Presentation Sisters Justice Desk for Ireland and England

Every 5 years every country in the world is assessed by peer countries on their Human Rights record. This process is known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Ireland is up for review in November 2021 at the UN in Geneva and importantly there is room for Civil Society to make their own submission.

Last October 2020 Brian O’Toole availed of the opportunity to undertake some Human Rights training with Edmund Rice International (ERI) and it was here that he was prompted to think that perhaps we should make a submission. Brian had learned that any submission is strengthened when it becomes part of a coalition submission, and he therefore contacted both Christian Brothers Ireland and the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles (OLA Ireland) and together we prepared a technical submission that would look at three particular topics:

1. Human Trafficking in Ireland
2. Migrants & Refugees in Ireland
3. Domestic and Gender Based Violence.

In March of 2021 we made our submission and this was supported by over 22 other NGOs who agreed to co-sign the submission.

The High-level Political Forum (HLPF), the UN central platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals is taking place from July 6th—15th 2021.

The theme will be “Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that promotes the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development: building an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development”.

The Forum will discuss SDGoals: 1–No to Poverty; 2—Zero Hunger, 3—Good Health & Well-being; 8—Decent work & economic growth; 10—Reduced Inequalities; 12—Responsible Consump-tion & Production; 13—Climate Action; 16—Peace, Justice & Strong institutions & 17—Partnerships in depth.

The Forum will also consider the integrated, indivisible and interlinked nature of the SDGs.

The  Countries in the International Presentation Association (IPA ) who are presenting their Voluntary National Reviews are Bolivia and Guatemala.

An overarching International Presentation Association (IPA) commitment is to work to implement the SDGs at home and abroad and therefore we will look to see what other countries have prepared for their Voluntary National Reviews.
There will be a report in greater detail on the HLPF in July. See other info.  High-Level Political Forum 2021 (HLPF 2021) .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (un.org)

Ireland and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

The UPR is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States.  This is essentially a peer review that occurs for each country about every 5 years and Ireland is up for review this year. Ireland must declare how it has improved the human rights situation at home and the UPR will assess the extent to which Ireland respects its human rights obligations as set out in the UN instruments.

Any individual or indeed group can make a submission to the Irish UPR and the due date is March 18th of 2021. At the Interprovincial Justice Desk, we sought out like minded partners who might come together with us to strengthen the message submitted by a joint submitting group. This group now comprises of; Edmund Rice International, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles (OLA Ireland) and the International Presentation Association (IPA). Our submission will only take account of the areas of focus of our respective congregations and thus in our submission we are commenting (and recommending) on Direct Provision, Migrant Citizenship, Migrant Integration, Human Trafficking in Ireland and Violence against Women.

Our final submission will be sent to other NGOs and services in Ireland (prior to formal submission) to review, comment, add to or subtract from and to ensure that our submission is on point, takes account of the primary issues and suggests likely and possible recommendations.

It is hoped too that they might co-sign the final document again strengthening the possibility of having some of our joint recommendations adopted. Ireland is one of up to 45 countries up for review this coming November and we will watch and wait in anticipation of a promising, forward thinking, inclusive and informed national outcome document by years’ end.

Brian O’ Toole
At the Interprovincial Justice Desk

Download Information  Document Information about UPR for Ireland – Joint Submission March 2021

The UPR assesses the extent to which States respect their human rights obligations set out in:

• the UN Charter
• the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• human rights instruments to which the State is party (human rights treaties ratified by the State concerned)
• voluntary pledges and commitments made by the State (e.g. national human rights policies and/or programmes implemented), and
• applicable international humanitarian law.

Read the Commission’s report to the UN HRC: IHREC Submission to the Human Rights Commission under the Universal Periodic Review for Ireland, September 2015

Just some of  the issues exercising peoples minds at the moment include:

• Homelessness
• Housing / Rent / Housing Lists
• Health
• Climate Change / Climate Emergency
• National Childcare Scheme.
• Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Biodiversity Emergency.
• Direct Provision and treatment of Refugees / Asylum Seekers.
• Child and Adult Mental Heath Services (CAMHS). Poorly Funded and uneven spread of services throughout the country.
• School Secretaries (two tier group).
• People forced onto Means- Tested Job Seekers at 65 years of age when forced to retire (as per company policy) whilst their State Pension won’t kick in until they become 67 years of age.
• Rural Broadband.
• Public Transport.
• Abolition of the Universal Social Charge.
• Moving Towards 0.7% of GNI Overseas Development Aid (ODA).
• Allowing for homes to sell electricity generated by their own solar panels back to the grid (Micro-Generation).