30 October 1997 Edition
US committee slams British human rights record
by Laura Friel and Paddy Newell in USA
``Illegal, unjust and inhumane'', were the words chosen by US Congressman Christopher Smith to describe the British government's record in the North of Ireland. Smith, recently returned from a fact finding tour of the Six Counties, blasted the British government, the RUC and the Diplock Court system for failing to guarantee the equal protection of rights to both the Portestant and Catholic communities.
Chairing a Congressional hearing on the issue of human right abuses in the Six Counties, Congressman Smith listened to expert testimony from representatives of five leading international human rights groups, including Amnesty International, the Six county based Committee on the Administration of Justice and British Irish Rights Watch. ``When a government or its officials resort to methods that are illegal, unjust or inhumane,''said Smith, ``the effect is not to preserve law and order but to undermine it.''
Reporting on his five day fact finding tour, Congressman Smith described his reception at Castlereagh interrogation centre as a poor attempt at ``window dressing.'' Directing his sharpest criticism at RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan and Diplock Judge Robert Carswell, Smith accused both men of hostile and dismissive behaviour. The Congressman said his exchanges with Flanagan and Carswell were ``the most disappointing sessons'' of his visit.
Also attending the hearing were Congressman Benjamin Gilman, Chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, Congressman Peter King and Richard Neal from New York. Accusing the British government with ``misuse of rule'' and ``human right abuses'' Congressman King identified the criminal justice system in the Six counties as sectarian, ``favourable to the unionists and not fair to nationalists''. Congressman Gilman described the history of the Six counties as ``littered with failed attempts that didn't address the issue of human rights and the need for parity of esteem.'' The hearing identified human rights as ``central'' to the current peace process.
``Illegal, unjust and inhumane'', were the words chosen by US Congressman Christopher Smith to describe the British government's record in the North of Ireland. Smith, recently returned from a fact finding tour of the Six Counties, blasted the British government, the RUC and the Diplock Court system for failing to guarantee the equal protection of rights to both the Portestant and Catholic communities.
Chairing a Congressional hearing on the issue of human right abuses in the Six Counties, Congressman Smith listened to expert testimony from representatives of five leading international human rights groups, including Amnesty International, the Six county based Committee on the Administration of Justice and British Irish Rights Watch. ``When a government or its officials resort to methods that are illegal, unjust or inhumane,''said Smith, ``the effect is not to preserve law and order but to undermine it.''
Reporting on his five day fact finding tour, Congressman Smith described his reception at Castlereagh interrogation centre as a poor attempt at ``window dressing.'' Directing his sharpest criticism at RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan and Diplock Judge Robert Carswell, Smith accused both men of hostile and dismissive behaviour. The Congressman said his exchanges with Flanagan and Carswell were ``the most disappointing sessons'' of his visit.
Also attending the hearing were Congressman Benjamin Gilman, Chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, Congressman Peter King and Richard Neal from New York. Accusing the British government with ``misuse of rule'' and ``human right abuses'' Congressman King identified the criminal justice system in the Six counties as sectarian, ``favourable to the unionists and not fair to nationalists''. Congressman Gilman described the history of the Six counties as ``littered with failed attempts that didn't address the issue of human rights and the need for parity of esteem.'' The hearing identified human rights as ``central'' to the current peace process.