Human Rights
Haiti: ‘Baby Doc’ escapes justice for past abuses
Given the Slugger community’s interest in Haiti, I thought it worthwhile to note the regrettable decision by a Haitian court not to charge the country’s former dictator, Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier, over allegations of torture and murder. Duvalier returned to Haiti this time last year after 25 years in exile in France. Since then, he has [...] more »
“They do absolutely fantastic work in some very challenging areas”
“They” being the 304 former RUC officers currently employed by the PSNI as civilians on temporary contracts. They’re part of the 399 civilian staff on such contracts supplied by a recruitment agency. And I’m sure the other 95 civilian staff are also appreciated. From the BBC report The PSNI has previously revealed that it is currently using [...] more »
“That would require approval by the justice committee, the executive and by the assembly as a whole”
According to the BBC report’s headline -”Justice minister may look into the rehiring of RUC officers”. Well, he may. At issue, apparently, are the unknown number of former RUC officers in the 399 staff currently supplied by a recruitment agency for temporary employment, as civilians, by the PSNI. Apparently, again, “Sinn Fein has asked the Northern Ireland [...] more »
“Shaun Woodward ordered his recall on the basis of what his legal team have described as ‘closed material’.”
The BBC reports that Martin Corey has been “granted leave to seek a judicial review of the decision to revoke his licence over unspecified allegations that he was involved with dissident republicans.” The 61-year-old from Lurgan, County Armagh had been released on licence in 1992, having served 19 years of a life sentence for the murder of [...] more »
Boston College Ruling: “These are serious allegations, and they weigh strongly in favor of disclosing the confidential information.”
Via Newshound. The Boston Globe reports the long awaited US court ruling on the release of the Boston College archive material. And it’s something of a half-way house. For now. From the Boston Globe report A federal judge rejected yesterday a motion by the trustees of Boston College to quash subpoenas that order them to turn [...] more »
Is O’Flaherty prepared to rattle *all* the cages?
Editor’s note: *See the bottom of the article for an important footnote from Professor O’Flaherty… In last Monday’s Irish Times, we were helpfully informed that “Michael O’Flaherty has carried out much work promoting human rights” which was a relief to read, especially bearing in mind his new position as Monica McWilliams’ replacement at the Northern Ireland Human Rights [...] more »
Thinking beyond Finucane
I’m surprised, both that a public inquiry into the Finucane murder has been refused, and that the response to the refusal so far has been quite muted. Perhaps it’s only the calm before the storm. I would guess that the decision was finally taken on political grounds, namely that the UK government can get away with [...] more »
Cameron’s decision on Finucane case insults family, betrays us all
When a lawyer is murdered in any country, it should be a matter of great public concern, seen rightly as an attack on the entire legal system. When there is clear evidence pointing towards the collusion of a range of agents of the State in that murder, then the mood should become one of national [...] more »
Mary Lynch in the Impartial: saying things that need to be said
Mary Lynch was mentioned on slugger a couple of months ago when there were complaints about her column in the Impartial Reporter. Ms. Lynch refers to those comments in her latest piece saying: “I may not say things that people want to hear but these things need to be said.” On this occasion one of [...] more »
NI Human Rights Commission and Council for Minorities clash over racism
Mark Devenport has a very interesting entry on his blog on the BBC. The United Nation’s Committee for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination has been taking evidence in Geneva from various UK pressure groups, including a number of Northern Ireland-based lobbyists. The Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities and the Northern Ireland [...] more »
Time to end the war in Afghanistan?
Yesterday was the deadliest day so far for the United States of its 10-year war in Afghanistan, as thirty members of the American special forces were killed when the Taliban shot down a Chinook helicopter. That brings the US death toll since the start of the conflict to over 1,000. The UK has lost over 300. [...] more »
We, the Norwegian society, will strike back
Saw this comment on the Amnesty International Norge Facebook page: We, the Norwegian society, will strike back. We will strike back by giving the defendant a fair trial, we will strike back by giving him decent treatment. This way we will demonstrate to him, to ourselves and to the rest of the world that our [...] more »
Belfast Pride: repugnant or still needed after all these years?
The fact that Jim Wells MLA apparently finds me and other participants in the Belfast Pride parade “repugnant” would cause me scarcely a thought if he were not the Deputy Chairperson of the Health Committee at the Asssembly and scheduled by Peter Robinson to take over as Minister for Health in 2013. As reported by [...] more »
Taoiseach’s speech: This is not Rome… this is a republic of laws
A sea-change in Irish government-Catholic Church relations took place yesterday. In the government’s official response to the Cloyne Report, Taoiseach Enda Kenny gave an unprecedented speech to the Dáil, excoriating the Vatican for its efforts to block co-operation with the investigation by civil authorities of clerical child abuse: … for the first time in Ireland, [...] more »
Paterson: “The outgoing Chief Commissioner and Commissioners have made a valuable contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Northern Ireland”
The BBC notes the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Paterson’s announcement of the appointment of the 8 new members of the NI Human Rights Commission. And, with the possible exception of the replacement for Monica McWilliams as Chief Commissioner, Professor Michael O’Flaherty, what a fine collection of legal minds special interest groups they represent. Owen Paterson’s press [...] more »
There are some lessons for Catholics in the unionist tradition
The time is overdue to review the historic reputation of opposition to Home Rule as Rome Rule in the light of the latest report on the Catholic Church’s continuing saga of abuse, on events in the diocese of Cloyne. Can we admit to the uncomfortable thought that some of what the early Paisley said was true? [...] more »
Time for a clerical child abuse inquiry in Northern Ireland
Momentum is building for an inquiry into clerical child abuse in Northern Ireland. With four inquiries now completed south of the border – Ferns, Ryan, Dublin and now Cloyne – northern abuse victims are rightly asking: what about us? Their calls have now been echoed by SDLP MLA Conall McDevitt and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness: [...] more »
How poetry fuelled the Arab Uprising
‘Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found its words’, like all great maxims, this musing of Robert Frost may seem on the face of it too suspiciously beautiful to hold any real truth. But with recent events in Egypt, the world watched as a nation which had long [...] more »
Police to step up “stop and search of ‘suspicious’ cars and people” in Oldpark area
According to the North Belfast News, “police have agreed to step up their stop and search of ‘suspicious’ cars and people” in the Oldpark/Ardoyne area of North Belfast. Apparently at the request of the local Marrowbone Residents Group. According to the report, John McAlea from Marrowbone Residents Group said, “After talking about the drugs problem with [...] more »
“The Resurrection of Hungary: A Parallel for Ireland”? No, fortunately not.
Within the restraints of 140 characters, he somehow manages to deliver a full range of cod fireside homilies; GAA-related similes stretched well beyond their natural snapping point and (naturally) playground stylee anti-Brit insults… but nevertheless for his myriad of Unionist followers on Twitter Barry McElduff is a must-read, the gift which simply refuses point-blank to [...] more »
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Books
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Debating the Churches’ Role in the Peace in Northern Ireland
This morning’s Sunday Sequence featured a substantial debate (about 35 minutes into the recorded programme) on a new book,Religion, Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press 2011), written by sociologists John Brewer, Gareth Higgins and Francis Teeney. The debate was framed in an opening vignette by presenter William Crawley in uncompromising terms, [...] read our review » -
Stay out of Libya: counterinsurgency doesn’t work
A moment of some significance in journalism perhaps, as the New York Times reviews the current talked about book, The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Bing West. The author is no bleeding heart but a former assistant Defense Secretary from the Reagan era who stomped his way round the Afghan [...] read our review »
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Spare us a phoney row about racism, we’ve got enough on
A silly media row about racism just had to figure in the riots’ post mortem. Was the Tudor history expert David Starkey racist on Newsnight when he said: The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion. And black and white, boy and girl, operate in [...] read our review »
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