy, Lorna Davidson, who joined us in August, have made thirteen trips to Northern Ireland, four to the Republic of Ireland, one to the USA, and two to the United Nations in Geneva. Submissions have been made and briefings provided to the British, Irish and American governments, the United Nations and other bodies concerning the many human rights issues that have arisen in Northern Ireland. The Director has also taken part in various television documentaries, taught at seminars, spoken at conferences and given numerous media interviews. A summary of our activities is in included in this report. Below we highlight just a few of the key events and issues.
collusion
In January this year, Peter Cory, a former Canadian Supreme Court judge, put the government to shame by personally informing the families of Patrick Finucane, Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright that he had recommended public inquiries into their cases. The government still delayed until April before publishing his reports, and when they did so, many names had been replaced by letters of the alphabet and some passages had been omitted. It was July before the government said that it would hold public inquiries into the Wright, Hamill and Nelson cases, but declared that it would need to change the law before it could deal with the Finucane case. In November they finally named the judges and panel members who would hear the three inquiries and announced the terms of reference. As we go to press there are still arguments going on about whether the terms of reference are appropriate.
Judge Cory’s reports finally ended the taboo on mentioning collusion in Northern Ireland. It was not so many years ago that the United Kingdom government was telling the United Nations that there was no collusion in the UK. Then in May 1990 came the first Steven’s report, in which he concluded that collusion did exist but it was not widespread or institutionalised. By April 2003, Stevens had changed his opinion, and acknowledged that willful acts and omissions of collusion had led to deaths and serious injuries. We would go further, and say that collusion was both a policy and an operational tool, and it has been endemic in Northern Ireland.
Collusion has not just been confined to a few high-profile cases. For example, there was clearly collusion in the murder in 1976 of Seamus Ludlow, killed in the Republic of Ireland by a loyalist gang from Northern Ireland which included serving soldiers. Nor is collusion a thing of the past. Despite repeated denials by the authorities, it has emerged that an informer was involved in the brutal murder in 2000 of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, and possibly was being protected. There is also a lingering fear that protection of an informer is hampering the police investigation into the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan in 2001.
All murder is heinous, but there is something particularly disturbing about collusion, because, as Stevens has now said of Patrick Finucane’s death, murders in which there is an element of collusion can be prevented. Collusion practiced on a regular basis, as it has been in Northern Ireland, places the desire for intelligence above the right to life, which is about as bad as it gets.
the mckerr
case
In March the House of Lords handed down its ruling in the case of Gervaise McKerr, killed in an alleged shoot-to-kill incident in 1982. BIRW made a third party intervention in the case, which was about whether deaths that occurred before the European Convention on Human Rights was incorporated into domestic law are entitled to an effective investigation under Article 2, which protects the right to life. In what can only be described as a retrograde judgment, the Lords held that the European Convention on Human Rights had not been incorporated into domestic law. The Human Rights Act 1998, which came into force on 2nd October 2000, merely gave effect to Convention rights in domestic law. Cases arising from incidents which occurred before that date could not vindicate their Convention rights before the domestic courts. Furthermore, claims arising from the procedural rights stemming from Article 2, such as the right to an effective investigation, even if they arose after October 2000, could not engage Human Rights Act protection if the death happened before that date. This is a very disappointing outcome which may have closed the door on many old cases in Northern Ireland which have never received justice.
bloody sunday
2004 finally saw an end to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, which sat for a mammoth 434 days, heard from over 900 witnesses, and has cost an estimated £150 million. Every single day of the hearings has been the subject of reports by our independent observers, Catherine McKenna, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, and most recently Russell Miller. All of their meticulous reports are available on our website.
Much criticism has been levelled at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry for the time it has taken and for its cost – it has been the longest and most expensive public inquiry in legal history. However, the time it took and its expense were not the fault of the victims of Bloody Sunday. The Ministry of Defence, which was responsible for the shooting dead of 13 unarmed demonstrators and the wounding of 14 others on 30th January 1972, refused to be a party to the inquiry. This left individual soldiers to fend for themselves. It was their legal challenges over anonymity, screening from public view, and relocation from Derry to London, and the consequences of those challenges, which led to much of the delay and expense. Nor should it be forgotten that the first inquiry, the Widgery Tribunal, was a whitewash. Had it delivered justice, there would have been no need for a second inquiry. The Bloody Sunday Inquiry has demonstrated that justice does not come cheap, but more importantly, injustice costs dear.
The report of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry is expected some time next year. Only once it is published will we know whether this second inquiry was worthwhile. One thing is for sure, it showed the need for independent scrutiny, and that not even army generals or Prime Ministers – in this case Edward Heath – are above the law.
an end to public inquiries
Also in November, the government published the Inquiries Bill, which is intended to cover the Finucane case, but will also affect anyone else who is seeking a public inquiry. If passed, the Bill will wrest all significant powers from independent judges and place them in the hands of government ministers, even if their own department is under scrutiny. Ministers will be able to dictate whether an inquiry will be held in public; whether documents disclosed to the inquiry can be published; who can be a witness at an inquiry; and whether the inquiry’s report should be published. This is truly draconian legislation which has no place in a developed democracy. We cannot believe that any reputable judge will want to put his or her name to an inquiry held under these conditions.
the right to truth
As is often the case where countries are emerging from conflict, people in Northern Ireland are beginning to wonder whether a truth commission or some other truth-finding or truth-telling process would be helpful there. Sadly, as the Inquiries Bill shows, the government is very far from allowing the truth about its own role to be told. Nor do the security forces or the paramilitaries appear to have any appetite for it. Mechanisms such as investigations by the Police Ombudsman and the PSNI’s Serious Crime Review Team are being developed in Northern Ireland that allow some scrutiny of the past, and may bring closure for some victims. However, no matter how honest these investigations may be, they are anything but transparent, and they can make little contribution towards society as a whole leaving behind the many lies of the past and applying the searchlight of truth to an appalling history of violence and collusion. From BIRW’s perspective, much more than a truth commission is needed for Northern Ireland. There needs to be what amounts to a revolution in the way that contentious killings and miscarriages of justice are approached. What is needed is a society where the truth is told; where those in office are accountable; where wrong-doing is acknowledged; where the same errors are not endlessly repeated; where people know how to apologise; where victims are compensated; and where the law and practice conform with human rights norms.
the dublin and monaghan bombings
At the very end of 2003 the report by Judge Henry Barron was published into the bombings of Dublin and Monaghan on 17th May 1974. Between them, the four bombs killed 33 people and injured over 240 others. It was the worst single incident of the conflict, yet, as Judge Barron found, the Irish government of the day displayed an inexplicable indifference towards the victims. The failure of the United Kingdom government to co-operate fully with Judge Barron is shameful in light of the evidence he found that the bombings were carried out by loyalists from Northern Ireland who almost certainly had help from the security forces. Equally shameful is the conclusion of the Joint Oireachtas sub-committee which considered Judge Barron’s report. Instead of ordering a full public inquiry into all the events surrounding the bombings, the sub-committee ordered a much more limited inquiry into the flawed police investigation and the files that had gone missing when Judge Barron wanted to study them. The Committee also copped out of Ireland’s greater responsibilities by recommending a public inquiry into the bombings in Britain, preceded by a Cory-style private investigation.
grateful thanks
We should like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteers and interns this year: Sue Chippenfield, Beth Chittick, Sue Millar, and Paul Ridge; our administrative assistant Elizabeth Folarin; and our observer at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Russell Miller.
SUPPORT for our work
British Irish rights watch is pleased to acknowledge with gratitude financial support during 2004 from the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust; Garden Court Chambers; the Hilda Mullen Foundation; and many individuals in Britain, Ireland and America.
SUMMARY OF MAIN
ACTIVITIES IN 2004
expert
testimony
· Appearance before a Sub-Committee of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights concerning Judge Barron’s report on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in 1974
· Testimony to the American Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe concerning the Cory Reports - March 2004
third
party intervention
· Third party intervention in the McKerr case before the House of Lords, regarding the retrospective application of the Human Rights Act
trials
observed
· Trial of Ken Barrett (murder of Patrick Finucane)
submissions
united nations
· Submission to the Special Rapporteur on judges and lawyers concerning the Cory report on the cases of Finucane, Hamill, Wright and Nelson
· Confidential report to the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression concerning attempts by the government to suppress allegations that those who murdered Stephen Restorick, the last soldier to die so far in the Northern Ireland conflict, were under surveillance
· Submission to the Committee against Torture on the UK’s observance of the International Covenant Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
other bodies
· Submission to the Centre for Judges and Lawyers on the safety of defence lawyers in Northern Ireland
· Submission to the sub-committee of the Joint Oireachtas examining Judge Barron's report on the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings
· Response to consultation by the Northern Ireland Court Service regarding information services
· Response to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission regarding its communication strategy
· Response to the Northern Ireland Prison service regarding minimum life sentences
· Response to a Northern Ireland Courts Service consultation on the reform of inquests
· Response to government working party on “less lethal” alternatives to plastic bullets
· Response to Northern Ireland Office consultation on reform of bail provisions for scheduled offences in Northern Ireland
· Response to Policing Board’s consultations concerning their equality impact assessments on the policing policy plan and on data collection
· Response to report by Policing Board’s human rights advisers on compliance by the PSNI with the Human Rights Act 1998
· Response to the Home Office’s consultation paper, Counter-terrorism Powers: Reconciling Security and Liberty in an Open Society
· Response to Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission’s second draft Bill of Rights
· Response to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland’s consultation exercise on what forms of identification the police should use
· Submission to Joint Committee on Human Rights on the government’s review of international human rights instruments
· Submission to Northern Ireland Affairs Committee’s inquiry in ways of dealing with Northern Ireland’s past
publications/reports
· The Death of Stephen McConomy, February 2004
events
observed
· Bloody Sunday Inquiry
about
British Irish rights watch
British Irish rights watch is an independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) that monitors the human rights dimension of the conflict in Northern Ireland. It is registered as a not-for-profit company and is a registered charity.
The organisation was formally established in 1992, although those involved in its work have been so since 1990. Its objects are:
1. the promotion by means of education and research of the proper observance and maintenance of human rights in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere in the world with particular reference to the conflict in Northern Ireland;
2. the promotion and dissemination of knowledge, information and understanding of such human rights by writing, publishing and distributing articles, reports, books and other documents and assisting in the same, by arranging and providing lectures and seminars, and by all other means of providing and exchanging information.
3. to procure the abolition of torture, extra-judicial executions, and arbitrary arrest, detention and exile.
history
British Irish rights watch arose out of the concern of a small group of people from England, Ireland and America, all of them based in London, about the human rights violations stemming from the conflict in Northern Ireland. Their work began informally in 1990, and consisted originally of organising seminars for lawyers, firstly in London and then in Belfast and Dublin. Gradually, lawyers and then campaign groups and individuals whose human rights had been affected began to regard them as a resource. In 1992 they played a key role in organising the Northern Ireland Human Rights Assembly in London, which attracted 254 written submissions alleging human rights violations arising from the conflict and over 250 participants. A panel of seven international human rights experts heard evidence over three days and produced a substantial report, Broken Covenants, that severely criticised the United Kingdom government for its failure to protect human rights. This Assembly generated even more demand for the group’s services, and in May 1992 British Irish rights watch was formally established as a not-for-profit company. In 1995 the organisation achieved charitable status.
Until August 1994 its primary role was to monitor alleged human rights violations arising from the conflict in Northern Ireland. Since the ceasefires, it has enhanced its activities to include ensuring that proper respect for human rights is established in Northern Ireland in the wake of the conflict, with particular emphasis currently on the role of human rights in the emerging peace process.
British Irish rights watch’s services are available free of charge to everyone, regardless of their religious or political affiliations or opinions, and we are proud that our services are requested and used by individuals and groups on all sides of the community. We take no position on the eventual constitutional outcome of the peace process and we are entirely independent of any other organisation, although we work very closely with other domestic and international NGOs who share our concerns.
Until February 1995 all our work was carried out on a voluntary basis by unpaid volunteers. At that point, we had raised enough funding to enable us to open an office and employ a full-time director for one year. With the peace process at such a crucial moment we did not hesitate, but deployed our existing funding in full and resolved to raise enough further financial support to enable us to see our task through to its conclusion.
key
activities
In fulfilment of its charitable objects, British Irish rights watch:
researches alleged human rights violations arising out of the conflict
sends independent observers to trials, inquests and inquiries
provides consultancy services for lawyers
makes representations to international human rights bodies and organisations
such as the United Nations
organises seminars for lawyers and others
makes third party interventions in human rights cases and provides expert
testimony
publishes articles and reports
organises conferences.
personnel
British Irish rights watch is managed by a Management Committee made up of four women, all of whom give their time and expertise free of charge:
Angela Hickey, from London, who works for the Prison Ombudsman service in
London.
Fiona Murphy, from Belfast, who is a solicitor.
Sarah Cooke, from London, who is the Director of the
British Institute for Human Rights.
Marion Fitzpatrick, from Yorkshire, who was formerly
the Director of the London Advice Services Alliance and is now an
administrator.
The Director is Jane Winter, from London, who is a founder member of British Irish rights watch, and who has15 years’ experience of working on the human rights dimension of the conflict in Northern Ireland. She has previously worked as a researcher and as an adviser and advocate in the Citizens Advice Bureau service and the law centre movement. The Deputy Director is Lorna Davidson, from Dunblane, who has worked on human rights in the former Yugoslavia, and in several other countries while working for Human Rights First in the USA. Our full-time administrative assistant is Elizabeth Folarin.
British Irish rights watch has volunteers based in London, Belfast and Dublin who make a valuable contribution to its work. It has also benefited from the input of interns from many parts of the world.
sponsors
British Irish rights watch is fortunate to be sponsored by three leading human rights lawyers:
Professor Kader Asmal MP, former Minister of Education in the South African
government, is also a professor of human rights law and the former Chair of
the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.
Helena Kennedy QC is a campaigner for women’s rights and a distinguished
lawyer who has been involved in many leading civil liberties cases. Baroness
Kennedy is an active member of the House of Lords.
Michael Mansfield QC is a highly successful barrister who has been involved in
remedying many of the notorious Irish miscarriages of justice, including the
cases of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four. He also appeared in the
Bloody Sunday Inquiry.
funding
British Irish rights watch gratefully acknowledges the financial support of:
the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust;
the Atlantic Philanthropies;
the John Merck Fund;
the Hilda Mullen Foundation;
the Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation;
the Catherine Scorer Trust Fund;
the Patrick Finucane Memorial Trust;
Garden Court Chambers;
Took’s Court Chambers;
the Ruben and Elisabeth Rausing Trust;
the trade union UNISON;
under the auspices of the American Ireland Fund: Bob, Jack and Jerry Dunfey,
Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Dennis Smith, Bill McNally, John T Sharkey, and
William J Flynn; and
many individual lawyers in Britain, Ireland and America.
donations are always welcome, acknowledged, and put to good use
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
