Human rights experts blast cutbacks 'scandal'
Tuesday April 07 2009
A SENIOR United Nations official yesterday branded the Government's decision to slash the budgets of the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission as "nothing short of a scandal".
Prof Michael O'Flaherty, a member of the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), said the 43pc budget cut to the Equality Authority, which prompted the resignation of chief executive Niall Crowley and six other board members, was "beyond belief" and disproportionate.
He also described the decision to cut the budget of the Irish Human Rights Commission by 23pc as a scandal.
And Judge Elisabeth Palm, the vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights, said that the cuts were "hugely disappointing".
Such high-level condemnation of the cuts, coming from an internationally renowned Irish expert and a senior European judge, will embarrass the Government. Prof O'Flaherty, who was elected to the UNHRC in 2004, was forced to excuse himself from a periodic examination of Ireland's rights record when government officials appeared before the international body in Geneva last year.
Challenges
But he spoke out yesterday at a conference hosted by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Irish Penal Reform Trust and the Free Legal Advice Centres which explored human rights challenges in 'post-Tiger Ireland'.
Judge Palm, who left the committee last year after the review of Ireland's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, said the cuts to the Equality Authority were disappointing as the Government had highlighted the agency's work when it appeared before the committee in July 2008.
The cuts came soon after that appearance, noted the judge, who added that the committee systematically follows up on areas of concern.
Ireland must report back to the committee in a matter of months.
- Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor
