PRESS RELEASE—For Immediate Release, 22-04-2011
Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) makes submission to the United Nations
Committee Against Torture
Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), the survivor advocacy group, has made a
formal submission to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. The
Committee Against Torture is due to examine Ireland for the first time
on the extent to which it is meeting its human rights obligations to
prevent torture, other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment on 23rd and 24th May 2011.
JFM’s submission draws attention to Ireland’s legal duties under the
Convention Against Torture to promptly and impartially investigate
allegations of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and to
ensure redress for the victims of such treatment.
Maeve O’Rourke (Harvard LL.M.), author of JFM’s submission and Harvard
Law School 2010 Global Human Rights Fellow, said: “The Irish
government will be given the opportunity to respond to the issues
raised by civil society organisations such as JFM in its dialogue with
the UN Committee against Torture. This international process offers
the chance for Ireland to show the world that it is serious about
putting right the mistakes of its past and ensuring a better and more
equal future for all, including those who were so unjustly treated by
the State in decades gone by.”
The submission highlights the continuing degrading treatment that the
women who spent time in Magdalene Laundries are suffering today
because of the government’s ongoing failure to apologise, investigate
and compensate for the abuse.
For almost two years JFM has worked with various government
departments advocating for survivors’ needs. The women do not receive
a pension for the compulsory yet unpaid work they were forced to
endure. They do not receive healthcare or education to assist them in
overcoming the physical and psychological effects of abuse suffered in
the laundries. There is a dearth of personal records. The women
continue to feel constrained and silenced by a deep sense of stigma
and shame. Church and State, both, need to acknowledge that these
survivors of institutional abuse were not at fault, but instead had a
grave injustice perpetrated upon them.
Councillor Sally Mulready, Chair of the Irish Women’s Support Network,
London, and Member of JFM’s Advisory Committee, states, “The women
were deprived of their liberty, and forced into a form of penal and
religious servitude. Compelled to work in the harshest of conditions,
they never knew if they would ever again see the outside world again.”
Professor James Smith (Boston College), Member of JFM’s Advisory
Committee, added, “we have waited nearly six months for the
government’s response to the Irish Human Rights Commission’s
unambiguous recommendation to initiate a statutory inquiry on this
issue. We also recently submitted a revised “Restorative Justice and
Reparations Scheme” and offered to meet with the Minister for Justice
to discuss a pathway forward. Simply put, some of these women may not
have another six months to wait. The time for action is now!”
JFM also recently made a submission to the United Nations Universal
Periodic Review, as part of the Twelfth Session of the Working Group
on the UPR Human Rights Council due in October 2011.
[ENDS]
Contact Details:
Claire McGettrick [PRO], 353-(0)86-3659516, clairemcgettrick@gmail.com
Mari Steed, (00)1-215-589-9329, mari_tee@yahoo.com
James M. Smith, (00)1-617-552-1596, smithbt@bc.edu
Maeve O’Rourke, (00) 44 74 0330 1781, maeveorourke@gmail.com
Had the employers of these women been any other than nuns and priests all of them would have been in prison. thay made lots of money from all the years that thay were encouraged by the state to turn these ladies into slaves. its about time this really stoped. and that will be when thier human dignity is returned to them.that thay have to fight for this is downright shamefull.