AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

participating in the massacre by IS fighters of
up to 1,700 Shi’a cadets at the Speicher
military training camp in June 2014, after
President Masum ratified their death
sentences. They were convicted after a trial
of only a few hours’ duration marred by
breaches of the right to a fair trial, including
the court’s failure to adequately investigate
the defendants’ allegations that their pre-trial
“confessions” were extracted under torture.
IRELAND
Republic of Ireland
Head of state: Michael D. Higgins
Head of government: Enda Kenny
Access to and information about abortion
remained severely restricted and
criminalized. Travellers’ rights to adequate
housing were violated. Concerns remained
about “direct provision” accommodation
provided to asylum-seekers.
SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In February, the UN Committee on the Rights
of the Child expressed concern that
legislation allowed abortion only where a girl’s
life is at “real and substantial risk”, and
prevented doctors from providing services in
accordance with objective medical practice.
The Committee called on Ireland to
decriminalize abortion in all circumstances
and review its legislation to ensure children’s
access to safe abortion and post-abortion
care. It also found a “severe lack of access to
sexual and reproductive health education
and emergency contraception for
adolescents”.
In June, the UN Human Rights Committee
decided in Mellet v Ireland that Ireland’s
abortion laws violated a woman’s right to be
free from inhuman or degrading treatment,
and to enjoy privacy and non-discrimination.
The complainant had to travel to the UK for
an abortion, despite a diagnosis of a fatal
fetal impairment causing her “intense
physical and mental suffering”. The
Committee found that the suffering was
exacerbated by the stigma caused by the
criminalization of abortion. On 30 November,
the government agreed to provide the
complainant, Amanda Mellet, with
compensation and counselling.
A Citizens’ Assembly, comprising 99
randomly selected members of the public
and established by the government to make
recommendations on constitutional reform,
including on abortion, held its first meetings
in October and November.
HOUSING RIGHTS
In January, the government referred the right
to housing to a parliamentary committee,
responding partially to the 2014
recommendation of the governmentestablished
Constitutional Convention.
However, it chose not to task the same
committee with examining the full
recommendation that the Constitution be
amended to incorporate economic, social
and cultural rights. This was despite the fact
that as recently as 2015 the UN Committee
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
reiterated its recommendation that the
government take all appropriate measures to
ensure the direct applicability of provisions in
the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, including through
incorporation of the Covenant in its domestic
legal order.
The shortage of state housing and private
rental accommodation contributed to
homelessness. The Committee on the Rights
of the Child expressed deep concern at
reports that homeless families experienced
significant delays in accessing social housing,
frequently living long-term in inappropriate,
temporary or emergency accommodation.
DISCRIMINATION
Travellers and Roma
In May, the European Committee of Social
Rights ruled, in European Roma Rights
Centre v Ireland, that Travellers faced a
violation of their right to social, legal and
economic protection on the grounds of
insufficient provision of accommodation, poor
conditions of many sites and inadequate
200 Amnesty International Report 2016/17