DIRECTOR'S REPORT September/October 1998

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September/October 1998

The death of Catholic Brian Servis last weekend at the hands of the Red Hand Defenders was a chilling reminder that the peace process is still very fragile. The RUC's failure to recognise instantly that this was a sectarian killing was as worrying as the apparent ease with which the small number of loyalists still dedicated to violence could carry out this savage crime. The RHF's threats to bring down the peace process by a campaign of further murders would be less disquieting if the peace process itself were not to some extent stalled over de-commissioning. The decision at just this moment in time to allow the convicted murderers of Peter McBride to be reinstated into the army after their release from jail was acutely insensitive. Concerns about the UK's response to criticism by the United Nations, the commission on policing and the Bloody Sunday Inquiry referred to later on this report must be taken seriously. If the peace process is proving difficult politically, then real progress must be made on other fronts if it is not to collapse. Of those other avenues, human rights reforms are both the most important and the most achievable. All that is required is the political will.

On 29th September the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, chaired by Congressman Chris Smith, met in Washington to discuss the report by the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy. The Subcommittee also heard testimony from lawyers Peter Madden and Rosemary Nelson, and Paul Mageean of the Committee on the Administration of Justice. British Irish RIGHTS WATCH submitted a paper on intimidation of defence lawyers and the murder of Patrick Finucane. After the hearing, twenty members of Congress wrote to the UK government asking it to implement the Special Rapporteur's recommendations. They have also written to the commission on policing. During the Subcommittee hearing, Ben Gilman, who chairs the House Committee on International Relations (of which Chris Smith's committee is a subcommittee), announced that his Committee will be holding hearings in the new year on policing in Northern Ireland.

In December 1996 solicitor Patricia Coyle was allegedly assaulted by an RUC officer, Sergeant (now Inspector) Reid while attending her client at Grosvenor Road RUC station. D/I Reid denies forcibly ejecting her from the room and says that he merely escorted her from it. Ms Coyle's case was heard by the High Court in September 1998. British Irish RIGHTS WATCH sent an observer to the hearing. Judgment was reserved. We are concerned that the only two complaints of actual assault of lawyers by RUC officers that have come to our attention have involved female lawyers. We expect the court to award Ms Coyle exemplary damages if they find in her favour.

We have just submitted our ninth report to the UN Special Rapporteur concerning attempted intimidation of lawyers and the murder of Patrick Finucane. We were particularly disappointed by the government's rejection of the Special Rapporteur's call for a public inquiry into this case, saying it raised no issues of urgent public importance. The charge of which the UK government stands accused is that a prominent lawyer was murdered with the active participation of an MI5 employee, Brian Nelson; that Brian Nelson's superiors knew of the assassination plot; that nothing was done to protect Patrick Finucane or prevent his death; that remarks made by a government minister actively encouraged the murder; and that reports by English police officer John Stevens concerning his death have been suppressed. These are extremely serious allegations. If they do not represent matters of urgent public importance, we do not know what does. It is vital, not only to the friends and family of Patrick Finucane, but for the peace process itself, that these issues are examined and that, if the allegations are true, reforms are put in place to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. The UK is a democracy. It claims to be committed to the human rights principles to which it formally subscribes. It must recognise that this murder has implications for the rule of law and for public confidence in the roles of government and the security forces that demand to be answered.

Our submission to this crucial Commission was delivered in September. The Commission is charged with consideration of policing in Northern Ireland in the round, without any preconditions or prior assumptions. We do not underestimate the difficulty of that task, and of course we recognise that the reform of policing in Northern Ireland entails many practical problems with consequences for many individuals, particularly police officers, and communities. It cannot happen overnight, it will be expensive, and it will require huge shifts in attitude both within the police and in society. However, as the participants in the Agreement have accepted, it has to happen. The Commission is charged with making it happen, or at least with starting the process of change, and if its recommendations are to command the widespread community support it is seeking, they will have to be far-reaching, imaginative and inspiring. It is of considerable concern, therefore, to hear that many groups who have made submissions to the Commission or otherwise had contact with them perceive the Commission to be interpreting its mandate too strictly, and concentrating on future arrangements for policing to the exclusion of learning from the serious mistakes of the past. We are also disturbed to learn that an RUC liaison officer seconded to the Commission has apparently been corresponding with groups as if he were a member of the Commission's secretariat, thereby compromising its impartiality. We have also been informed that the RUC has been canvassing submissions favourable to itself, which seems to us both questionable and ill-advised. The Commission's work is still in progress and it has a fair way to go before it delivers its report. It can recover from these errors and avoid these pitfalls from now on. It is vital that it succeeds in its task; if it fails, the peace process itself will be at stake.

The commencement of the substantive hearings on Bloody Sunday has been postponed from the intended start date of February next year in recognition of the massive amount of preparation that will be required. The postponement has been welcomed by the families, but they are less happy with some other developments, particularly in relation to arrangements for meeting their lawyers' costs and the choice of experts appointed by the Inquiry.

In the meantime, the Bloody Sunday Trust has set up a Bloody Sunday Inquiry Family Fund to assist the families with the many expenses they are incurring in preparing for the Inquiry. British Irish RIGHTS WATCH has also raised £42,000 to employ a full-time facilitator for 18 months to help the families through this difficult time. Some of this money was used to hold a very successful weekend conference for family members in mid-September at which many of the issues arising from the Inquiry were addressed. I have been to Derry twice since my last report, and am going again on Saturday 7th November to attend a follow-up meeting to take forward decisions made at the conference. We are glad that British Irish RIGHTS WATCH has been able to play such a positive role and are very grateful indeed to those who have funded these initiatives.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Ruben and Elisabeth Rausing Trust have made a grant of £14,450 towards our work on human rights and the peace process. Their support is warmly appreciated.

We are also very grateful to the Committee on the Administration of Justice for nominating British Irish RIGHTS WATCH for this year's Liberty Human Rights Award. The award has its origins in commemorating the work of our friend Martin Ennals, and it is an honour to be nominated for it, especially by CAJ, for whose work our admiration is beyond measure.

On 16th November the UK will be examined for the third time by the UN Committee against Torture on its compliance with the Convention against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. British Irish RIGHTS WATCH has sent a submission to the CAT concerning
· ill-treatment in the holding centres
· inadequate systems for supervising holding centre detentions
· aspects of the emergency laws that promote ill-treatment
· Special Secure Units
· closed visits
· strip-searching
· imprisonment of women in all-male jails
· the use of plastic bullets.
I shall be going to Geneva to brief CAT members on these matters.

On 18TH September I attended an open meeting of the Independent Commission for Police Complaints in Belfast. Due to be replaced by a Police Ombudsman in March next year, the ICPC has adopted a policy of much greater openness in its last few months, a policy which we hope will survive its demise. We were disturbed to hear that the new Ombudsman is not yet appointed and his or her budget is not yet agreed. One of the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers was that the Ombudsman's office should be given all the resources it needs to do a good job. We hope the government will heed his call.

The Human Rights Committee of the Association of the New York City Bar visited Northern Ireland during the week of 26th October. I met them as they came through London to brief them before their trip. A high-powered delegation of two lawyers, a District Attorney and two District Court Judges examined the situation of defence lawyers, emergency laws and the role of the judiciary. Their report will be out next year.

We are delighted to welcome Catherine McKenna, who is studying law, and Dolores Rooney, a solicitor returning to work after having a child, as volunteers. Catherine is helping with our chronology of human rights and the peace process and Dolores is doing legal research.

For Peace Justice & Human Rights

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