Massive victory for human rights

Amnesty International Ireland today welcomed reports of a new approach adopted by the Irish Government on the issue of extraordinary renditions. These reports indicate that the Government intends to review and strengthen legislation governing the search and inspection of suspected rendition flights.

Amnesty International Ireland Executive Director Colm O’Gorman said:
“This is a welcome victory for human rights in Ireland. Years of lobbying and campaigning by Amnesty members and other human rights activists across the country appear to have finally paid off.

“We are happy to be in a position to commend our Government for showing political and moral leadership on this issue.

“The kind of gross human rights violations that are the result of extraordinary rendition or the so-called ‘war on terror’ are only possible in a world where states stay silent when they ought to challenge such violations

“In June of this year when we published our report on renditions in Europe we acknowledged that the Irish Government has been a strident critic of the US extraordinary rendition programme and other aspects of its so-called ‘war on terror’.

“We called for this rhetoric to be matched by action and it appears the Irish Government has finally heeded that call and ended its reliance on entirely discredited diplomatic assurances.

“Thousands of people all over Ireland have marched, protested and lobbied politicians to this end. Amnesty members and other activists have maintained a constant presence at Shannon Airport monitoring the activity of suspected rendition flights. Most recently we saw the momentum of the campaign continue to build with local authorities around Ireland, including Shannon and Limerick, declaring their areas to be rendition free zones.

”In particular Mr O’Gorman welcomed the establishment of a Cabinet Committee on Aspects of International Human Rights, which will be central to implementing the new approach.

“It is essential that a body like this at Cabinet level will drive the review of legislation, ensuring that civil and police authorities have the necessary power and resources to search and inspect suspected rendition flights,” continued Mr O’Gorman.

“We believe the outcome of this review must be made public and call on the Government to announce a time-frame for its completion.

“The new approach must not deal solely with the search and inspection of aircraft, however. It must also review how Ireland identifies aircraft that may be involved in illegal activity, i.e. the nature of information demanded of foreign aircraft by aviation authorities, particularly those possibly masquerading as civilian planes.

“This information is essential if the right aircraft are to be inspected and the Government is to move from demanding the Irish public to produce evidence of suspicious aircraft.

“Also, search and inspection can only address flights that actually land on Irish territory and in no way addresses the issue of planes suspected of involvement in renditions using Irish airspace. Amnesty International will continue to engage with government to ensure that Ireland fulfils its obligations under international human rights law.”

Find out more about Amnesty International Ireland’s campaign to counter terror with justice

Read our June 2008 report, State of Denial: Europe’s role in renditions and secret detention