THE UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva has called on the Government to establish a regime for the control of suspected rendition flights through its airports, and has also urged an amendment to the keynote article of the Constitution dealing with the family to ensure its wording is "gender-neutral".
The international committee of jurists has also urged amendments to the recent Immigration Bill to ensure the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers are protected, and to remove provisions in the legislation that would allow for summary deportation even in cases that are being reviewed or where appeals have been lodged in the courts.
The UN committee has also thrown its weight behind criticisms of overcrowding and "slopping out" conditions in Irish prisons.
These are among 19 recommendations in the committee's concluding observations on Ireland's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which have been seen by The Irish Times.
The observations follow two days of questioning in Geneva last week of the Government on its compliance with the covenant, which it signed in 1989. The Government was represented by the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher, and the secretary general of the Department of Justice, Sean Aylward.
The committee praised various measures taken by the Government since 1989, including the Mental Health Act in 2001, the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law, and the establishment of a Human Rights Commission, the Garda Ombudsman Commission, the Equality Authority and the Equality Tribunal.
However, it recommended measures to ensure the effective functioning of the Garda Ombudsman Commission and to enhance the independence of the Human Rights Commission by increasing its resources and making it directly answerable to the Oireachtas. At the moment it falls under the responsibility of the Department of Justice.
This recommendation comes as news emerged yesterday of a proposal that the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority be merged with a number of other bodies, including the Disability Authority, the Data Protection Commissioner and the Equality Tribunal.
The Irish Human Rights Commission yesterday responded to this suggestion by recalling its position under the Belfast Agreement, and stressed that any changes should comply fully with the letter and spirit of the agreement, and in no way undermine human rights protection.
The UN committee also urged the Government to ensure the Civil Partnership Bill will include tax and welfare benefits. It called for the reinforcement of measures to ensure equality between women and men, including more funding for the institutions established to promote it.
It recommended that the State bring its abortion laws into line with the articles in the covenant dealing with the right to life and equality between men and women, so that women did not have to resort to illegal or unsafe abortions.
It outlined a number of recommendations for amendments to the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill, including the outlawing of summary removal, full access to early and free legal representation and an independent appeals procedure. The Minister for Justice should not appoint members of the new Protection Review Tribunal, it stated.
Welcoming the observations, Irish Council for Civil Liberties deputy director Tanya Ward urged the Government to immediately acknowledge these concerns and address them in a substantive and meaningful way.
UN committee not accepting Ireland's excuses for inaction on human rights: page 7