Current Human Rights Concerns Arising from the Conflict and Peace
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Current Human Rights Concerns Arising from the Conflict and Peace Process in Northern Ireland by Jane Winter and Natasha Parassram Concepcion* rom the late 1960s through the 1990s, Northern Ireland ascendancy over the Catholics. In 1800, Ireland became has been ravaged by a series of political upheavals com- part of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland. In 1916, Fmonly referred to as “the Troubles.” The conflict orig- the Easter Rising by Irish republicans led to the War of inated as a territorial dispute, articulated along religious Independence, which resulted in the partition of Ireland into lines, over whether the land currently known as Northern Ire- what is today Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. land should remain within the United Kingdom (UK) or The Troubles began with the struggle of the minority become part of a “United Ireland.” This conflict has resulted Catholic population of Northern Ireland for civil liberties in in the deaths of approximately three and a half thousand peo- the late 1960s. On February 1, 1967, the Northern Ireland ple, and injuries to at least forty thousand others. Human Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was founded, and its rights violations have been at the heart of the conflict in demands laid out at least some of the terrain over which the Northern Ireland, con- conflict was to be fought for sistently serving as flash- the next quarter of a century points for violence and or more: a universal franchise; distrust, and undermin- an end to electoral gerryman- ing the rule of law for the dering; the fair allocation of past thirty years. Credit: Jill N. Quinn public housing; an end to dis- Although human rights crimination in local govern- violations did not cause ment employment; the repeal the conflict, their contin- of the Special Powers Act (the ual occurrence has pro- forerunner of today’s anti-ter- longed and further rorist legislation); and the dis- entrenched the conflict. banding of the exclusively On April 10, 1998, Protestant reserve police force, after thirty years of bloody the “B Specials.” discord, political parties The civil rights movement from each side of the con- that started in the 1960s flict signed a peace agree- demonstrated that Catholics ment known as the Good were no longer prepared to Friday Agreement accept discriminatory laws and (Agreement), pledging to practices set down by a Protes- dedicate themselves anew Billboard depicting the seventeen people, including eight children, tant Parliament and a Protes- to “the achievement of killed by plastic bullets. Many international human rights organiza- tant state. The violent reaction reconciliation, tolerance, tions, and the U.S. Congress, have called for a ban on their use. of extremist Protestants to and mutual trust, and to NICRA’s peaceful protest the protection and vindication of the human rights of all.” marches and the failure of the mainly Protestant Royal The Agreement contained a number of human rights Ulster Constabulary (RUC) to defend the protesters laid pledges, including, but not limited to a Bill of Rights for down the battle lines for the conflict that ensued. Northern Ireland, a Human Rights Commission, and reform In August 1969, British troops were deployed in Northern of policing procedures. Ireland to defend the Catholics from increasing sectarian Despite the numerous mechanisms for protecting human attacks. Yet by January 1972, when the British army shot rights outlined in the Agreement, effective realization of and killed 13 unarmed demonstrators in the streets of Derry, human rights has been elusive. According to the 1999 Human Rights Watch World Report on the UK, the initial imple- mentation of the Agreement “proved disappointing,” as the Human rights violations have been at the British government “consistently failed to translate the pro- heart of the conflict in Northern Ireland, visions into practical and effective human rights protec- tions.” In the years since the Agreement, implementation of consistently serving as flashpoints for its provisions has proved unsatisfactory in overcoming years violence and distrust, and undermining the of bitter conflict and human rights violations. rule of law for the past thirty years. Background: The Origins of the Conflict The roots of the conflict in Northern Ireland stem from the English colonization of predominantly Catholic Ireland Northern Ireland, in an event known as “Bloody Sunday,” no in the sixteenth century. This period of colonization was fol- vestige remained of the initial welcome Catholics had lowed in the seventeenth century by the movement of Protes- extended to the soldiers. The British army’s role had changed tant English and Scottish settlers into Ireland. Bolstered by repressive legislation, the Protestants soon established their continued on next page 6 Northern Ireland, continued from previous page In addition to the cost, the inquiry has been faced with important evidentiary problems. For example, the soldiers who from being part of the solution to being part of the problem, fired shots have succeeded in retaining their anonymity, much so far as Catholics were concerned. By the time a cease-fire to the distress of the wounded and the relatives of those who was declared in August 1994, the British army had killed 294 died. Further, the Ministry of Defense has destroyed many of people, 160 of them civilians, nearly all of whom were the weapons used, even after receiving orders to preserve the Catholics. weapons as evidence. Finally, the difficulty of reconstructing The array of emergency legislation and measures events that took place almost thirty years ago presents diffi- employed by the UK government in its attempts to contain culties for the second inquiry. Specifically, some witnesses and defeat terrorism, ranging from internment without trial are challenged by faulty memories, many witnesses have died to trial without jury, have also served to prolong and exac- in the intervening years, and the many articles and docu- erbate the conflict. These measures have given rise to alle- mentaries about Bloody Sunday have colored recollections. gations of countless other human rights violations, includ- ing harassment of both Protestant and Catholic civilians, Targeting Civilians miscarriages of justice, and abuse of lethal force. Among the many thousands of victims of the conflict during the last thirty years are two members of the legal pro- Highlighting Past Human Rights Violations fession. One of them was Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane, who was murdered in 1989. Since his death, it has emerged Bloody Sunday that both British army intelligence and the RUC colluded in In a state where tensions still run high, reconciliation is his killing. In March 1999, Rosemary Nelson, a solicitor who essential. Past human rights violations, particularly those campaigned for a public inquiry into Patrick Finucane’s that remain unresolved, continue to play a central role in the death, was killed in a car bomb. Like Finucane, RUC officers fragile peace process. One example of such unresolved vio- and soldiers had threatened her life before she died. Unlike lations concerns the events of Bloody Sunday, during which Funicane, however, Nelson had complained about her situ- the British army shot or wounded ation to the United Nations Special approximately twenty-six unarmed, Rapporteur on the Independence Catholic demonstrators partici- In a state where tensions still run high, of Judges and Lawyers, Dato’ pating in the peaceful civil rights Param Cumaraswamy, and had march in Derry. The actions of the reconciliation is essential. Past human spoken before the United States British army drew both local and rights violations, particularly those that Congress about the difficulties she international condemnation, and remain unresolved, continue to play a faced in her daily work. Thus far, have since been a great source of the British government has underlying tension. central role in the fragile peace process. ignored the continual call from In the wake of Bloody Sunday, the international human rights the British government initiated a community and the U.S. Congress public judicial inquiry to investigate the incident. Public for independent inquiries into their deaths. inquiries are established under the Tribunals of Inquiry Other casualties include the death of Robert Hamill, a (Evidence) Act of 1921, which allows for the investigation of young Catholic man who was kicked to death by a loyalist mob “a definite matter of urgent public importance” by an inde- in 1997 in Portadown, Northern Ireland, because of his reli- pendent tribunal. They are inquisitional rather than adver- gion. Although his attackers did not know him, they assumed sarial in nature, and primarily aimed at establishing the he was a Catholic because of the direction from which he truth about what happened and making recommendations came and where he was headed. Because of the fact that four for the avoidance of a repetition. This first official inquiry armed RUC officers were present in a vehicle only yards report, issued by the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, away, Hamill thought it would be safe to walk past the loy- only eleven weeks after the events, concluded that the British alists. When the gang attacked him, however, the RUC offi- soldiers acted in self defense, and fired only in response to cers did nothing to help him. This case is one of many high- shots allegedly fired at them. This inquiry, however, was lighting the problem of sectarian attacks and harassment much discredited for inadequately considering all the rele- within Northern Ireland, where one group ascribes a pejo- vant evidence in deciding the soldiers’ culpability for the civil- rative set of attributes to the other based on its perceived reli- ian casualties. On January 29, 1998, the British governmen- gious, political, or community affiliations, and attacks based t’s announcement of a second public inquiry into the events on those attributes.