Amnesty calls for rights minister

The Irish section of Amnesty International has called for the establishment of a Cabinet minister for human rights.

In a report issued yesterday, Amnesty said Ireland had failed to incorporate key human rights treaties into domestic law, in particular in the area of economic, social and cultural rights.

The programme director of Amnesty's Irish section, Noeleen Hartigan, said Ireland had "failed to deliver national policies and their funding in a way that prevents human rights violations, and our Civil Service does not have the capacity to ensure that human rights standards are promoted in Government policy".

Amnesty said a new Cabinet-level minister should have responsibility for ensuring that the State delivered on its human rights obligations and for implementing legislative action to tackle poverty and discrimination.

Ms Hartigan said legislation for a right to housing and a right to health should be the first priority for the Government.

"The freedoms enjoyed by people in Ireland are to the envy of most of the world's population," she said. "We have free and fair parliamentary elections, a free press, an independent judiciary and a general respect for the rule of law, supported by robust human rights watchdogs.

"However, not all human rights are enforceable in Ireland - particularly the ones that go to the heart of poverty."

Ms Hartigan said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 59th anniversary of which was celebrated yesterday, "was never meant to be an a la carte list from which governments could choose".

"As a first priority we call on the Irish Government to acknowledge that economic, social and cultural rights are legitimate and give them the same legal standing and enforceability as civil and political rights," she said.

In its report, Mind the Gap, Amnesty International called on the Government to implement recommendations made by UN treaty bodies, such as the Committee on the Prevention of Torture's report on Irish prisons, and to ratify and fully comply with the conventions on disability, human trafficking and migrant workers, and the protocols on torture and economic, social and cultural rights.

Amnesty also urged the Government to apply a comprehensive human rights-based approach to policymaking and budgetary decisions. It also called for full independence for State bodies with a human rights mandate and for the inclusion of human rights protection in the mandates of all relevant statutory bodies.