Human Rights – Page 13 – Slugger O'Toole

Court lifts reporting restrictions on identities of Provisional IRA accused

Pete Baker on October 11, 2012, 9:12 pm

| Readers 1142

The BBC reports that, following a legal challenge by the corporation, district judge Fiona Bagnall has lifted court orders prohibiting the media from reporting either the identities or addresses of five defendants who are accused of Provisional IRA activity in 1999 and 2000. As previously noted All five are charged with belonging to a proscribed organisation on dates stretching back to 1999. Four of them are accused of arranging, addressing or assisting in the management of a PIRA meeting on named dates …

Abortion clinic opens in Belfast…

Belfast Gonzo on October 11, 2012, 3:49 am

| Readers 83

NORTHERN Ireland is to get its first abortion clinic next week. In one of the biggest stories of our generation – and one which will unite hardline Protestants and Catholics – it’s reported that Marie Stopes will open for business in Belfast next Thursday, with the help of former PUP leader Dawn Purvis. The organisation says it will operate within the framework of the law here, but that will do little to assuage the anger of opponents, who will see …

Death penalty-free world?

Patrick Corrigan on October 9, 2012, 5:00 pm

| Readers 45

We’re winning! That’s not a claim you may hear too often from human rights activists, but in the case of the global struggle against the death penalty, it’s true. The momentum around the world is towards ending executions. The vast majority of countries have now abandoned the death penalty. On the eve of World Day against the Death Penalty, that’s worth noting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtLxXU0Gotk&feature=youtu.be Yet a small, and increasingly isolated, group of governments continue to put their own people to death. …

Equal marriage – how long will Northern Ireland’s gay couples have to wait?

Patrick Corrigan on September 27, 2012, 12:23 pm

| Readers 132

When David Hockney published his etching In the dull village in 1967, the UK government was busy passing the Sexual Offences Act to (partially) decriminalise homosexuality in England and Wales. It was another fifteen years before Northern Ireland caught up – with the passage of the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, and that was only after Jeff Dudgeon took a case to the European Court of Human Rights. In 2012 the campaign for LGBT equality has moved on. …

“Getting righteously offended has become something of a hobby over the last few decades…”

Pete Baker on September 24, 2012, 12:03 pm

| Readers 95

The ‘outraged supernaturalists‘ narrative may already be wearing a bit thin in Libya, and further afield. But, taking that narrative at face value, there may be some points being made that are applicable closer to home. From Saturday’s Irish Times Getting righteously offended has become something of a hobby over the last few decades. Nothing binds people together more securely than a perception that somebody else is saying something nasty about their faith, nationality or hair colour. Rushdie describes the …

Culture Night Belfast & the right to freedom of expression #CNB12

Patrick Corrigan on September 20, 2012, 12:38 pm

| Readers 58

Culture Night Belfast (and in a few other towns besides) is almost upon us. Tomorrow night is a chance for thousands of people to take to the streets, bars, cafes, offices and other nooks and crannies around the city to experience all sorts of arts and cultural experiences. While most events are concentrated on the Cathedral Quarter area of the city, this year’s Culture Night has extended its reach across the city. There are simply too many events to preview effectively …

“In these regretful circumstances I offer no evidence in this case against the accused…”

Pete Baker on September 12, 2012, 2:22 pm

| Readers 61

In a short report on the collapse of the trial of a 20-year-old man charged with the murder of Emmet Shiels in Londonderry in June 2008, the BBC notes Emmet Shiels’ murder shocked the city, and brought a thousand people onto the streets in condemnation. Along with editorials and a controversial petition, too… The trial collapsed when the prosecution offered no evidence. The BBC report doesn’t explain any further, but the Belfast Telegraph report does At the time of the murder the Independent …

“the Commission… continues to consider that the advice it delivered constitutes a strong basis on which to proceed…”

Pete Baker on September 6, 2012, 6:58 pm

| Readers 45

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, reconstituted in July last year, has released a new weapon in the long-running battle over a Bill of Rights for NI – “Is that Right?” [pdf file]. Chief Commissioner Professor Michael O’Flaherty claims that the document “addresses the misunderstandings and misinformation concerning what a bill of rights would mean if one were to be introduced.” Is it a genuine attempt at engaging with those who are sceptical? Well, it’s not funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, which is a …

“It’s up to the prosecution to make the case why it should no longer exist.”

Pete Baker on August 30, 2012, 6:03 pm

| Readers 69

The BBC have an interesting update on the reporting restrictions, specifically court orders prohibiting the media from reporting either the identities or addresses of the defendants, in the case of “three men and two women – some of them senior republicans – who are accused of PIRA activity”. From the BBC report All five are charged with belonging to a proscribed organisation on dates stretching back to 1999. Four of them are accused of arranging, addressing or assisting in the management …

“It is as if someone is trying to hide the sun with two fingers.”

Pete Baker on August 19, 2012, 4:01 pm

| Readers 81

Another ‘lesson’ from the Northern Ireland Process, being implemented in a more systematic manner elsewhere… Afghanistan’s government is rewriting history, literally. The education ministry has endorsed a new history curriculum for school students that deletes nearly four decades of the country’s war-torn past. The government says textbooks based on the new curriculum will help bring unity in a country traditionally polarised along ethnic and political lines. But critics accuse ministers of trying to appease the Taliban and other powerful groups …

What ought to be rescued from the wreckage of Catholic Ireland?

Brian Walker on August 9, 2012, 12:25 pm

| Readers 78

As I’d expect, Mary Kenny has offered a critically sympathetic and definitely non-polemical take on the long withdrawing roar of the sea of faith from Catholic Ireland, noted already by Gladys. For critics who may gloat that it’s all up for religion entirely, she makes an important distinction between faith and the institution of the (Roman Catholic) Church which by no means writes off faith entirely. Mary points out that the problem with Vatican 2 was that it removed or played …

“There have been times on our own island when the guilty have gone free.”

Pete Baker on July 20, 2012, 5:21 pm

| Readers 44

Or haven’t even been brought to trial in the first place… As Fionola Meredith pointed out in yesterday’s Irish Times There is a lingering idea among Irish people that, because of our own past sufferings, we have a particularly sensitive moral antenna, highly attuned to instances of injustice and exploitation. That does not always bear out in reality. Perhaps we’re just more hypocritical: witness the Irish red carpet for red China, rolled out earlier this year. Tiananmen Square? Is that …

“the learned judge who granted bail [] did not have the power to do so in the particular circumstances of this case”

Pete Baker on July 12, 2012, 3:12 pm

| Readers 159

Despite earlier reports that the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, had ordered Martin Corey’s re-arrest following the judicial review ruling for unconditional bail in the case, it appears he merely sought a stay while an appeal was prepared. The Belfast Telegraph notes the Appeal Court’s initial ruling A judge who granted unconditional bail to a convicted double murderer did not have the power to do so, the Court of Appeal has ruled. Martin Corey is now expected to remain …

Greenacres slavery trial: “The trial has been seen as a vital test case of new anti-slavery legislation…”

Pete Baker on July 11, 2012, 11:54 pm

| Readers 86

An update to Mick’s original post on the charges of slavery following a police raid on a travellers’ site in Bedfordshire in September last year. From the BBC report on the verdicts Four members of a traveller family have been found guilty of forcing destitute men into servitude. Tommy Connors Snr, 52, his son Patrick Connors, 20, and daughter Josie, 31, kept the men in squalid conditions at Greenacres caravan park in Bedfordshire, the trial heard. Josie’s husband James John …

“If the party was serious about fairness and equality…”

Pete Baker on June 27, 2012, 6:23 pm

| Readers 93

In today’s Irish News Brian Feeney addresses the Fair Employment Tribunal’s finding that, as Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy, MP, MLA, discriminated against a candidate for the post of chairman of NI Water on religious grounds. That he had appointed Sean Hogan to the post “because he was not from a Protestant background and because he was known to the Minister and his ministerial colleagues”. That he had added three factors to the job specification criteria …

Eurovision 2012: “Good luck on your journey, Azerbaijan!”

Pete Baker on May 27, 2012, 11:29 pm

| Readers 46

Mark Lawson on the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Azerbaijan – “the most politicised contest yet.” [Apart from the one in 1974? – Ed] Indeed. Back to Mark Lawson. Tensions between several of the core participants had been raised by the possible exit of Greece from the stricken eurozone and, increasing the volume of disharmony to Jedward levels, BBC news and current affairs programmes have run several reports questioning the suitability of the host nation because of Azerbaijan’s record of …

“Sinn Féin in my opinion has been slowly sedated…”

Pete Baker on May 24, 2012, 2:49 pm

| Readers 98

In light of Mick’s post, and now Brian’s follow-up, it’s worth noting an Irish News report today of Ballymoney Councillor Anita Cavlan’s resignation from Sinn Féin “over concerns it is failing prisoners”. From the Irish News report The Ballymoney councillor said she believed Sinn Féin had “lost direction” and “should be doing more to represent the prisoners”. “Sinn Féin in my opinion has been slowly sedated and now has been rendered unconscious by the intoxication of an illusionary power to govern,” she said. According …

The McGeough case raises worrying questions about the peace process. The SDLP are right to raise them

Brian Walker on May 24, 2012, 2:03 pm

| Readers 59

I cheer at the story of Sammy Brush’s self defence at the time and am of course very glad he survived. Gerry McGeough is very lucky to be alive. But the McGeough case appears to create a new doctrine of the peace process as it applies to terrorist crimes. Does it not greatly diminish the amnesty effect of the Good Friday Agreement – at least in theory and expose the exercise of very wide discretion by the Secretary of State ? The royal prerogative …

Civil Rights hero receives a belated honour…

Mick Fealty on May 17, 2012, 12:05 pm

| Readers 49

Nice turn of phrase from former Tory MP Matthew Parris in The Times today… Struggles produce heroes whose names fade after their cause prevails, but Mr [Jeffrey] Dudgeon’s should never be forgotten: the Beflast shipping clerk who – because homosexuality remained a criminal offence in Northern Ireland – took the UK Government to the European Court of Human Rights (boo!) and won (hooray!). Westminster changed the law two decades ago and in the last New Years honours Mr Dudgeon was …

“I do apologise for anyone who misunderstood the way I was using the metaphor…”

Pete Baker on May 16, 2012, 8:34 pm

| Readers 215

Two days after the DUP’s Jonathan Bell’s rapid apology for the Northern Ireland Junior Minsters’ two-handed assault on golf clubs. …speaking at the Community Relations Week conference, Mr Bell said: “Many communities may not paint their kerb stones or put out flags, but scratch the surface and you find the prejudice and the hate whispered behind closed doors or joked about in golf clubs or over dinner parties.” However, speaking later on BBC NI ‘s Stormont Today, he said it …