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JULY/AUGUST 2003
attack on the un
The brutal murder of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and so many of his colleagues in Baghdad on 19th August was a blow for human rights around the world. I am only thankful that our friend and colleague, Mona Rishmawi, who was assisting the High Commissioner, survived the explosion. The death of so many people who put themselves at risk in order to try to help others serves as a dreadful reminder that the UN still has a long way to go, both politically and in terms of its invaluable humanitarian work, before those who carried out this attack understand the difference between doing good in the world and doing harm. If the perpetrators of this horrible attack are ever brought to justice, it is imperative that they are treated in accordance with the principles for which Sergio de Mello and his colleagues lived and died, otherwise we will negate all their good work. In the Northern Ireland context, which is not so different from that of Iraq or the Middle East, there are those who see no problem in politicising human rights and demonising those who work to make the world a better place through promoting and protecting human rights. This is where such attitudes end. The only way to honour the memories of those who died in Baghdad is to carry on trying to do the right thing in the right way, which is what human rights work is all about.
OMAGH
The 15th of August saw the fifth anniversary of the appalling bombing of Omagh in 1998. The government has announced that it is making a donation of up to £800,000 towards the costs of a civil action being taken by some of the victims against five men who are alleged to have been responsible for the bombing but against whom there is not sufficient evidence to bring criminal prosecutions. While this money is no doubt welcome to the campaign, the government’s decision raises a number of questions, both in relation to Omagh and other cases. The Police Ombudsman’s investigation into the way that warnings of terrorist attacks before Omagh were handled has raised the terrible spectre that the bombing might have been prevented. The failure to bring the perpetrators to book has left the victims having to campaign for civil compensation, which is doubtless the last thing that concerns them, as their only hope of establishing the truth about what happened. If the government were to contribute financially to such actions in every conflict-related case where the police investigation has failed they would have to dig very deep indeed into the public purse. Although there has rightly been tremendous public sympathy for the Omagh victims, they were not able to raise the £1million they were told would be required from public donations alone. It may be that the public instinctively felt that a civil action is no substitute for a criminal prosecution, or perhaps they were concerned that lawyers acting for the victims were apparently demanding high fees when many other lawyers would have acted for free. Whatever happens, I hope that the victims and the relatives of those who died (who are also victims themselves, of course) eventually find justice and peace of mind.
TRIAL OF MICHAEL McKEVITT
Michael McKevitt is one of the people the Omagh victims are suing. He recently stood trial, not for Omagh, but on charges of directing terrorism. BIRW sent an observer to his trial jointly with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. British Irish rights watch have long had concerns about the no-jury Special Criminal Court in Ireland, and have advocated its abolition. On this occasion, we have concluded that Michael McKevitt did not receive a fair trial. Not only was the primary evidence against him that of a paid informer who had a vested interest in testifying, but vital police evidence that contradicted one of that informer’s claims was withheld by the prosecution until after the informer’s evidence was over. Some people may think it a contradiction in terms that BIRW defends the right to a fair trial of someone accused of the Omagh bombing while expressing sincere sympathy with the victims of that atrocity. However, everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence until found guilty in a court of law. We have already expressed concern that Michael McKevitt and his wife have been subjected to trial by media to the point where almost everyone believes them guilty even though they have not been charged. Secondly, justice is never served by depriving defendants of a fair trial. Human rights are there for everybody, no matter how heinous the crimes of which they are accused. It is only by defending the human rights of all that we can distance ourselves from terrorists who deprive their victims of the most precious right of all, the right to life.
DANIEL HEGARTY
This month we have placed on our website a report into the death of Daniel Hegarty, shot by a British soldier in July 1972 in Derry during Operation Motorman, which re-possessed the no-go areas. Daniel was only fifteen years old at the time, was unarmed, and was running home to avoid the soldiers after curiosity led him out onto the streets. The government has never acknowledged that he should not have been killed, nor rescinded descriptions of him in Parliament as a gunman. There has never been a proper police investigation into his death. Some papers relating to Operation Motorman remain closed to public scrutiny until 2005, but others that have been released shed a great deal of light on the events that led up to Daniel’s death, as our report shows. We are continuing to assist Daniel’s family to obtain answers to the many questions that remain about how a child could have been shot in these circumstances.
anthony mcintyre
Following the arrests earlier this year of Liam Clarke and Kathryn Johnston (who have still not been charged with any offence), another journalist, Anthony McIntyre, has had his home raided in the most heavy-handed way that has put his career in peril. We have taken his case up with the Chief Constable, the Policing Board, and the United Nations. We are concerned that the PSNI, and in particular Chief Constable Hugh Orde, seem to be declaring open season on journalists. Northern Ireland needs a flourishing media if it is to become a fully functioning democracy. Shooting the messengers is not helpful.
COMBATTING TERRORISM
The government has put out for consultation a draft Civil Contingencies Bill which would enable it to react swiftly in the event of a large scale terrorist attack. We have commented in detail on the provisions in the Bill. We have said to the government that if governments overreact to acts of terrorism, or, especially, the threat of terrorism, there is a real risk that they do the terrorists’ dirty work for them. The draft Civil Contingencies Bill, as currently drafted, allows a prime minister, or even a secretary of state, to advise the Queen to declare a state of emergency, and to legislate, without prior reference to Parliament and in such a way that human rights can be ignored or violated for an indefinite period of time. The person putting this chain of events into action does not need to have reasonable grounds for doing so. The definition of an emergency is so wide that many actions tolerated in a democracy, such as strikes, demonstrations, and campaigns, may be rendered unlawful at the stroke of a pen. We do not think it overstates the case to describe these proposals as draconian. We accept the need for some form of legislation to allow a swift response to potentially devastating acts of terrorism such as have been experienced, sadly, in others parts of the world. However, it would be a mark of the strength of our democratic institutions if any such legislation contained proper checks and balances to avoid the possibility of despotism and upheld human rights rather than undermining them. Proper consultation and debate about the content of any regulations made to deal with such emergencies would have the benefits of allowing careful reflection in advance of any emergency, generating public confidence in any response to an emergency, and promoting good preparation among the relevant agencies.
deaths since the ceasefires
It may surprise some people to hear that, by our reckoning, 201 people have died as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland since the 1994 ceasefires. We have collated information about these deaths and made it available on our website so that people who want to understand the situation can have ready access to information that is not all that easy to come by. Every one of these deaths is a death too many. When we fist put the information on the website, the death toll had reached 200. Unfortunately, it increased to 201 before we could report its existence. We will continue to keep it updated.
DAVID WRIGHT
I am pleased to report that David Wright, father of Billy Wright, the LVF leader murdered inside the Maze Prison in 1997, has won his long court battle to obtain some of the documents contained in the police murder investigation file. It is indicative of the many things that are wrong about withholding of information from victims in Northern Ireland that very shortly after David Wright was told by the High Court that he had no entitlement to see the whole file, significant quantities of the papers contained in the file found their way into the hands of Peter Robinson MLA, who revealed their contents in Parliament. Meanwhile, I regret to report that the Chief Constable continues to refuse to meet David Wright.
safety at maghaberry prison
BIRW has been expressing concern about the safety of some prisoners at Maghaberry jail for some time now. Certain prisoners there are conducting a concerted campaign for paramilitary segregation, and the prison authorities are resisting it strenuously, but this does not absolve the authorities of their duty to protect the lives of prisoners, some of whom have received death threats. The government recently announced a review of safety at Maghaberry, to be conducted by a former head of the prison service, John Steele. We have written to him outlining a number of concerns about safety at the prison. Even though we recognise the severe problems caused by political segregation, we do not think it appropriate to force people who would not normally have associated with one another outside the prison to have to do so within its walls. Northern Ireland society is deeply divided, and prisons should not be used to conduct social experiments. Measures short of segregation must be found to allow prisoners who are genuinely in fear of members of other communities than their own to avoid their company so far as possible.
CHRISTY WALSH
Christy Walsh was convicted in 1992 of possession of a coffee jar bomb. He had no history of paramilitary involvement and has always maintained his innocence. Finally his case was referred back to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission as a potential miscarriage of justice. The Court of Appeal, in one of the worst judgments we have ever seen issue from the Diplock court system, upheld his conviction, claiming that because they did not believe an eyewitness who had come forward on Christy Walsh’s behalf his own credibility was destroyed. Astonishingly, neither the House of Lords nor the European Court of Human Rights would allow Christy Walsh to take his case further. We recently made representations to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, arguing that the way in which their referral back was handled amounted to a miscarriage of justice. Sadly, our arguments fell on deaf ears. We are continuing to try to assist Christy Walsh to clear his name.
PETER McBRIDE
Despite winning her lengthy battle to have overturned the decision by the Army Board to reinstate the two soldiers who murdered her unarmed son Peter in 1992, Jean McBride was devastated when the Ministry of Defence not only confirmed the Army Board’s decision but promoted one of the soldiers. The appointment of John Spellar MP, who was party to the Army Board’s decision, as a junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office has also outraged campaigners. The mayors of Belfast and Derry have both boycotted meeting with the minister in protest. Such contempt for the rule of law by the army is truly shocking.
BILL OF RIGHTS
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has published an analysis of the 340 responses it received to its draft Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, the quantitative approach they have taken to the responses seems to us unlikely to assist the Commission in improving on the draft Bill of Rights, which as it stands requires considerable work, in our view. We also feel that the way in which the report summarises our own submission, and presumably those of others, gives a misleading picture of our overall submission and on one important issue (double jeopardy) completely misrepresents what we said. For the record, we are not in favour of weakening the double jeopardy rule, which protects people from being tried twice for the same offence. We have suggested to the Commission that it would be more helpful to concentrate on redrafting the Bill of Rights, drawing on the many helpful responses that it has no doubt received.
JOINT CHARTER OF RIGHTS
It is not often that BIRW declines to respond to a consultation exercise, especially on something as important as the proposed joint charter of rights for the island of Ireland. However, with the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights so far from being finalised, and Ireland having yet to complete the process of incorporating the European Convention into domestic law, it seems to us premature to speculate on what a joint charter should most usefully cover.
POLICING BOARD REPORTS AND INQUIRIES
We have commented on the equality aspects of the Code of Practice on requests by the Policing Board for reports from the Chief Constable on important issues and their power to conduct inquiries into such issues. Since the Board has yet to exercise any of these powers, it remains to be seen whether their doing so will raise any equality matters. However, we have pointed out to the Board that, while we are happy to comment on the equality aspects, it might have been more to the point if we had been consulted about the content of the Code of Practice itself!
FAREWELL TO JANA
We would like to thank our intern, Jana Rumminger, for helping us with our research into conflict-related deaths since the ceasefires. We wish her well in the future.
Jane Winter,
Director,
29th August 2003.
For Peace Justice & Human Rights
