Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

The Role of the International Community

United Nations

On April 1, 1998, the U.N. special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers issued a report finding that the RUC engaged “in activities which constitute intimidation, harassment, [and] hindrance” of defense lawyers in the course of their professional duties. The report called for an independent inquiry into the 1989 loyalist paramilitary killing of prominent defense lawyer Patrick Finucane—who received death threats from the RUC prior to his murder—and for authorities to conduct an independent investigation of all threats to legal counsel. To the dismay of rights groups, the U.K. government’s lengthy written response appeared to justify the very conditions that give rise to lawyer intimidation and impunity for police officers. The government failed to implement even one of the report’s recommendations.

Council of Europe

In June 1998, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution welcoming the Multi-Party Agreement and noting that its human rights provisions—including incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the proposal for a bill of rights—were instrumental in ensuring broad support for the accord.

United States

President Clinton remained closely involved in the multi-party negotiations that led to the peace agreement. In a September 3, 1998, speech in Northern Ireland, the president set “benchmarks” for a new Northern Ireland that included police reform and respect for human rights.

On September 29, 1998, the House Sub-Committee on International Operations and Human Rights held meetings and a hearing on the intimidation of defense lawyers in Northern Ireland. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Param Cumaraswamy informally met with the subcommittee to present the findings of his report.

In March 1998, the U.S. Congress passed a concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that “all parties to the multiparty peace talks regarding Northern Ireland should condemn violence and fully integrate internationally recognized human rights standards and adequately address outstanding human rights violations as part of the peace process.”

The U.K. section of the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997 addressed many human rights issues of concern to nongovernmental organizations, including Roisin McAliskey’s ill-treatment; the renewed controversy over fresh evidence of security force misconduct in the Bloody Sunday case; allegations of police intimidation of defense lawyers and collusion in the Finucane murder; the indiscriminate firing of defective plastic bullets by police during the 1997 marching season; criticisms leveled at the U.K. by various U.N. human rights bodies; and serious problems with accountability mechanisms in Northern Ireland.

Relevant Human Rights Watch report:

Justice for All? An Analysis of the Human Rights Provisions of the 1998 Northern Ireland Peace Agreement, 4/98