DIRECTOR'S REPORT November 1998

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November 1998

Our latest report to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers has prompted a personal response from Ronnie Flanagan, Chief Constable of the RUC. It reads (in full):
"I have received the documents forwarded with your letter of 5 November 1998. I suppose by now I really should have learned to expect, and not be surprised by, the total absence of balance in reports produced by your organisation. This latest report continues your now well established practice in that regard."
It would be hard to find a more succinct demonstration of the problems we have been seeking to highlight. If the Chief Constable cannot take seriously the grave problems within the RUC in terms of the attitude of some its officers towards lawyers, there can be little hope of wholehearted support from him for the radical reform of policing that is required in Northern Ireland.

By contrast, the Bar Council of Northern Ireland, which we have also criticised in our reports, has responded far more positively, thanking us for our work on this issue and emphasising their respect for our role. We greatly welcome this opportunity to enter into a dialogue with them and have responded by asking them to consider setting up a human rights committee, which would bring them into line with the Law Society and with the Bar here in England.

On 13th November I went to the United Nations in Geneva to brief members of the Committee Against Torture (CAT) prior to its third periodic review of the UK's record of compliance with the Convention Against Torture. Their findings were published on 19th November. The CAT identified just one factor impeding the UK's compliance:
"The continuation of the State of Emergency in Northern Ireland, noting that no exceptional circumstances can ever provide a justification for failure to comply with the Convention."
The CAT recommended the closure of the holding centres, an end to the use of plastic bullets, and:
"Reconstruction of the Royal Ulster Constabulary so that it more closely represents the cultural realities of Northern Ireland. This should continue to be associated with an extensive programme of re-education for members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary directed at the objectives of the Peace Accord and the best methods of modern police practices."
They also expressed concern about standards for the admissibility of confession evidence in the Diplock courts.

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH, CAJ, Amnesty International, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki and the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights all made written submissions to the CAT concerning the situation in Northern Ireland.

I am delighted to report that the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has agreed to meet the costs of our sending a full-time observer to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. Our observer will be Marie Ryan, who will be moving to Derry for the duration of the Inquiry. We are extremely grateful both to her and to the Trust for enabling us to have such an effective presence at the Inquiry. Once the Inquiry starts, which will be on 27th September 1999, Marie will be producing regular reports, which we will make available to anyone who would like to receive them.

The Bloody Sunday relatives have asked me to pass on their thanks for the donations they have received towards their own expenses via the Bloody Sunday Inquiry Family Fund.

Eight CD roms full of documents and photographs have now been released by the Inquiry to the parties' lawyers. These include many items which have never before been made available, and which should shed considerable light on those dreadful events.

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH has made a submission to the Inquiry concerning the issues of immunity and anonymity, arguing for as much transparency as is consistent with the personal safety of individual witnesses. We also argued for as many of the hearings as possible to take place in Derry rather than in London. Unfortunately, the Inquiry has decided to seek from the Attorney-General an assurance that nothing said by anyone to the Tribunal will be used against him or her in any subsequent criminal proceedings. This blanket grant of partial immunity is, in our opinion, gravely ill-conceived, especially since we understand that no-one has actually asked for such an assurance as yet. The Tribunal has not yet ruled on the question of anonymity.

Danny McNamee's case was the first to be referred back to the Court of Appeal by the new Criminal Cases Review Commission. His conviction for conspiracy to cause explosions, including the Hyde Park bombing, is in doubt after evidence pointing to another person came to light. The prosecution also failed to disclose large amounts of relevant material to the defence. Nick Wrack of Two Garden Court Chambers acted as our observer at the appeal hearing, and we are grateful to him for his detailed reports. The case is still at hearing.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred its first Northern Ireland case back to the Court of Appeal, that of Billy Gorman. He was convicted in 1980 of the murder of RUC constable Thomas McLinton in 1974 and spent 14 years in jail before being released on licence. He was 14 years old at the time of the murder, and was not arrested until six years after it happened. He says that he was ill-treated in custody and that this led him to make a false confession. At the end of his trial, his barrister took the highly unusual step of asking him, after he had been convicted, to return to the witness box, where he again affirmed his innocence. We hope to send an observer to his appeal.

On Saturday 28th November we attended an NGO co-ordination meeting, this time in London, to discuss the mutual concerns of domestic and international NGOs that work on human rights and Northern Ireland. Considerable concern was expressed at the way in which the human rights pledges in the Good Friday Agreement are being, or in some cases not being, implemented, and a joint action plan was devised.

This year we have two interns from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Meghan Pendleton and Miriam Andrews. Miriam is helping us to improve our use of the internet - watch out for a website, coming soon! - and Meghan is helping us with our research. We are also very pleased to have Alexia Brange, from France, interning with us for the next six months. Alexia will be learning all about the work of an NGO, from stuffing envelopes to legal research.

Grateful thanks to Tess Gill and Barbara Cohen for adding their support to CAJ's nomination of British Irish RIGHTS WATCH for this year's Liberty Human Rights Award. We have just learned that we have been shortlisted. The winner will be announced on 10th December, Human Rights Day.

For Peace Justice & Human Rights

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