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Annual Report
2005
for peace, justice and human rights
British Irish RIGHTS WATCH is an independent non-governmental organisation that has been monitoring the humanrights 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
Although, as this report shows, 2005 has been a very busy and productive year for British Irish RIGHTS WATCH, it has not been a good year for human rights in Northern Ireland.
Pleased though we are to see public inquiries into the case of Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill, and Billy Wright, it has become increasingly apparent that the government has set its face against a public inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane. Worse still, it has brought in the Inquiries Act 2005, which has effectively abolished public inquiries altogether, so that others whose cases surely deserve an independent public inquiry, such as the victims of the 1998 Omagh bombing, will never see one. We are also very concerned that the chair of the Billy Wright Inquiry has chosen to convert the inquiry to an Inquiries Act Inquiry, leaving it open to serious interference by the Northern Ireland Office, themselves a party to the inquiry.
Just as we thought Northern Ireland might see the back of the “emergency” laws which have governed it since its inception, the government has brought in a massive tranche of counter-terrorism laws which will apply permanently in Northern Ireland and which involve many measures, such as house arrest and 28-day detention, which are even more draconian than the old laws.
As if all that were not bad enough, under the guise of regularising the position of IRA prisoners who were on the run, the Northern Ireland Offences Bill, if passed, will enable those who committed conflict-related crimes before April 1998, including crimes of collusion, but have never been charged, to be “tried” in a no-jury Special Tribunal, whose hearing they need not even attend, and if “convicted” they will be immediately freed on licence. The government should be careful; attempts to sweep Northern Ireland’s past under the carpet may result in the past coming back to haunt them. This kind of sleight of hand is not the way to resolve the damage done by over thirty years of conflict and collusion.
That said, there clearly remains much work for BIRW to do, and we will continue to help people on all sides of the community expose the truth about the human rights violations they have suffered.
Our thanks as ever for all their hard work to our Director, Jane Winter, our Researcher, Caroline Parkes, our Administrative Assistant, Elizabeth Folarin, and to all our interns and volunteers. My warm appreciation also to all our funders and all those who have made donations in support of our work. All of their contributions are greatly appreciated.
Angela Hickey,
Chairperson,
British Irish rights watch,
10th December 2005.
2005
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
colin worton meets secretary of state
On 18th January Colin Worton finally met the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Paul Murphy. I was due to attend the meeting, but my ’plane was delayed by snow. Colin Worton was originally tried along with the UDR Four for the murder of Adrian Carroll in 1983. He was acquitted when his confession, which had been coerced from him by the RUC was thrown out of court. Unlike three of the UDR Four, who were later acquitted on appeal and compensated, Colin Worton has never been properly vindicated. As a result of the case, he lost his job in the army and he spent two and a half years on remand in prison. Neil Latimer, the fourth member of the UDR Four, remains convicted, despite having his case referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission as a potential miscarriage of justice. BIRW has asked the PSNI to re-examine Adrian Carroll’s murder using its new Serious Crimes Review Team, but they have refused to do so.
february
THE prevention of terrorism BILL
As has occurred all too often in relation to so-called emergency legislation in Northern Ireland, the government has rushed a new Prevention of Terrorism Bill through the Commons rather than give proper effect to the rulings of the House of Lords in December concerning the detention of suspected Al-Qaeda members without trial. This new Bill will apply to both domestic and international terrorism and gives government ministers powers to make control orders limiting many aspects of suspects’ lives, as well as their families. Please see our website for more information. In a last-minute concession the government agreed that house arrest would have to be authorised by a judge, but house arrest is no better than detention without trial. Once again, accountability is the issue. Government ministers should not be putting suspects at risk of house arrest and other violations of their human rights – the list is long: family life, privacy, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and above all the right to a fair trial could all be affected, as well as liberty – on the basis of secret intelligence which neither the suspect nor his or her lawyer is allowed to see. Never has a government in this country imposed such laws on its own citizens in peacetime. This Bill is a charter for abuse. It will inevitably lead to miscarriages of justice and runs a real risk of creating martyrs to the cause.
march
CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON THE CORY INQUIRIES
On 16th April I testified at a hearing by the Africa, Global Human Rights and International Relations Subcommittee of the US Congress into the progress made in the five public inquiries recommended by Judge Cory into the deaths of Patrick Finucane, Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill, Billy Wright and Bob Buchanan and Harry Breen. President Bush’s Special Envoy, Mitchell Reiss, expressed American concern about the UK’s failure to deliver on a public inquiry into Patrick Finucane’s murder, and his widow Geraldine Finucane added her own testimony. Judge Cory submitted a letter which was read into the record, in which he said that the public inquiry he envisaged would have been held under the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921, and that the Inquiries Bill is not suitable as a vehicle for investigating the Finucane case. His letter, and all the testimony, is available on our website under the heading “Inquiries Bill”. Elisa Massimino, Washington Director of Human Rights First, updated congress on the progress into the other four inquiries recommended by Judge Cory, highlighting concerns about the inadequate terms of reference for the inquiries into the murder of Rosemary Nelson (now resolved) and Bill Wright. Maggie Beirne of CAJ spoke of the many deserving cases in Northern Ireland that are unlikely to receive a public inquiry, and delivered a measured critique of the PSNI’s plans to review all unsolved murders arising from the Northern Ireland conflict. Our thanks as ever to Representative Chris Smith and his Chief of Staff Mary Noonan for organising this important hearing.
april
ROSEMARY NELSON INQUIRY OPENS
On 19th April 2005 I travelled to Craigavon for the formal opening of the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry. The full text of the Chair’s opening statement is available on the Inquiry’s website: www.rosemarynelsoninquiry.org while our own report is available on our website. BIRW has responded to the Inquiry’s invitation to comment on the list of issues it intends to examine (also available on the Inquiry’s website), and also on the question of immunity from prosecution for certain witnesses. We have argued that immunity should be as limited as possible and only used to protect those who fear retaliation if they tell the truth. Those in high office who were responsible for policies and decisions which led to or contributed towards her death should be held fully accountable for their actions or inaction.
may
NORTHERN IRELAND ELECTION RESULTS
Comprehensive analysis of the election results in both the General Election and District Council elections are available on our website. As predicted, the trend towards polarisation between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin continued, with the Ulster Unionist Party retaining only one seat and its leader David Trimble failing to be elected. The democratic deficit in Northern Ireland is not helped by the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly. There are many in Northern Ireland who believe that there is no longer any justification, if there ever was one, for the suspension, and that the people of Northern Ireland, who have spoken clearly through the ballot box, should be able to run the country themselves through the Assembly. They would say that if any party cannot sit down with another party, they can absent themselves and let those parties who are willing to implement their mandates get on with the job. Others would say that the murder of Robert McCartney by IRA members, although not apparently sanctioned by the IRA as an organisation, and the robbery of the Northern Bank, attributed to the IRA, have destroyed all possibility of trust between the two main parties. Many fear that the resultant political vacuum will lead to violence during the marching season that is about to begin. As always when there is lack of political progress, British Irish rights watch argues that there is always room for progress towards better human rights for everyone in Northern Ireland. Yet the UK government has yet to appoint the new members of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission so that they can get on with the vital task of drafting a viable Bill of Rights. As usual. the government is sending the wrong message and is concentrating on the politics while ignoring the capacity for improvements in human rights. They seem to have forgotten – again – that those who refuse to learn from their past mistakes are doomed to repeat them.
ROBERT HAMILL INQUIRY OPENS
On 24th May 2005 the formal opening of the Robert Hamill Inquiry opened on Craigavon Courthouse. The full text of the Chair’s opening statement is available on the Inquiry’s website: www.roberthamillinquiry.org while our own report is available on our website. BIRW has responded to the Inquiry’s invitation to comment on the list of issues it intends to examine (which is available as part of the Chair’s opening statement on the Inquiry’s website), and also on the question of immunity from prosecution for certain witnesses. We are glad to see that, unlike the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry, which has applied for blanket immunity for witnesses, the Robert Hamill Inquiry intends to take a case-by-case approach. They are also taking a robust attitude towards anonymity, and to that end we have sent them information about names that are already in the public domain.
june
inquiries act comes into force
The Inquiries Act 2005 came into force on 7th June 2005, bringing an end to the public inquiry as we know it. A summary of its main provisions and a critique of the Act can be found on our website. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe met on 6th and 7th June to consider, among other matters, the UK’s progress on implementing Article 2-compliant, effective investigations into a number of deaths in Northern Ireland. We sent them a detailed submission concerning the Inquiries Act and its inability, in our view, to deliver an effective investigation into the murder of Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane. We told the Committee that on 23rd September 2004, when the government finally conceded that it would have to hold an inquiry into the Finucane case, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Paul Murphy told the Associated Press:
“Because this case deals with issues of national security, much of the proceedings will have to take place in private.”
Since then, UK Ministers and officials have been briefing privately that the proposed inquiry under the Inquiries Act will last for four to five years and that, while it will look at the question of who murdered Patrick Finucane it will not put the policies and systems which led to the murder under scrutiny.
july
SO THE WAR IS OVER?
The IRA’s statement on 27th July that henceforth it will pursue “the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means” is welcome, if long overdue. It is difficult now to recall the euphoria that followed the IRA’s 1994 ceasefire, especially when the Combined Loyalist Military Command followed suit a few weeks later. Today’s landscape is considerably less optimistic, even though the republican movement seems to be sincere and committed in its resolve. The loyalists, on the other hand, are running amok, conducting lethal feuds, killing innocent people, and taking over the Garnerville estate, severely undermining the credibility of the PSNI’s ability to deliver a normal policing service. The UVF’s ceasefire, which has been a mockery for years, is rightly under review, but years of collusion between the security forces – police, army, and intelligence – is at the heart of the problem in Northern Ireland. Both republicans and loyalists have been literally getting away with murder for years and hundreds of lives have been lost and blighted because the hunger for intelligence took precedence over the duty of the security forces to uphold the law and protect the right to life. When BIRW first started work 15 years ago, the government denied that collusion existed. After Stevens’ third report and the Cory reports, such denial is no longer possible. However, until the government, the Northern Ireland Office and the security forces truly face up to the fact that the paramilitaries were not so much tackled as managed and manipulated in Northern Ireland, and that collusion became institutionalised, then untouchable warlords will continue to terrorise the individuals, families and communities who live at the sharp end and suffer the consequences of these disastrous policies.
Raymond mccord
British Irish RIGHTS WATCH has sent a confidential report on the murder of Raymond McCord to the United Nations, the Police Ombudsman, the Independent Monitoring Commission, the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the US Special Envoy on Northern Ireland, and the US Congress. Raymond McCord was battered to death by the Ulster Volunteer Force and his body dumped in a quarry in 1997. He was 22 years old. BIRW’s report sets out the known facts about the murder and names the alleged perpetrators. It is for that reason that the report remains confidential. The Police Ombudsman is currently investigating the police investigation into the murder, which has failed to result in any convictions, and her report is due out later this year. BIRW will be updating our report in light of any new information that emerges from the Ombudsman’s expected report. Raymond McCord’s family have expressly requested BIRW not to send their report to the Police Service of Northern Ireland because they have no confidence in the police, the reason being that at least two UVF informers, one of them very senior, were involved in the murder and have enjoyed police protection for many years, allowing them to murder not only Raymond McCord but many others with impunity. Our report calls upon the United Kingdom government to put in place immediately an effective investigation into the murder of Raymond McCord. Such an investigation must be completely independent of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, given the serious allegations of collusion which arise in this case.
august
shoot-to-kill
Following the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes by the special police unit SO 19 last month and the realisation that misinformation about his death was widely disseminated, we have sent the reports we produced on the shooting by SO19 of Diarmuid O’Neill in 1996 to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and to lawyers acting for Jean Charles de Menezes. We had hoped that the Metropolitan Police might have learned something from the many mistakes which led to the death of Diarmuid O’Neill, who was unarmed and posing no threat, but everything that has come to light about the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes leads us to think otherwise. It is chilling to think that the four most recent cases of which we are aware – the other two being the deaths of Neil McConville in 2003 in Northern Ireland and Harry Stanley in London in 1999, both of whom were also unarmed and posing no threat – all led to the killing of innocent men. That in itself should lead to the abandoning of the shoot-to-kill policy. It does not save lives, its takes lives. It will not deter those hell bent on suicide bombings, and it brings our law enforcers down to the level of terrorists, who shoot first and ask questions afterwards.
september
EVIDENCE OBTAINED UNDER TORTURE
The coalition of fourteen NGOs, of which BIRW is one, who are making a third party intervention in the case of A & Ors have send in our submissions to the House of Lords. The case concerns the question of whether it is permissible for the domestic courts to rely on evidence obtained under torture in another country, and will be heard on 17th October 2005. Our thanks to our legal team and to Amnesty International, who co-ordinated the intervention, for all their hard work.
MINISTER SENDS COLLUSION REPORT TO PSNI
Last month we reported that we had sent a confidential report on the murder of Raymond McCord to, among others, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The report named names and alleged collusion between the RUC (the PSNI’s predecessor) and the loyalist paramilitary group, the UVF. At the specific request of the family, we did not sent the report to the PSNI in case it alerted those suspected of involvement in collusion. To our consternation, Sean Woodward MP, Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, responded by sending the PSNI a copy of our report. In our view, such an act is tantamount to further collusion and shows no understanding of the true meaning of the rule of law.
october
CCRC TO LOOK AGAIN AT JOHN TORNEY’S CASE
The Northern Ireland High Court has ordered the Criminal Cases Review Commission to make further investigations into the case of former RUC officer John Torney, who sadly died in prison this summer, having always denied the murder of his wife and two children.
PLASTIC BULLETS
Following the unwelcome resumption of the use of plastic bullets, now known as AEPs, in Northern Ireland during recent riots, we have produced a report chronicling their use during the conflict. We are particularly concerned by the use of AEPs as a means of crowd control. In England and Wales, where they are also deployed, they are only used in one-on-one situations, as a less lethal alternative to live ammunition. We are also concerned that, in Northern Ireland, a quarter of all plastic bullets have been fired by the army, but whereas the Police Ombudsman scrutinises every bullet fired by the police these days, there is no independent scrutiny of bullets fired by the army, who also operate under less rigorous guidelines than the police. Plastic bullets have not been fired in Derry for over seven years, despite some serious public disorder at times, so there is another way. In our report, which has been sent to the government, the United Nations, the American Congress and other relevant bodies, has called again for a ban on plastic bullets.
NOVEMBER
NORTHERN IRELAND OFFENCES BILL
It has been clear for some years that the price the IRA intended to exact for finally decommissioning all its weapons was some form of amnesty for any IRA prisoners who were on the run. They argued that, since almost all other paramilitary prisoners had benefited from the early release scheme set up under the Good Friday Agreement, no useful purpose would be served by forcing this small group of people, known at the OTRs, to serve a short prison sentence. BIRW took no position on the IRA’s demand, regarding it, like the early release scheme, as part of a political settlement, and thus falling outside our remit. However, when the Northern Ireland Offences Bill was published it became clear that public servants who have engaged in collusion and others who committed offences prior to 1998 but have not yet been charged would also escape any public trial or jail – something which was never part of the peace settlement and which was never approved by a referendum. We consider that members of the security forces (the police, the army and the intelligence services) and civil servants are public servants. They are paid from the public purse. They are given powers, such as they right to carry and use weapons, to tap telephones, or to remand people in custody, which are not permissible to ordinary members of the public. When they commit acts of collusion, they abuse those powers and they abuse our trust. Higher standards can be expected from public servants than those that can be hoped for from terrorists. Public servants can and must be held accountable for what they do in our name and on our behalf. International human rights law rightly disapproves of the granting of impunity to agents of the state who engage in collusion. A full copy of the briefing we have sent to the House of Commons is available on our website.
billy wright inquiry converted to inquiries act
Despite the opposition of Billy Wright’s family, his lawyers, and NGOs, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain MP, has decided to rubber stamp the request by Lord MacLean, who chairs the inquiry, to convert it to and inquiry held under the Inquiries Act 2005 rather than under the Prison Act. Although the Secretary of State says he only wants to arrive at the truth about the murder in 1997 in the Maze Prison of LVF leader Billy Wright, in reality we can expect the public servants who were responsible for the alleged acts of collusion identified by Judge Cory in his report to seek anonymity, secret hearings, and even the suppression of evidence. We can also expect them to take full advantage of the Northern Ireland Offences Bill, if passed.
ARRESTS FOR THE MURDERS OF DAVID McILWAINE AND ANDREW ROBB
While we welcome the recent arrests of two alleged UVF members for the murders of teenagers David McIlwaine and Andrew Robb, we are concerned that it has taken over five years to bring anyone to justice for these brutal killings. We also remain concerned that senior UVF members who may have been police informers may yet escape justice. We have spelled out our concerns in an explicit letter to the Senior Investigating Officer who is in charge of the police investigation, which we will continue to monitor very closely.
REPORT ON ACTIVITIES
IN 2005
If anything, 2005 has been one of BIRW’s busiest years. It got off to a bad start, with a flood in the office, our Deputy Director Lorna Davidson breaking her leg, and our Director Jane Winter being afflicted with both ’flu and jury service. However, 2005 also saw an expansion in our office space, which was greatly needed. In July Lorna left us owing to unforeseen personal circumstances, and we were fortunate that Caroline Parkes could join us in August as our Researcher/Administrator. During the year, BIRW staff have travelled to Belfast 20 times, Dublin twice, Washington once and New York once. 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
It seems strange to remember that when BIRW first started work, the United Kingdom government denied that collusion existed! Now it is taken for granted that collusion has been practiced in one form or another throughout the conflict. Sadly, it is still out there, blighting people’s lives and obscuring the truth, but its days are numbered. This year, more members of the Protestant community in Northern Ireland have come to realise that the gathering of intelligence and the protection of informers has all too often been placed above the duty to save lives and detect crimes, and that their community has suffered in exactly the same way as that of their Catholic counterparts.
However, if the Northern Ireland Offences Bill becomes law, no public servant who engaged in collusion prior to April 1998 will ever stand trial. The government appears to believe that it can simply wipe the slate clean and sweep Northern Ireland’s past under the carpet. If so, they are making a monumental mistake. If our work has taught us one thing, it is that the truth will out. If this Bill is enacted, the past will come back to haunt Northern Ireland, which is the last thing it needs.
inquiries
2005 finally saw the end of the hearings by the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, which held an extra day’s hearing in January. However, it is still not clear when its report will finally be published.
Public Inquiries into the cases of Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright all formally opened this year, although full hearings will not start until 2006. To our dismay, Lord MacLean, who is chairing the inquiry into the murder in 1997 in the Maze prison of LVF leader Billy Wright, has decided to convert the legal basis for the inquiry from the Prison Act to the Inquiries Act. This means that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland could usurp many of Lord MacLean’s functions and undermine the independence of the inquiry. It is very likely that Billy Wright’s family will mount a legal challenge against this move.
These three inquiries were among five recommended by Judge Peter Cory in October 2003. Although the Irish government has said it will hold a full public inquiry into the murders of RUC officers Bob Buchanan and Harry Breen, the details have yet to emerge. In Patrick Finucane’s case, the UK government has reneged on its promise to implement Judge Cory’s recommendation, and has said it will hold a mainly private inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, which it brought in partly in order to avoid complying with Judge Cory’s recommendation in the Finucane case. BIRW has sent a report on the government’s treacherous behaviour to the UN and the Irish and American governments.
This year the Irish government finally published the report of Judge Barron’s private inquiry into the 1976 murder of Seamus Ludlow by loyalists from Northern Ireland, some of whom were serving soldiers. The Ludlow family were not able to scrutinise or question the evidence seen by Judge Barron, and his report raises as many questions as it answers. BIRW supports the family’s call for a public inquiry, which is still possible under Irish law.
BIRW also supports the call for a full public inquiry by the victims of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which were also the subject of a private inquiry by Judge Barron. At the moment, the report of a second private inquiry, by Patrick MacEntee SC, is awaited.
birw investigations into deaths
Owing to the fact that the conflict in Northern Ireland is still not really over, BIRW has begun investigations of a number of deaths related to the conflict this year. Some of them happened some time ago, such as those of Lorraine McCausland, murdered by the UDA in 1987; John Dignam, executed by the IRA as an alleged informer in 1992; and Raymond McCord, killed by the UVF in 1997. All three cases raise the spectre of collusion. Another new case for us is that of Craig McCausland, Lorraine’s son, murdered by the UVF in July. As with so many other cases while the names of those concerned are widely known, the police seem to be incapable of bringing anyone to justice.
Another such case, until very recently, was the brutal murders of two Protestant teenagers, David McIlwaine and Andrew Robb, in 2000, butchered on a lonely country road by the LVF near Tandragee. Two 25-year-old men have been arrested and charged with their murders after one of them confessed his part. The other perpetrator was charged back in 2000, but the DPP dropped the charges against him. In our view, the police investigation was badly mishandled, and once again collusion may have been involved. The Police Ombudsman’s report on the police investigation is awaited.
the historic enquiries team
With much fanfare, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sir Hugh Orde, has obtained £24.2 million of taxpayers’ money to set up the Historic Enquiries Team. Headed by two former members of the Stevens 3 team, which investigated Patrick Finucane’s murder, the HET will spend six years looking at over 3,000 conflict–related deaths which remain unsolved and which took place before the April 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Although some people hope that they will finally learn the truth about the death of their loved ones, others are concerned that the police will be investigating the police, rather than an independent mechanism being put in place. However, if the Northern Ireland Offences Bill becomes law, this whole expensive exercise is likely to be somewhat meaningless, as no-one will ever face a court to answer for their crimes.
torture
BIRW is one of fourteen NGOs and other bodies who have made a third party intervention in the case of A & Ors in the House of Lords, the UK’s highest court. The case concerns the reliance by domestic courts on evidence obtained under torture in a third country. Ill-treatment in custody was commonplace in Northern Ireland when BIRW began its work in 1990, but thanks to the work of NGOs such as Amnesty International, the Committee on the Administration of Justice and BIRW, it is almost unheard of nowadays. No civilised country can criticise torture in other countries while condoning it in its own courts. We await the judgment of the House of Lords with anxiety.
BIRW has contributed to an examination by the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights of the UK’s compliance, or (mainly) non-compliance, with the recommendations of the United Nations Committee against Torture last year. We are glad to see some domestic scrutiny being brought to bear at long last on the UK’s record. The UK has been getting away with ignoring UN recommendations, and those of the European Court of Human Rights, for far too long. We are also pleased that BIRW has been asked to testify before the Joint Committee about our evidence.
BIRW has also made a submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights concerning “extraordinary rendition”. This euphemism masks the practice of kidnapping people suspected of terrorism and taking them to third countries where they can be tortured. America is mainly responsible for this dastardly practice, but the United Kingdom has apparently been allowing the USA to use its airspace, airports and airbases, including Aldergrove near Belfast. We say that, even if the prohibition against torture were not absolute, no civilised democracy could countenance it. First, it is a complete fallacy to think that the use of torture can ever be justified in the legitimate attempt to counter or prevent terrorism. Torture produces just one product: what the torturer wants and expects to hear. Evidence obtained under torture is inherently unreliable, and the subjection of victims to extraordinary rendition on the basis of “intelligence” obtained by torture is as abhorrent as extraordinary rendition itself. Secondly, the short- and long-term effects of torture brutalise not only its victims, but the perpetrators and by extension the society that permits it. Thirdly, higher standards can and must be expected from governments than those that can be hoped for from terrorists. Once a state employs torture against those it suspects of involvement in terrorism, the terrorists have won, because the state has abandoned the rule of law and is prepared to use violence to obtain its ends; in other words, the state had brought about the very aim the terrorists have set out to achieve, the terrorising of the population and the collapse of democracy and accountability. We have sent copies of our submission to the United Nations, the Prime Minister, and the US Congress.
counter terrorism laws
There has been a plethora of counter-terrorism measures in the UK this year, all of which affects Northern Ireland. Dreadful though the events of in London of 7th July 2005 were, it is vitally important that we do not over-react by taking hasty and ill-thought out measures which are unlikely to deter would-be terrorists. Indeed, the greater danger is that we create a repressive and defensive society, breeding further terrorism. Measures such as the draft Terrorism Bill, the government’s list of “unacceptable behaviours”, the Government’s intention to deport non-UK nationals suspected of terrorism, , the possibility of allowing intelligence evidence to be adduced in criminal trials, the possibility of establishing a judicial role in the investigation of terrorism crimes and the development of a ‘shoot to kill’ policy; are all, in our opinion, counter-productive and can potentially undermine the status of human rights in the UK. It is tragedy that, just as Northern Ireland was beginning to divest itself of “temporary” “emergency” laws, permanent and even more draconian measures are being brought in.
grateful thanks
We should like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteers and interns this year: Liz Walsh and Esther Lieu, and our administrative assistant Elizabeth Folarin.
SUPPORT for our work
British Irish rights watch is pleased to acknowledge with gratitude financial support during 2005 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 2005
expert testimony
· Testimony to the Committee on International Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives, Hearing on Northern Ireland Human Rights: update on the Cory Collusion Inquiry Reports, 2005
· Testimony before the Joint Committee on Human Rights concerning the UK’s compliance with the International Convention against Torture
third party intervention
· Third party intervention in the case of A & Ors concerning the admissibility in domestic courts of evidence obtained by torture in a third country
parliamentary briefings
· Inquiries Bill
· Prevention of Terrorism Bill
· Counter-terrorism measures
· Northern Ireland Offences Bill
submissions
united nations
· Submission to the Special Rapporteur on judges and lawyers, the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, and the Special Representative on human rights defenders concerning the UK’s failure to hold an independent Inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane
· Report to the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression about the failure of the police investigation into the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan and the failure to protect his newspaper, the Sunday World, from attacks on its staff and on newsagents selling the paper
· Submission to the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions concerning the murder of Raymond McCord
other bodies
· Submission to the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry
· Submission to the Robert Hamill Inquiry
· Submission to the Billy Wright Inquiry
· Submissions to the Committee of Ministers’ Deputies in Strasbourg, concerning the UK’s response to the European Court of Human Rights’ judgments in the cases of Jordan, Kelly & Ors, Shanaghan, McKerr, McShane, and Finucane v UK
· Submission to the Commission of Investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings
· Submission to the Police Ombudsman, the Independent Monitoring Commission, the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the US Special Envoy on Northern Ireland, and the US Congress concerning the murder of Raymond McCord
· Submission to the Police Ombudsman concerning the murder of Lorraine McCausland
· Response to the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s draft policy on its response to hate crimes
· Comments to the Policing Board on its research into young people from north Belfast’s attitudes towards the police
· Response to the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights’ enquiry into the UK’s reaction to the recommendations made by the United Nation’s Committee Against Torture
· Comments on Police Service of Northern Ireland’s priorities for 2006/7
· Comments on Police Service of Northern Ireland’s draft policy on children and young people
· Response to the Oversight Commissioner’s report on the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s implementation of the Patten Commission’s recommendations on human rights and policing
· Complaint to the Police Ombudsman concerning the failure to rescind the request for the deportation from the USA of Laurence Zaitschek
· Report on the murder of John Dignam
publications/reports
· Northern Ireland Election Results, May 2005
· Plastic Bullets: A Human Rights Perspective, September 2005
events observed
· Bloody Sunday Inquiry
· The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry
· The Robert Hamill Inquiry
· The Billy Wright Inquiry
· Inquest on Seamus Ludlow
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 a former Director of the British Institute
for Human Rights and is now a freelance consultant.
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 has16 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 Researcher/Administrator is Caroline Parkes who has previously volunteered in Israel with the minority Arab community and researched human rights in the Balkans. 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
