Cuts unfairly hurt marginalised, says UN committee

Cuts imposed during the financial crisis disproportionately hurt the "disadvantaged and marginalised" and must be phased out, a United Nations committee has said.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR), which examined Ireland in Geneva earlier this month, published its concluding observations yesterday.

The Government was represented at the hearings in Geneva by a team of 21 senior civil servants led by Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Seán Sherlock. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission led a group of 12 NGOs and members of civil society. It was the first time Ireland had appeared before the committee since 2002.

The committee said that notwithstanding the unprecedented economic crisis that faced Ireland, the response had been “disproportionately focused on instituting cuts to public expenditure in the areas of housing, social security, health care and education, without altering its tax regime”.

“The austerity measures, which continue to be applied, have had significant adverse impact on the entire population, particularly on disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups, in enjoying their economic, social and cultural rights.”

Discrimination

The committee said policies applied during the crisis “must be temporary, covering only the period of the crisis, and they must be necessary and proportionate. They must not result in discrimination and increased inequalities”.

It said austerity measures must be “gradually phased out”, while consideration should be given to reviewing the tax regime “with a view to increasing revenues to restore the pre-crisis levels of public services and social benefits”.

The committee said it was “concerned at the increase in the number of people living in consistent poverty or at-risk-of-poverty”, particularly children, single-parent families, older people, people with disabilities, Travellers and migrants.

It called on the State to integrate a human rights-based approach into all poverty reduction strategies.

Zero-hour contracts

It noted “disproportionately high rates of unemployment among Travellers, Roma, young people and persons with disabilities”, and called for legislation to strengthen collective bargaining and end low- and zero-hour contracts.

The committee made six recommendations on the housing crisis, including increasing rent supplement, strengthened rights for households in mortgage arrears and taking “all necessary measures to meet the critical needs” of the homeless.

On the situation of asylum seekers, the committee called for improved living conditions in direct provision centres “including through . . . making the private actors accountable for the actions and omissions and address the mental health issues of asylum seekers”.

It also called for an end to the right of schools to discriminate on the basis of religion in their admissions policies.