It is sometimes forgotten that every international institution is made up of people – lawyers, judges, assistants, policy makers. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is not an exception; it is built up of professional lawyers who go through extremely competitive selection procedures. The Court is careful in selecting its staff. The Court elected(…)
The legitimacy of international organisations (IO) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) created to protect human rights is often challenged by national politicians and the media. In these circumstances, such organisations have to embrace every possible opportunity to increase their legitimacy. However, there are issues that are at the core of human rights and are still not(…)
Today, the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality will hear submissions from civil society groups on the proposed Mental Capacity Bill. The organisations participating in the hearing are: Inclusion Ireland, Members of the Psychological Society of Ireland, the Alzheimers Society of Ireland, the National Institute for Intellectual Disability (Trinity College Dublin) and the Mental(…)
We are delighted to welcome this guest post from Aisling de Paor, a Ph.D candidate in the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway, and Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) scholar. Aisling is a graduate of NUI Galway (BCL) and University College Cork (LL.M). Aisling qualified as a solicitor(…)
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe last week adopted a Recommendation that seeks to increase the participation of persons with disabilities in political and public life at all levels − local, regional, national and international. The Recommendation is available here. Between 80 – 100 million persons with disabilities live in the 47 Member(…)
A legal researcher is required to prepare background materials and drafts for a Collective Complaint to the Council of Europe, European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe on aspects of housing in Ireland. The research is being arranged by a network of housing organisations that have come together including Ballymun Community Law(…)
The impending eviction of travellers from Dale Farm in Essex, delayed again but scheduled for Friday or Saturday, raises the question of whether Basildon Council’s actions will be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, as directly applied in the UK Human Rights Act 1998. There have been a number of cases involving(…)
The Centre for Disability Law and Policy recently prepared a submission to the Oireachtas Justice Committee on the Scheme of proposed legislation that will radically overhaul Irish law on legal capacity. The full submission is available here. The core message of the submission was that the fields of mental health law, non-discrimination, and legal capacity(…)
The Minister for Justice and Equality Mr Alan Shatter has announced that he is seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified members of the public to be considered for appointment as Ireland’s representative on the Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). The ECRI’s role is described as follows on the Department’s site:(…)
This week two new damning reports on Irish prisons were published: one by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Degrading Treatment (CPT) and one by the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan. Both outlining serious human rights concerns within the prison system of this country. While the focus of the Ombudsman(…)
