Background on the Marches

Why Plastic Bullets are Bad

Applying International Standards in Northern Ireland

For the third straight year, Human Rights Watch is on the ground in Northern Ireland from July 1-13, 1999, to monitor the events of the Marching Season. The information gathered during this observing mission will be used to continue our advocacy work on the promotion and protection of human rights in Northern Ireland and to inform those committed to the creation of an authentic rights culture in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the April 1998 Multi-Party Agreement.

Human Rights Watch's purpose is to monitor security force operations, particularly the conduct of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland's police force. In past years, our monitors have observed policing conduct in violation of international standards. Such conduct has served to exacerbate tensions and fuel marching-related violence. Our observers, trained to monitor police abuse, have charged the RUC with: the illegal use of plastic bullets (against both loyalists and nationalists); the excessive use of physical force against demonstrators; the intimidating use of land rovers to "charge" demonstrators and then retreat; the use of overtly sectarian language in the course of policing; and the total absence of identification on individual officers, so as to make it impossible for citizens to lodge complaints against abusive police.

We urge the RUC to exercise restraint with respect to the use of force and to police impartially, professionally and in conformity with international human rights standards.