Rights News - Eileen Flynn presenting the 2019 ICCL Human Rights Film Award Find out who won inside!
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SPRING/SUMMER 2019
Rights News
Eileen Flynn presenting the 2019
ICCL Human Rights Film Award
Find out who won inside!
Plus
Censorship in the Arts - National Consultation with Protest Groups
- Our work on Institutional Abuse
EDITORIAL – ABOUT THE ICCL
Editorial by Liam Herrick ABOUT THE ICCL
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties
W
HAT IS THE ROLE OF AN IN- free speech on-line, and surveillance, is committed to an Ireland that is
DEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS especially on our Public Service Card more just, more free, and where
ORGANISATION at a time of in- campaign. human rights and civil liberties are
tense change? Where can we make the We are conscious, too, that Brexit enjoyed by everyone.
greatest impact? These are questions looms large as a economic and social
that we at ICCL have given a lot of threat which has the potential to cause Fully independent of government
thought to over the past few years – serious instability. The danger of negative and fearless in our advocacy for
and our conclusion is that we need to effects to the peace process remain human rights, we have been at the
be at the cutting edge of social change, high. More broadly Ireland will face forefront of all key human rights
asking the difficult questions about civil many important choices in the months campaigns in Irish society, making
liberties and human rights, especially ahead about the values we want to align a significant impact on law, policy
on issues where there is no-one else to with in a new European Union. ICCL and public opinion. These have
stand up for individual rights. believes that Ireland should aim to be- included the campaigns for legal
The work we have done over the come a leader of human rights on the divorce, decriminalisation of
past six months reflects this ap- international stage – but for that as- homosexuality and for marriage
proach, with ICCL standing proudly piration to be reached, there is a equality; working for equality
alongside protestors denied their large body of work to be done to legislation and institutions;
political rights, artists facing cen- address the outstanding human resistance to emergency legislation
sorship, families seeking truth rights gaps at home. and the removal of constitutional
through inquests, adopted people due process protections; and
trying to access information Liam Herrick, consistent advocacy for women’s
about their identity, and Executive Director rights, including reproductive
those living in direct pro- Irish Council for rights.
vision asserting their Civil Liberties
We act as an essential defender of
rights to dignity. These
human rights and civil liberties and
spaces of contested
as an effective champion for the
rights are where we need
advancement of justice and
to be, and where our
freedom in Irish society.
voice is most needed.
We have made impor-
Founded in 1976, we have worked
tant progress on key areas
tirelessly to defend and strengthen
of reform – especially in
constitutional rights protections
the areas of policing and and to ensure the full
privacy rights – but key implementation of international
challenges lie ahead on human rights standards. We draw
the right to association, on the tradition of civil liberties
activism in many countries,
including the civil rights
ICCL Human Rights Film Awards movements in Northern Ireland,
the United Kingdom and the United
T
States. Domestically focused and
HIS YEAR WE PARTNERED with
internationally informed, we have
the Dublin International Film Fes-
developed strong partnerships with
tival to present the ICCL award to
civil society organisations in Ireland
the film which, of a selection of seven, and networks and alliances with
best dealt with the theme of human similar organisations
rights and activism. internationally.
For more on this wonderful cele-
bration, see pages 4-5 For more information, visit our new
website: https://www.iccl.ie
CONTACT ICCL
Irish Council for Civil Liberties,
Unit 11, First Floor, 34,
Usher's Quay, Dublin 8
ON THE COVER: Eileen Flynn speaking at
the Dublin International Film Festival Phone: +353-1-912 1640
where she presented the ICCL Human Email: info@iccl.ie
Rights Film Award
2 IRISH COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SPRING/SUMMER 2019
OUR WORK STRENGTHENING HUMAN RIGHTS
The Best Banned in the Land
On 30 April, a number of speakers Storytime event at the Lexicon
Library due to ‘archaic ho-
Aware. A lively and engaged
audience contributed thought-
addressed their experiences of mophobia’ and violent threats ful questions on the balance
censorship and self-censorship at a against them. In presenting to be drawn between free
special event at Project Arts Centre the reason for cancelation as speech and hate speech, on
"an age-appropriate review", the pressing need to support
DLR did little to protect and the arts, and on international
W
E WERE SPURRED to mark the anniversary of promote free speech as is solidarity for oppressed or
TO BEGIN A PROJ- Project’s “defiant compliance” their duty as a state body. censored artists.
ECT ON CENSOR- with the Charities Regulator’s That’s why we invited Glitter We also launched our call
SHIP of the arts following the demands. HOLE to be our keynote for the repeal of the Censor-
2018 ordered removal of On 30 April a number of speaker for the day. ship of Publications Act at the
Maser’s Repeal the 8th mural speakers – including writer Una, Beth and Cian were event. In 2019 the Censorship
and the cancellation of Una Una Mullally, Cian O’Brien, joined for debate on the day of Publications Board still has
Mullally’s The Question of the artistic director of Project, by Lian Bell, campaign direc- the authority to prohibit any
Eighth. We had to take a stand! and Beth Hayden of Glitter tor of Waking the Feminists, book or periodical that they
And we weren’t alone in think- HOLE – addressed their ex- historian Donal Fallon, broad- find to be obscene under the
ing that. periences of censorship and caster Evelyn O’Rourke, arts Act. Though it’s rarely used,
We brought together a self-censorship at a special campaigner Angela Dorgan, until it is repealed, this threat
coalition of human rights and event at Project. The event NCAD professor Declan Long, hangs over artists, particularly
arts organisations to call for was kindly sponsored by and poet and barrister John writers. Repealing it would
the immediate repeal of the Dublin UNESCO’s One City O’Donnell. An intermission be a symbolic gesture of sup-
Censorship of Publications One Book. discussion featured exiled port for artists and a loud NO
Act and an end to censorship Just days before the event, Turkish theatre group Be to censorship of the arts.
of the arts. We joined forces DIY drag collective Glitter
with the Irish Writers Centre, HOLE had announced that links in this article...
Poetry Ireland, the Writers’ they had been forced to cancel Sign the petition to Repeal the Censorship Act:
Guild and Project Arts Centre their age-appropriate Drag https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/repeal-the-censorship-act
Lian Bell, Donal Fallon, Una Mullally, Beth Hayden, Cian O’Brien, Angela Dorgan outside Project Arts Centre
IRISH COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SPRING/SUMMER 2019 3
OUR WORK STRENGTHENING HUMAN RIGHTS
Electoral Act Reform
If you’ve been following our campaign for reform of the Electoral Act you’ll know
that we hit a significant milestone on 16 May when Senator Lynn Ruane launched
her bill for reform of the Act. ICCL, along with the Coalition for Civil Society
Freedom, had been working with Senator Ruane since 2018 on the drafting of
this bill.
C
URRENTLY, THE ELECTORAL ACT Many organisations in Ireland, to change the definition of political purposes
BANS “ANY CAMPAIGN TO IN- avoid doubt, simply do not accept do- so that it would no longer encompass
FLUENCE PUBLIC POLICY” from nations of over €100 anymore. Some “any campaign to influence public policy”.
receiving donations (including donations are unsure whether they can accept We expect to see this bill go through in
in kind and possibly donated time) above voluntary work!! This is a situation that September after the Oireachtas summer
€100. For the past number of years, the we at ICCL cannot let continue. break. Watch our social media and website
Standards in Public Offices Commission If passed, Senator Ruane’s bill would for updates on this important issue!
(SIPOC) has taken this wording to mean
the legitimate advocacy work of organ- links referenced in this article...
isations such as Education Equality, Link to our call for reform of the Electoral Act:
residents’ associations, and Amnesty. https://www.iccl.ie/human-rights/civil-society-space/reform-electoral-act/
SIPOC has been taking legal action
against civil society organisations as if Below: Liam Herrick, Director, ICCL; Senator Lynn Ruane; Colm O’Gorman,
they were political actors! Amnesty International, Ireland; April Duff, Education Equality
4 IRISH COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SPRING/SUMMER 2019
OUR WORK PROMOTING JUSTICE
‘Historical’ Abuse? Not as long as the violations continue...
is by providing information about the
violations which took place. In Ireland’s
case, this includes information regarding
forced or illegal adoptions. In June we
wrote to all Senators outlining our con-
cerns that Katherine Zappone’s Adoption
(Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 would
deny the human rights of adopted per-
sons by not allowing them automatic
access to their own birth certs. We also
highlighted that it could lead to further
violations of the privacy rights of adopted
persons.
ICCL is dedicated to vindicating the rights
of all those who suffered institutional
abuse at the hands of the Church and
State. We are further dedicated to the
rights of those who are enduring rights
violations in State-run institutions in
modern Ireland.
I
RELAND AS A NATION IS STRUG- Above: At the ICCL Human Rights Film Award, Mannix Flynn talks about his
GLING TO COME TO TERMS WITH A experiences of institutional abuse which he deals with in his film ‘Land Without
LEGACY of State-sanctioned abuse God’. e film was commended by the panel
which encompassed a wide range of
human rights abuses including child
trafficking, enforced disappearances
and physical, sexual and emotional
ICCL CALLS FOR AN END TO DIRECT PROVISION
abuse.
In June we made a submission to the Oireachtas Justice Committee in which we
While the country has made huge
called for an immediate end to Direct Provision because, as a system, it
progress in terms of talking about these
facilitates gross violations of human rights. We made further recommendations
things, and there has been an official
for immediate and practical improvements in the meantime.
State apology, there is a long way to go
in terms of providing retribution and
guarantees to survivors that this can
links on these pages...
never happen again.
Mother and Baby Homes Commission released their fifth interim report; our response:
In April, when the Mother and Baby https://www.iccl.ie/opinion/mother-and-baby-homes-time-for-criminal-investigations/
Homes Commission released their fifth Irish Examiner article:
interim report we reiterated our previous https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/views/analysis/revictimisation-and-our-sad-links-with-
calls for increased investigatory powers mexico-919821.html
ICCL’s letter to all Senators:
for Commissions of Inquiry. The Com-
https://www.iccl.ie/justice/iccl-email-seanad-adoption-bill/
mission was quite clear that they believe ICCL's submission on direct provision:
there are people who are hiding evidence, https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/190531-ICCL-ORourke-Submission-On-Direct-Provision-System.pdf
and the Commission does not have the
teeth to compel these people to come
forward. HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE IRISH CORONER’S SYSTEM
At this same time, we reiterated our
deep concern that all evidence submitted ICCL is working with DCU’s Dr. Vicky Conway and Professor Phil Scraton, of
to this Committee will be sealed, ren- Hillsborough fame, to pioneer new research into human rights within the Irish
dering it inaccessible to any further in- coroner’s system. The project was launched on 7 February with a public
vestigations. Our communications officer discussion on human rights issues in the British coroner’s system.
wrote an opinion piece for the Examiner Since then, Dr Conway and Prof Scraton have been working with families of
on this issue. people who died in contested circumstances and subsequently identified problems
One of the key elements of ensuring with the coroners service in Ireland. The research will be published in October.
justice for survivors of institutional abuse
IRISH COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SPRING/SUMMER 2019 5
ICCL HUMAN RIGHTS IN FILM AWARD
Human Rights Film Award
ICCL partnered with the Dublin International Film Festival to relaunch The Public by Emilio Estevez: A
the much-loved ICCL Human Rights in Film Award in 2019! film about a committed librarian,
frustrated at a lack of social jus-
tice, who allows some of his
most vulnerable visitors turn his
work space into an impromptu
homeless shelter.
ICCL got to sit in on the rigourous de-
liberations which took place on 2 March
after the screening of the last film in
the competition. The jury made some
fascinating observations on the films
and did not, contrary to rumour, almost
come to blows over the decision!
In the end there was a clear winner
in Heartbound: A Different Kind of Love
Story. The film focused on a small town
in Denmark where over 900 Thai women
live. Filmed over ten years, Heartbound
e HRFA jury, left to right: Bulelani Mfaco, Emmet Kirwan, Aoife Kelleher, allowed the audience to connect with
Suzy Byrne and Sorcha Pollak the human stories behind economic mi-
gration, sex work and arranged mar-
riages. The directors dedicated the award
W
to those who featured in the film who
E WERE THRILLED IN LATE Gaza by Garry Keane and Andrew
“with great generosity and courage have
2018 TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE McConnell: A documentary por-
shared some of the most intimate mo-
HUMAN RIGHTS FILM AWARD trait of the resilience of people
ments of their lives”.
would be making a comeback after a in the most challenging of cir-
Many of our jurors were also deeply
three year hiatus. This year we partnered cumstances, set among the com-
moved by Mannix Flynn’s Land Without
with the Dublin International Film Fes- munities who live in Gaza.
God and gave it a special commendation
tival to present the ICCL award to the
with recognition of the context in which
film which, of a selection of seven, best Heartbound: A Different Kind of
it was made. At ICCL we were glad to
dealt with the theme of human rights Love Story by Janus Metz and
see this as we continue to fight for
and activism. Dr Sine Plambech: A documen-
justice for survivors of institutional abuse.
Our 2019 jury included five human tary about a small village in
So often termed historic, as long as the
rights activists and film experts: actor, northern Denmark where over
truth continues to be hidden, these
poet and playwright Emmet Kirwan; 900 Thai women have married
abuses are anything but.
award-winning journalist Sorcha Pollak; and settled.
The brilliant Eileen Flynn, who is a
direct provision activist Bulelani Mfaco;
prominent advocate of Traveller and
film director Aoife Kelleher; and disability Land Without God by Gerard
women's rights, presented the award
rights advocate and ICCL board member Mannix Flynn: His deeply per-
on 3 March in Dublin. Of Land Without
Suzy Byrne. sonal documentary feature about
God, Eileen said
We’re very grateful to the jury for himself and members of his own
“I am also delighted to see Mannix
giving so generously of their time in family as they recall the effects
Flynn's Land Without God receive special
going to see and rate each of the fol- of decades of institutional abuse.
commendation. The jury felt it was an
lowing seven films:
important film for Ireland and our con-
Of Fathers and Sons by Talal
tinuing struggle to come to terms with
A Girl From Mogadishu by Mary Derki: A documentary which cen-
and provide reparations for institutional
McGuckian: Based on the testi- tres on a radical Islamist family
abuse.”
mony of Ifrah Ahmed the film and their harsh existence as war
We’d like to extend our gratitude to
details Ifrah’s astonishing and rages around them in Syria.
Virgin Media for sponsoring €1000 worth
powerful journey, from her time
of editing time to the winning film. We
in a refugee camp to becoming Rafiki by Wanuri Kahiu: A Kenyan
are also indebted to Grainne, Penny,
a leading campaigner. film that revolves around two fe-
Kim and all the team at the Dublin In-
male friends who fall in love. In
ternational Film Festival for compiling
Another Day of Life by Raúl de doing so, they must face the
a list of such strong films and indeed
la Fuente and Damian Nenow: challenges of family expectations
for organising the comeback of the ICCL
A film which centres on an ide- and the conservative society in
Human Rights in Film Award! See you
alistic journalist tasked with cov- which they live.
all in 2020!
ering civil conflict in Angola in
the 1970s.
6 IRISH COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SPRING/SUMMER 2019
OUR WORK SECURING EQUALITY
ICCL board member Muiris O Ceidigh with jury members Aoife Kelleher, Emmet Kirwan and Sorcha Pollak
Above: Friend of ICCL, Mr Giollaíosa
Ó Lideadha, SC
Left: At the ICCL Human Rights Film
Award, Eileen Flynn commends
Mannix Flynn for his film ‘Land
Without God’ which deals with his
experiences of institutional abuse
IRISH COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SPRING/SUMMER 2019 7
OUR WORK SECURING EQUALITY
Abortion: is the legislation working? ANOTHER YES VOTE!
Having campaigned this time in the
In April, we convened a meeting for activists working on the new abortion
divorce referendum for a YES vote,
legislation to discuss the practical and legal issues still affecting women and the
we were delighted to see it pass by
medical profession since abortion became legal in January.
such a huge majority. By reducing
T
That includes people trying to access the mandatory waiting period from
HANKS TO THE EFFORTS OF AC-
terminations for reasons of fatal foetal four to two years, Ireland took a
TIVISTS, IT HAS RECENTLY BEEN
anomaly after the 12 week period. We huge leap towards protecting the
CLARIFIED that women who
are seriously concerned that the right privacy rights of people who need a
access their first appointment before
to access appropriate healthcare in this divorce.
the 12 week limit will be entitled to
situation is still being denied. It will also help to ensure that
access abortion even if the mandatory
ICCL will be campaigning for people who are stuck in dangerous
three day waiting period pushes them
changes to the legislation when the leg- or financially and emotionally dis-
past this limit.
islative review comes up. Abortion is a tressing situations can be freed from
However, we found that there are
healthcare and a human rights issue them quicker. We hope the govern-
still barriers to women accessing abor-
and this legislation simply isn’t vindi- ment will remove the mandatory
tion and that those barriers are created
cating the rights of pregnant people. waiting time period altogether as
by the legislation.
soon as it can.
For example, the mandatory waiting
period leads to financial problems, as
well as issues arranging childcare, and
transport. It is particularly difficult for FROM THE ABORTION RIGHTS CONFERENCE
economically vulnerable women, includ-
ing those living in direct provision or Gearóidín McEvoy from Lawyers for Choice said “without doubt the legislation
experiencing homelessness. needs constant updating. This will be a never ending effort.”
ICCL campaigned against this Ms Mc Evoy outlined “major concerns” for those with deaf and hearing issues
paternalistic clause and we continue to accessing terminations.
call for its removal. “There are many concerns but one that I’m highlighting is in relation to inter-
We continue to call for the removal pretation and the provision of interpreters for the deaf community. The provision
of criminalisation of anyone who assists of interpreters isn’t mandated, so there isn’t a governing body for interpreters -
with an abortion after 12 weeks, as this it’s on an ad hoc basis. And there’s no code of ethics for interpreters covering
has a chilling effect on doctors and cre- abortion.”
ates anxiety for women who need an Ms McEvoy also pointed out that the issue of organising and providing rules
abortion after this time. for interpreters was vital for non-English speaking women living in Ireland.
Reproductive rights activists at the ICCL conference
8 IRISH COUNCIL OF CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SUMMER 2018
OUR WORK SECURING EQUALITY
The Women of ICCL - Rocking The System
T
HERE ARE MANY BRIL-
LIANT WOMEN MEM-
BERS OF ICCL. Actually,
some of the most formidable
Irish women ever have passed
through our doors. From our
founder Mary Robinson,
through to equality campaign-
er Ailbhe Smyth and repro-
ductive rights campaigner
Ivana Bacik, we wouldn’t be
the organisation we are today
without the vision and support
of some truly amazing women.
For International Women’s
Day on 8 March, we profiled
just a few of you on our social
media accounts. We know that
strong female leaders can in-
spire other women and girls
to aim high and to believe in
themselves. We’re delighted
that the women we ap-
proached were so open to the
idea and so generous in send-
ing us the information we
needed.
Visit iccl.ie/join to join the
formidable #WomenofICCL.
Clockwise, from top: Mary Robinson, Ivana Bacik, and
Ailbhe Smyth; just some of the remarkable women who
have passed through the doors of the ICCL
IRISH COUNCIL OF CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SUMMER 2018 9
OUR WORK PROTECTING PRIVACY RIGHTS
Public Services Card – Online Content Moderation
But it’s well-established that govern- a digital check point where people must
The Public Services Card – ments and corporations subject those hand over their biometric data in order
paying for essential services living in poverty to heightened or more to put food on the table. It’s deeply
with your data is not fair. invasive surveillance. unfair, because those required to get
The public services card is an Irish the PSC are least likely to be able to
Or legal. example of how digital technologies can fight it.
In January, the Department of Social
be used against people living in poverty. Well, we’re going to keep fighting it.
Welfare refused ICCL’s FOI request for
Effectively, the government has created That’s a promise.
all records related to the Data Protection
Commissioner’s investigation. Mean-
while, the Commissioner is similarly
restrained – their interpretation of
existing legislation is that they are pre-
cluded from ever releasing the report!
The Commissioner has said – in the
Oireachtas – that the Department is
free to publish the report; however the
Department has not acknowledged this
statement. Instead, they say that they
replied to the Commissioner’s follow
up queries as part of the investigation
and have been waiting to hear from the
Commissioner ever since. Confused yet?
Getting impatient? Us too.
While the waiting game continues,
we’ve applied to the Office of the Infor-
mation Commissioner to review the
decision of the Department to refuse to
publish the report.
We also invited the UN Special Rap-
porteur on Extreme Poverty, Philip
Alston, to come to Ireland and speak
about this issue. Alston’s next report to
the UN Human Rights Council will focus
on the privacy and data protection rights
violations associated with living in ex-
treme poverty. Of course, monitoring
and surveillance affect everyone’s privacy. Above: Liam Herrick, ICCL Director tries to unravel the PSC mystery...
How do you solve a problem – fundamental, actually – human rights
including privacy, association, and ex-
like Online Content Modera- pression.
tion? We have spoken out before against
One thing’s for sure, protecting certain overly broad regulation which might
groups from harmful online content lead to censorship of legitimate forms
should not translate into totalitarian of speech. Like the BAI, we have also
state structures capable of indiscriminate made submissions to Department of
surveillance and censorship of our pri- Communications regarding best prac-
vate communications. tices for online content regulation. Unlike
Here at ICCL we were deeply alarmed the BAI, our submissions place human
by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s rights analysis at the centre. See box
proposals for internet regulation. They below for links.
included proposals to access, monitor links in this article...
and censor the private communications ICCL on potential censorship of legitimate forms of speech:
of people living in Ireland. Such proposals https://www.iccl.ie/news/iccl-submission-to-the-public-consultation-on-regulation-of-online-content/
ignore a long established body of human Submissions to Dept of Communications regarding best practices for online content regulation:
https://www.iccl.ie/privacy/iccl-submission-digital-safety-commissioner/
rights principles protecting our important
10 IRISH COUNCIL OF CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SUMMER 2018OUR WORK PROTECTING PROTEST RIGHTS
ICCL highlights violations of protest rights following national consultation
I
CCL TRAVELLED TO CORK, ENNIS Public Order Act (through
AND DUBLIN between 19 and 22 arresting protesters and
June to meet with protesters, ranging later dropping charges),
from environmental activists and anti- of garda intimidation of
war protesters to anti-eviction groups, protesters (through pho-
and activists living in Direct Provision. tography, following cars,
We had individual meetings with some harassment, and stop-
groups and we also met with represen- and-search) and of seri-
tatives of An Garda Síochána and relevant ous deficiencies in GSOC
oversight bodies. handling of complaints.
After the incident at North Frederick It’s clear to us that
St last year, where police turned up in there is a wide gap be-
balaclavas and injured protesters, we tween the stated position of the Garda Above: Liam Herrick addresses the
promised that we would develop a body and the lived experiences of many of assembled activists and protesters
of work on protest. This is the beginning these protest groups with regard to
of this piece of work. protecting the right to protest. The lack
And while we were not expecting of clear and transparent information
everything to be rosy, we were still about police policy and training, and Síochána are supportive of large protests
shocked by some of the testimony we the lack of public data about the use of taking place on the main thoroughfares
heard from protesters. We heard that legal powers and the use of force present of Ireland, when it comes to protesters
activists living in Direct Provision deal serious weaknesses in the Irish approach living on the margins of society or
with retribution up to and including the to managing protests. protesting outside of the media spotlight,
with-holding of food and benefits for The salient point for us has been the garda and state response can be
holding protests, and that housing ac- that, while the government and An Garda much more heavy-handed.
tivists arrested at evictions have been
subjected to degrading treatment. We Video
received reports of garda misuse of the View here: https://www.iccl.ie/news/iccl-national-consultation-with-protesters/
Yes, police ARE spying on online protest
Our privacy expert Elizabeth Farries launches her and privacy rights. In addition, hibited. However, he does not
global report ‘Spying on Dissent’ the way policing institutions go so far as to call for a mora-
select and deploy online sur- torium on their use.
P
ROTEST RIGHTS ARE fective oversight and control. veillance technologies often Elizabeth met with the
MAINLY UNDERSTOOD Generally, there are no avail- occurs without necessary Special Rapporteur to learn
in the context of physi- able legal avenues of re- human rights and democratic about his steps going forward.
cal gatherings. But human course. This can disrupt and safeguards. The submissions The mandate will look to
rights protections also apply preclude our freedom and contained case studies from states and NGOs like INCLO
to similar interactions taking ability to organise, gather, 13 countries and provided rec- to push the publications going
place online. Many challenges dissent and assemble. ommendations. forward and also to give feed-
to our rights to online and In March our information Mr Voule subsequently back on our reception of the
offline protest have materi- rights expert, Elizabeth Far- presented his report on op- report. Elizabeth also gave an
alised in the digital age. ries, drafted submissions on portunities and challenges oral statement to the UN
Across the world in recent policing surveillance tech and facing the rights to free- Human Rights Council on
years there has been a sharp protest for the UN Special dom of peaceful assembly the matter.
expansion of online spying Rapporteur on the rights to and of association in the dig- In June, Elizabeth
technologies used by policing freedom of expression and ital age to the UN Human launched her report
institutions to spy on protest- association, Clément Voule. Rights Council. He Spying on Dissent - Sur-
ers, their plans for protests Her report observes a worry- recommends tech- veillance Technologies
and who they associate with. ing trend: more and more, niques for the in- and Protest at a panel
These technologies are de- governments from different discriminate sur- at Rightscon – the world’s
signed or used to watch, in- jurisdictions across the world veillance of those leading summit on hu-
tercept, record, retain, analyse are using digital or online exercising their right man rights in the digital
and disseminate personal data surveillance technologies to peaceful assembly age. Our colleagues at the
about protesters – often with- against protesters and social and association, in Kenyan Human Rights Com-
out our knowledge or our con- movements, affecting the both physical and dig- mission captured the event
sent and without real and ef- whole range of protest rights ital spaces, should be pro- in a live tweet session.
IRISH COUNCIL OF CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SUMMER 2018 11ICCL in the media
ICCL stands up to Trump!
YOU MAY HAVE SEEN OUR MINI-CAM-
PAIGN AGAINST TRUMP when he visited
us lately? We thought it would be a
good opportunity to raise awareness of
our work amongst people who are
opposed to his vile policies but perhaps
not aware of ICCL and our long-standing
work on those issues in Ireland.
Trump represents everything we op-
pose. His policies are a direct attack on
human rights, both in the USA and in
WE MADE HEADLINES IN MAY when the international sphere. His withdrawal
we objected to the first ever banning of from the UN Human Rights Council,
a person from Ireland. Pastor Steven his denial of climate change, and his
Anderson is a holocaust denier, a refusal to co-operate with international
homophobe, a racist and all-round human rights bodies endangers all of
abominable person. our fundamental rights.
However, we objected to the lack of Our sister organisation in the States,
transparency that the Department of the ACLU, very kindly bought us some
Justice showed in banning him from ad space in the Sunday Independent
entering the country. Who else would the Sunday before the visit. Then our
be banned, we wondered, and why? partners at INCLO bought space in the
Irish Times the day he touched down.
ICCL lined out at both the Shannon
and the Dublin protests. We marched
Donate to ICCL in solidarity with women, with the LGBTQ e advertisement that appeared in
To donate to ICCL go to: community, with people of colour and the Sunday Independent prior to
https://www.iccl.ie/donate with all those Trump wishes to silence. Trump’s visit
And now that he’s gone, we’re still here,
still marching for rights!
Join ICCL
To become a member of ICCL go to:
https://www.iccl.ie/join
Come and see us at our new offices at
Unit 11, First Floor, 34, Usher's Quay,
Dublin 8
Funders
ICCL would like to thank our funders and
supporters who make our work possible:
Sigrid Rausing Trust
The Open Society Foundation
The Community Foundation Ireland
The Irish Human Rights and Equality
Commission
The European Commission
The Friends of ICCL Join ICCL members in the fight for reproductive justice!
ICCL’s Members Become a member today: https://www.iccl.ie/join
design: www.thedrawingboard.ie
CONTACT ICCL
Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Phone: +353-1-9121640
Unit 11, First Floor, 34, Usher's Email: info@iccl.ie
Quay, Dublin 8 www.iccl.ie
12 IRISH COUNCIL FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES – RIGHTS NEWS – SPRING/SUMMER 2019You can also read
