tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55804440841373484372024-03-19T14:04:29.440-07:00Clonakilty Human Rights GroupFastnethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05929333288993052608noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-89739406577612272092012-11-01T09:31:00.000-07:002012-11-04T02:13:17.604-08:00Why won't the Irish Government help Mark and Julie?Emigration is breaking many hearts as we wave off friends, lovers, neighbours and family. Fortunately we can take comfort that they will be welcomed and treated well where they land. A pity that courtesy is not always being extended to incomers to Ireland by our own government. Mark Marku, an Albanian from Crete, came to Ireland in 2009 as husband of Irish woman Julie from Carlow. They have lived and worked here since, until Mark was wrongfully arrested for a series of robberies while on a short return visit to Crete in late 2010. He is now in prison in Crete protesting his innocence.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fsLSL617s7s/UJASnBA6WkI/AAAAAAAAEtg/_tkmCWDgZmc/s1600/mark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fsLSL617s7s/UJASnBA6WkI/AAAAAAAAEtg/_tkmCWDgZmc/s400/mark.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Fortunately Mark has several cast iron alibis for the days on which the crimes he is charged with were committed. Better still, the alibis have the authority of his employers, (the luxury Wolseley Hotel in Carlow), the Irish state carrier Aer Lingus and the Irish Department of Social Protection itself. The evidence is there, but the Greek judges are reluctant to accept the facts without signed affidavits.
Mark was flying with Aer Lingus at the time of one robbery, for example.<br />
<br />
Who says so? His online booking record, the ticket itself and
the stamp on his passport confirm so. But the judge wants Aer Lingus to
provide the flight manifest before he will accept it. The judge, in what has been described as a show trial typical of Greek treatment of some of its Albanian citizens,
has also claimed that official Irish documents presented as evidence are 'forgeries'.<br />
<br />
So Mark needs a series of sworn affidavits from his employer, Aer Lingus and the Government to confirm that he was variously working a shift, flying on a plane and signing official documents at the time of the robberies. That would be a major step to securing justice and his release from prison. <br />
<br />
<b>Backed by all political parties</b><br />
<br />
Good news too that Irish citizen Julie's request for those affidavits on Mark's behalf is backed by several MEPs, TDs from all parties, Fair Trials International and the Irish Embassy. So what's the problem? After all, when the MacAreavy and Harte families of Northern Ireland were having trouble with the Mauritian system the Taosieach Enda Kenny <a href="http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/20627984/" target="_blank">swung into action</a> stating that when "there are issues of fundamental human rights...on behalf of the people of Ireland, the Government will be lodging a
formal complaint in the strongest possible terms, with the government of
Mauritius."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FsJMe3MAWK0/UJATK-Vm4SI/AAAAAAAAEto/IarXaeFMUvY/s1600/egilmore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="398" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FsJMe3MAWK0/UJATK-Vm4SI/AAAAAAAAEto/IarXaeFMUvY/s400/egilmore.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>So what's the problem?</b><br />
<br />
Mark, married into an Irish family, a contributor to our economy, a permanent
resident and entitled to Irish citizenship has had no such consideration. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore holds the key. As above, all parties including
government TDs and ministers have raised this issue with him directly. Yet
Julie - after a six month wait - is still awaiting a reply to her request for a
meeting with the Oireachtas Committee for Foreign Affairs. Just two weeks ago
that committee responded at last simply by referring the matter to the Albanian Embassy
in London, whose office has so far failed even to acknowledge any appeals on
Mark's behalf. And the Tánaiste has written to say again that he will not act because Mark is "not an Irish citizen" and that "it would be inappropriate to raise our concerns with the Greek government". He had no such scruples telling the <a href="http://www.dfa.ie/uploads/documents/New%20York%20PM/statement%20at%20the%20united%20nations%20general%20assembly%2067th%20session.pdf" target="_blank">United Nations this September that</a> "we must speak for those who look to us here for the vindication of their basic human rights, who believe in the words of our charter and expect us to act on them". <br />
<br />
<b>Public support needed</b><br />
<br />
Julie and Mark's best hope now is support from the public. Her requests are straight forward. She simply wants Mark's evidence authenticated. She would like the Tanaiste "to raise our concerns about the
malpractices and miscarriage of justice that our families have been
subjected to for over two years now, and in particular question how a
Greek court can dismiss Irish legal and state documents as forgeries
without investigation". And she would like an independent official to witness the upcoming appeal so that it is conducted within the law.<br />
<br />
To do this she needs your support. Follow <a href="http://www.justiceformarkandandreas.com/" target="_blank">this link to read more</a> about Mark and Julie's story, and <a href="http://www.justiceformarkandandreas.com/support-the-campaign/petition/" target="_blank">click here to sign their petition for justice.</a> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-62069870121357555902012-10-18T10:02:00.001-07:002012-10-18T13:04:04.613-07:00March for Justice for Mark and Andreas Saturday 20th October"Mark and Andreas are two young Albanian brothers who have been
wrongly condemned by failures in the Cretan justice system to 18 years
imprisonment. Their nightmare began in September 2010 by simply being in
the wrong place at the wrong time, and as a result, they have spent the
past 18 months incarcerated in Neapoli Prison in Crete, Greece.<br />
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<br />
In January 2012 the two men were convicted of ten armed robberies,
the theft of 12 cars and being a member of an armed criminal gang
despite the lack of any evidence whatsoever and on the contrary
substantial evidence and alibis to prove they could not have been
involved in any of the crimes. Even official documentation to prove Mark
was in Ireland when the majority of these crimes took place. Mark is
the husband of an Irish Citizen and had permanent residency in Ireland.<br />
<br />
The trial has been described as a “trial of purpose” to restore faith
in the abilities of the Greek police and authorities. Without any
intervention from the Albanian, Irish or EU authorities, the actions of
the court have gone unquestioned or unchallenged publicly…. UNTIL NOW…<br />
<br />
Please visit the rest of the support website at <a href="http://www.justiceformarkandandreas.com/" target="_blank">Justice for Mark and Andreas</a> and subscribe to their blog to find
out about the injustices that have occurred to just two young men and
their families who until now have been powerless to speak out about a
system and culture in which racism is a part of daily life".<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Update and details of the March from Julie Marku</span></b><br />
<br />
"Hi Everyone<br />
<br />
Thank you for taking the time to sign our petition , I am glad to inform you that our on-line petition has reached 1013 signatures altogether. The written petitions are almost at 2000 signatures. We plan to present the petition along with a letter signed by nearly 50 political figures to the Greek Ambassador next Thursday, who will send them to the Prime Minister of Greece and the Greek Minister for Justice.<br />
<br />
We are also planning a protest march, <b>MARCH FOR JUSTICE, on Saturday the 20th October @ 12 noon, </b>starting at Leinster House on Kildare street, taking in the Department of Foreign Affairs at Stephen's Green and on towards the Greek Embassy. We want to highlight the grave miscarriage of <br />
justice by the Greek Justice System and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs lack of interest and support for our fight. It has been far too easy for them to dismiss us on the ground's my husband is not an Irish citizen. WE WANT TO STOP THIS.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LFi41yKptT0/UIBgSI9GrLI/AAAAAAAAEjU/lx8xrJXbK5s/s1600/julie+embassy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LFi41yKptT0/UIBgSI9GrLI/AAAAAAAAEjU/lx8xrJXbK5s/s400/julie+embassy.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julie Marku and Paul Murphy outside the Greek Embassy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We are requesting your presence at our march, we are desperate for as many people and voices there to make our campaign BIGGER & LOUDER.<br />
<br />
We desperately need people to physically get behind our campaign and use their voices for Mark and Andreas.<br />
<br />
If you know either of the boys, you will know they would have done anything for anybody, so I am asking you to give a few hours of your time to do the same for them in their hour (or years) of need.<br />
<br />
You may already know that we received notice of our appeal date, the 19th January 2013, so we only have three months to make the Greek courts. <b>Please please show your support and come along on the day, its only a couple of hours and it really could make all the difference. </b><br />
<br />
I hope to see you all there"<br />
<br />
Julie Marku<br />
A very desperate wife<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.justiceformarkandandreas.com/support-the-campaign/petition/" target="_blank">Sign the petition here </a></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-45115215390854287202012-09-01T09:05:00.000-07:002012-11-13T08:02:27.251-08:00Is Amnesty International abandoning human rights?<h3>
Why this is no longer the Clonakilty Amnesty Group Blog</h3>
<br />
The internationally renowned journalist, Greg Palast offers the following advice in his 1999 book "<i>The Best Democracy Money Can Buy</i>" - "if you are a member of Amnesty International, quit". Mr. Palast's <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/amnesty-loses-face/">brush with Amnesty was in a court case</a> in which he was sued after quoting Amnesty research containing allegations against the multinational mining company, Barrick. Amnesty refused to verify their own research in court. As Palast says, "Amnesty wants journalists to report their material. I would say to any journalist that they would be completely, utterly and absolutely insane to ever cite Amnesty again."<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/1620121" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="400"></iframe><br />
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<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Failure to prioritise human rights</h3>
Why do increasing numbers of people believe that Amnesty has abandoned the cause of human rights? <a href="http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=4573" target="_blank">As Francis Boyle, ex board member of Amnesty International USA - and renowned expert in international law puts i</a>t:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Amnesty International is primarily motivated not by human rights but by publicity. Second comes money... To be sure, if you are dealing with a human rights situation in a country that is at odds with the United States or Britain, it gets an awful lot of attention... But if it's dealing with violations of human rights by the United States, Britain, Israel, then it's like pulling teeth to get them to really do something on the situation".</blockquote>
<h3>
Moral flatulence</h3>
That was in 2001. A neater solution to this problem has been found by Amnesty since - to issue very little meaningful data at all. Issues from the entire region of the Middle East and North Africa are now channeled through a single Amnesty office, MENA. As its UK director describes it "I should say a little about the campaign I manage here - Crisis & Transition in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). I<a href="http://www2.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/campaigns/amnestys-mena-campaign-short-introduction">t’s fair to say it is an ambitious, labyrinthine and long term campaign </a>but when I am asked what it is really about I say “Solidarity with people peacefully demanding change”. <br />
<br />
All of which means, well, nothing really. When asked recently why Amnesty International Ireland (AII) had failed to issue any briefings over the past year about a supposedly priority campaign for Zimbabwe, the answer was that the whole organisation was 'still in transition'. In transition to what, exactly? And from what? Meanwhile MENA, originally a military campaign term, serves to bury the vast scale of human rights abuses in Palestine by losing them in a stream of information about a region that includes 523 million people and 6% of the world's population.<br />
<br />
As ex Amnesty supporter <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/10/31/amnesty-international-and-israel/">Paul De Rooij writes in CounterPunch</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Reading AI’s reports doesn’t reveal why there is a conflict in the area in the first place.... The portrayal of violence is stripped of its context, and historical references are minimal.... The fact that Palestinians have endured occupation, expulsion, and dispossession for many decades, the explanation of why the conflict persists, is nowhere highlighted in its reports". </blockquote>
He concludes, "today, most AI pronouncements range between <a href="http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=9291">moral flatulence and moral fraudulence</a>".<br />
<br />
<h3>
Lack of transparency </h3>
You would think that transparency would be a cornerstone of a human rights campaign group. However, Amnesty International Ireland has still failed, even after a resolution calling for openness at its 2011 AGM, to publish its staff salaries. The approximately 20 local groups are sending no more than a few thousand euro each to AII annually, and membership subscription internationally is falling after the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358537/Revealed-Amnesty-Internationals-800-000-pay-offs-bosses.html" target="_blank">scandal over the expensive and unexplained sacking </a>of two of Amnesty's senior staff in 2009. When asked by members of the Clonakilty group recently a representative of AII was unable to explain what its sources of funding are, how much they receive and on what it is spent.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nWp3uDKxAA8/UEIxhK7qbWI/AAAAAAAADnc/dWWNih5wEmU/s1600/amnesty_khan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nWp3uDKxAA8/UEIxhK7qbWI/AAAAAAAADnc/dWWNih5wEmU/s400/amnesty_khan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Irene Khan, ex Secretary General of Amnesty International</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Meanwhile AII is running a Mental Health Campaign part funded by Atlantic Philanthropies that bears an uncanny resemblance to the government's rationale for its attempts to reduce services and cut funding. AII threw itself behind government closures of allegedly failing residential centres in the claimed expectation that "care in the community" was a more humane policy. Investing in improving the much needed centres was off the agenda. As was expected by many who depend on them, closures of residential services have gone ahead speedily and efficiently while the corresponding funds for care in the community have not only failed to materialise but existing funding has now been drastically cut.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Do nothing</h3>
The popular Amnesty saying "The only thing necessary for the persistence of evil is for enough good people to do nothing" turns out to be not a warning but an instruction. AII claims that its members "set our agenda,....have the opportunity to take action against human rights abuses and ...will be informed of our campaigns". The experience of this ex-member does not bear this out. In a cull of staff apparently necessitated by a failed and expensive property investment, the people who used to update the website at AII were 'lost'. Faced with a lack of information about rights issues in Zimbabwe from AII on what it claimed was a campaign priority - and after numerous requests, a local branch member eventually did some research on the situation and presented news items and press reports to the group. Unapologetic about the lack of information, a visiting, paid AII staff member nevertheless told him that in no circumstances should he do such a thing again. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Censorship</h3>
The same AII person was also critical of an article on the Clonakilty group blog that <a href="http://www.clonamnesty.com/2012/04/urgent-mental-health-care-staffing.html" target="_blank">campaigned for the employment of more mental health nurses</a>. The month before one of her Dublin colleagues went further and demanded that the group take down a <a href="http://www.clonamnesty.com/2012/06/world-refugee-day-deportations.html" target="_blank">blog post about violently enforced deportations in Ireland</a>. The information published about human rights abuses was verified by eye-witnesses and lawyers, and sources were quoted. An attempt by AII to censor the blog on grounds of inaccuracy therefore failed. A second attempt to censor it came by email from Dublin:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I appreciate the article appeared because of a genuine, compassionate concern about the issue of refugee deportations and this particular incident, but despite the positive intent it is still something we need changed. If the group is ever concerned [that] AI should be taking a position, please feel free to contact us directly and we can advise on what we're doing and what can be said, if anything.....However, in the short term, I would ask you ... to ensure this post is deleted as soon as possible".</blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
Reversing Policy</h3>
The last straw for this member of the Clonakilty group was when a day set aside for discussion by its members was effectively hijacked by a representative from Dublin. The intention had been to define a shared direction for the group that reflected each person's commitment to human rights. The rep, invited to the meeting for reasons this author is unsure of, substantially derailed the original agenda and was emphatic that local groups were only allowed to pursue human rights issues decreed and defined by Dublin, even when no information from Dublin was forthcoming. Apparently, the only autonomy local groups have left is for fund raising. If true, this reverses the previous, democratic policy of AII which respected the autonomy of its individual groups and their right to challenge any human rights abuses that came to their attention. A rights campaigner who visited Amnesty in Dublin a few years ago was told that the national organisation would be happy to recommend the campaign in question but that Dublin did not have the authority to direct groups about which issues they should support, it was up to the individual groups to decide themselves. Is this reversal of policy indicative of where 'transition' is leading the organisation? <br />
<br />
In Ireland there is also atrociously poor communication from Dublin. Emails and phone calls go unanswered, receipts have not been issued and undertakings given are delayed or not met at all. The Clonakilty meeting became quite heated when answers to questions about transparency, funding and the setting of campaign priorities in Dublin were not forthcoming. One member said he had protested the lack of information about salaries paid to staff in Dublin by not paying his subscription. He was told he had no right to speak for Amnesty in that case. There was an awkward moment when other members confided that they hadn't paid their subscriptions either. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Falling Membership</h3>
Amnesty International Ireland claim their membership is growing, against the international trend. If so, this would not be representative of the Clonakilty group. For a long while it has been the most active Amnesty group in Ireland and was commended at the national AGM in April for its contribution. Nevertheless there have been four resignations in the last year while a number of other members have simply stopped attending. <br />
<br />
The curtailment of free and open discussion among members, coupled with Amnesty's frequent dissembling in the face of human rights abuses that warrant its unreserved condemnation, has resulted in the organisation hemorrhaging members, many of us convinced that it is now most of the way to becoming an agent of the very thing it purports to challenge.<br />
<br />
The most worrying aspect of what is happening is that Amnesty's priorities are now transparently synchronous with US foreign policy - noticeably so in parts of the world like Syria and Iran where public opinion is being softened up for an acceptance of a 'justification' for more invasion, occupation and appropriation. Local groups are now being carefully controlled to stay on a centrally dictated message.<br />
<br />
Where is this leading? As Amnesty puts it itself "The denial of the right to freedom of expression goes hand in hand with violations of other rights".<br />
<br />
Bev Cotton <br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-65329331931563747222012-08-12T07:54:00.001-07:002012-08-12T07:56:01.925-07:00Israel fails the civil rights and democracy testTo a standing ovation Mitt Romney <a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/mitt-romney-israel-speech/2012/07/29/romney-gets-standing-ovation-israel" target="_blank">addressed the Jerusalem foundation</a> with a stirring endorsement of the state of Israel. "This nation has come to take its place among the most impressive
democracies on earth. Israel’s achievements are a wonder of the modern
world".<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yGEoVDAAOf0/UCe1a6gkXzI/AAAAAAAADWU/55HKNxlUYJ0/s1600/haneen+side.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yGEoVDAAOf0/UCe1a6gkXzI/AAAAAAAADWU/55HKNxlUYJ0/s400/haneen+side.jpg" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haneen Zoabi in Cork</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A wonder for the Palestinian Arabs who live there? Not according to the facts. Haneen Zoabi, an Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, told the The Irish Times that
Israel had “a deliberate policy to exclude us (Palestinian Arabs) from
the Israeli economy. They want to make us a poor and dependent
minority.”<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Apartheid in Israel </b></span><br />
The results are clear. Addressing audiences in Belfast, Dublin and Cork on a recent tour of Ireland Ms Zoabi revealed that while Palestinians make up approximately 18
per cent of the Israeli population, just 7.9 per cent of students at
universities are Palestinian, only 7.6 per cent of government employees are Palestinian as are just 2 per cent of employees in the
public sector and 1 per cent in the private sector. Most Palestinian women graduates in Israel are also unemployed, she said.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile over 1,000 Israeli only villages exist in the state, while 700,000 Palestinians live in villages and towns not officially on the map, and therefore not entitled to state services. The parallels with apartheid in South Africa were not lost on the audience. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P8UfXbeKsg8/UCe1eiAi6JI/AAAAAAAADWc/CGgwjblrmYo/s1600/haneen+zoabi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P8UfXbeKsg8/UCe1eiAi6JI/AAAAAAAADWc/CGgwjblrmYo/s400/haneen+zoabi.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Murder is ethical, delivering aid is not</b></span><br />
The democratic right to travel and to speak was also denied Ms Zoabi by Israel as a result of her participation in the aid convoy to Gaza in 2010. As the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-suspends-mp-for-opposing-gaza-blockade-2315912.html" target="_blank">UK Independent described it</a>, "Israeli commandoes mounted a deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara,
the lead ship of a Gaza-bound aid convoy, that left nine Turkish
activists dead, provoking international outrage and badly damaging
Israel's relations with Turkey, its erstwhile ally". As a passenger on that ship, Ms Zoabi was terrified and <a href="http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2010-06-09/democracy-now-interviews-haneen-zoabi-video/" target="_blank">witnessed the death by bleeding of several of the wounded</a> while troops refused her request for first aid.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless it was Ms. Zoabi who was afterwards censured by the Knesset, not the army. Her diplomatic passport was removed, as was her right to speak at debates. As r<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=229830" target="_blank">eported in the Jerusalem Post</a> “Participating in the flotilla ...is an action that harms the state’s security and is illegitimate for a
Knesset member”. It was therefore "punishing Zoabi for two
ethics violations by forbidding her to participate in any plenum or committee
discussions until the end of the summer session. She
may enter meetings only to vote". <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Israel responds to Ms Zoabi's tour of Ireland</b></span><br />
Israel's response to Ms Zoabi's tour was characteristically aggressive. At the meeting in Cork an Israeli calling himself "John" ostentatiously filmed and repeatedly disrupted the presentation. When he was asked to respect the process of the evening he chose to leave.<br />
<br />
In the Irish Times the Israeli ambassador to Ireland took what she called the "unusual" step for an embassy to "comment on political views expressed by a
parliamentarian of its state". The reason was that when, as Ms Zoabi had apparently done, an MK stepped "outside the democratic consensus" by "travelling on the Mavi Mamara" her views
became "a legitimate object of criticism".<br />
<br />
The ambassador is no stranger to "unusual" steps though. As <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israels-dublin-embassy-planned-smear-palestine-activists-sexual-deviants-and" target="_blank">reported in the electronic intifada</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="media-image" height="442" width="620">
<div class="file file-image file-image-jpeg" id="file-21466">
<div class="content">
"Israel’s deputy ambassador in Dublin proposed to her superiors a plan
to personally smear Palestine solidarity activists – especially
Israelis – to “humiliate and shame them” as suffering from psychological
and sexual problems and imply that they work for Israel’s spy agency
Mossad".</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Ambassador Tinari Modai concludes in her letter to <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2012/0810/1224321894143.html" target="_blank">the Irish Times </a>that "There is no reason why a Jewish state...should be, as Ms
Zoabi claims ... necessarily incompatible with
full civil rights for its resident national, ethnic and religious
minorities". No reason at all. It just happens that it is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-47004201966964181872012-07-12T05:05:00.001-07:002012-07-17T07:00:24.334-07:00Why does Ireland not boycott Israeli goods?The inhumanity and injustice of Israeli actions against the Palestinian people is not in doubt. Private Secretary to the Tánaiste Mary Connery wrote in a letter of July 2012 to a member of Clonakilty Amnesty Group that 'The Tánaiste has asked me to assure you that he is at all times deeply conscious of the many and varied injustices visited upon Palestinians".<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kDU986ao9jo/T_7ocUiUbpI/AAAAAAAAC5U/-tK6jM_KE8c/s1600/settlers+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kDU986ao9jo/T_7ocUiUbpI/AAAAAAAAC5U/-tK6jM_KE8c/s400/settlers+shot.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Palestinian Settlers shot at by Israeli gunmen May 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The <a href="http://www.ipsc.ie/campaigns/consumer-boycott" target="_blank">Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC)</a> gives the details. "Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have noted that
over 4,000 Palestinians, most of them unarmed civilians and including
some 900 children, have been killed by Israeli forces in
disproportionate attacks, targeted assassinations, and shelling and
shooting into densely populated residential areas throughout the
occupied Palestinian territories in the past 6 years. Israeli forces
have destroyed thousands of Palestinian homes, vast areas of cultivated
land and much crucial civilian infrastructure, including electricity
power plants, roads, bridges and water, sewage and telephone networks".<br />
<br />
Ireland's government is convinced though that while it "would support action at EU level to exclude produce originating in the settlements ...the Government does not advocate a policy of boycotts or trade sanctions against Israel itself " with the argument that this "would only lessen the weight carried by our views, both in Israel where we seek to persuade, and among our European partners". <br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
The argument for a Boycott </h3>
This "diplomatic" approach is not working - major injustices continue. Just a few weeks ago film was released showing Palestinians being <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18149573" target="_blank">shot at by Israeli settlers in full view of troops</a>. A boycott of Israeli goods is a peaceful and effective alternative and the historical evidence is that it works. As the IPSC writes of the South African boycott of the 1950's, "it took years, if not decades, before it became a global movement and
before churches, trade unions, and political parties became directly
involved in the struggle. But once it was initiated, this movement
helped lead eventually and inevitably to the overthrow of apartheid in
South Africa".<br />
<br />
The global campaign to boycott French company Veolia for its work in Israeli occupied territories <a href="http://www.ipsc.ie/campaigns/veolia/boycott-works" target="_blank">"Lost Contracts and legal actions" </a>is a modern example of an effective boycott that has resulted in lost contracts to the company in Ireland and, notably, the loss of a 4.5 billion dollar contract to run the subway in Sweden .<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lxrxhDwGmMY/T_66Yf1-LHI/AAAAAAAAC5A/HkCgsqOwbl8/s1600/boycott_logos.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lxrxhDwGmMY/T_66Yf1-LHI/AAAAAAAAC5A/HkCgsqOwbl8/s400/boycott_logos.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Israeli Companies to boycott</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
An Israeli Boycott is effective because the country relies strongly on exports, particularly to European markets. There is no better evidence of the importance of this than the extraordinary decision of the Israeli Government this week to make boycotts illegal. As <a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/news/freedom-expression-threatened-israel" target="_blank">Amnesty International Ireland wrote on July 12th</a> "The controversial law, passed on Monday night, makes it a civil
offence to call for an economic, cultural, or academic boycott of people
or institutions in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)
for political reasons. Anyone making such calls could face a lawsuit
and other financial penalties".<br />
<br />
<h3>
A blatant attempt to stifle peaceful dissent</h3>
The political motivation for this is clear. AII continues that "Sponsors of the bill have made it clear that one of the main aims of the law is to penalise those using boycott calls to campaign against Israel's illegal settlements in the OPT or highlight the ongoing violations of Palestinian rights caused by the settlements". The law also allows the Minister of Finance to revoke the tax-exempt
status of NGOs, which threatens the funding on
which many Israeli human rights NGOs rely.<br />
<br />
As Amnesty Ireland's Director Colm O' Gorman says "Despite claims to the contrary, this law is a blatant attempt to stifle peaceful dissent and campaigning by attacking the right to freedom of expression, which all governments must uphold."<br />
<br />
<h3>
Join a boycott of Israeli goods</h3>
<div id="pet_descrip" style="word-wrap: break-word;">
Amnesty International does not actually support boycotts, and the Irish government continues to argue for EU level agreement before action can be taken. While we wait for action at that level we can individually and effectively join the growing boycott of Israeli goods ourselves. There is full <a href="http://www.ipsc.ie/campaigns/consumer-boycott" target="_blank">information on the IPSC website</a> about which goods to avoid and an up to date analysis of the Israel/Palestine issue. </div>
<div id="pet_descrip" style="word-wrap: break-word;">
<br /></div>
<div id="pet_descrip" style="word-wrap: break-word;">
You can also sign a pledge <a href="http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bdspledge/">to boycott with BDS here </a>- the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign called for by 170-plus Palestinian civil society institutions. The pledge commits people to "support the ...campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against the state of Israel ....and to ending its occupation and colonisation of all Palestinian lands, recognising the fundamental rights of the Palestinian-Arab citizens of Israel to full equality; and respecting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194".</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-43263099839045064612012-06-21T07:28:00.002-07:002012-06-23T05:26:36.860-07:00World Refugee Day Deportations<b>World refugee crisis</b><br />
As Sophie Magennis, head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees Ireland <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0620/1224318256673.html">writes in the Irish Times</a>, "2011 was a record year for forced displacement across borders, with more people becoming refugees than at any time since 2000. A major humanitarian crisis in late 2010 in Ivory Coast was quickly followed by others in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere. Worldwide, more than 42 million people ended 2011 as refugees, internally displaced or in the process of seeking asylum".<br />
<br /> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-haiUkN2aZWs/T-MoLVvn8qI/AAAAAAAACyU/NavrwS1J1H0/s1600/deportfile-390x285.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-haiUkN2aZWs/T-MoLVvn8qI/AAAAAAAACyU/NavrwS1J1H0/s320/deportfile-390x285.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>More Irish applicants denied</b><br /> Meanwhile fewer and fewer applicants are <a href="http://www.nascireland.org/latest-news/pq-asylum-application-processing-times-number-grants-asylum-2008-2011/">granted asylum in Ireland each year</a>. Of over 6,000 currently waiting to be assessed, the figures actually granted asylum given for the years 2008 – 2011 were 586, 393,157 and 132 respectively as reported in the Dáil this month. Meanwhile "a startling number of applicants for international protection in Ireland, approximately a third of whom are children, continue to live in residential institutions on a long-term basis" reports the Irish immigrant support centre. <a href="http://www.nascireland.org/latest-news/hundreds-of-children-still-spend-their-childhoods-living-in-residential-institutions-in-ireland-government-asked-to-reform-the-system-known-as-direct-provision/">1,339 people have lived </a> in residential institutions known as “direct provision centres” for five years and more, the Dail was told in response to a recent question from TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh at Nasc’s request. <br /><br /><b>Ireland critised by UNHCR</b><br />
One reason for this is that Ireland, as criticised again by the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees has a uniquely lengthy and over-complex system for processing asylum applications. As Sophie Magennis explains "all other EU member states have a “single procedure” for asylum applicants to follow". Under the Irish system asylum applications are assessed instead first by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner on grounds of potential discrimination on race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group or political opinion. Appeals are then referred to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal and/or reviewed by the High Court. "Only then can an asylum seeker raise their fear of returning home on the basis that they may suffer from torture, the death penalty or indiscriminate violence because of the conditions in their country".<br /><br /> This has a huge human cost. Ireland is also almost unique in refusing asylum seekers the right to work. As Ms Magennis points out, while waiting three years and often much longer for this process to be completed, <br />
<blockquote>
"The wait takes a heavy toll. Asylum seekers cannot work or access third-level education... The system was designed for stays of six months or so. At a certain point, not being able to cook for one’s children or sharing a bedroom with growing children become real problems. The bar to accessing employment or advanced studies is grinding. Asylum seekers without an answer to their case cannot return home if they fear persecution or if home is a war zone. So they are stuck.. and the State must bear the cost of accommodating them for prolonged periods".</blockquote>
<b>Deportations on World Refugee Day</b><br />Rather than being used to highlight and improve this record, World Refugee day (20th June) was marked instead by a series of enforced deportations as reported by the Anti Racist Network Ireland. ARN have spoken to eye witnesses in three locations who report a number of forced deportations of women and children early in the morning. These included a number of children born in Ireland.<br />
<br />
ARN have received reports which suggest that "another mass deportation to Nigeria took place after many Direct Provision centres were raided by the GNIB early in the morning. We have been informed that people including women and children were taken in Carriick-on-Suir, Cork and Portlaoise".<br />
<br />One eye-witness reports that a woman was taken outside wearing only a track suit pants and bra and "handcuffed ...in front of early age children who were visibly distraught. As she had recently undergone a serious stomach surgery, the scar opened and started bleeding"<br />
<br />For a fuller report on these events and to join a petition visit the <a href="http://arnireland.blogspot.ie/2012/06/mass-deportations-and-police-abuses-on.html">Anti Racism Network Ireland blog here.</a><br /><br />For more information on asylum seekers in Ireland visit the Nasc <a href="http://www.nascireland.org/">Irish Immigrant Support Centre</a> website here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-1495852441081391182012-06-11T05:24:00.002-07:002012-06-11T05:24:45.976-07:00Tiananmen Square rememberedClonakilty Amnesty Group remembered the tragic events of 1989 in Tiananmen Square at a Commemoration on <b><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT80"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT82">Saturday</span></span>, <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT81"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT83">9 June</span></span> </b>at the Tienanmen memorial. A ceremony of remembrance with readings and
signings took place at 2.00 pm at the memorial on the Clonakilty bypass. <br />
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_I0OPe2Qod0/T9Xip8b4fLI/AAAAAAAACw8/Sgkut32R9gQ/s1600/Tianenmen+Jun+12.BMP" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_I0OPe2Qod0/T9Xip8b4fLI/AAAAAAAACw8/Sgkut32R9gQ/s400/Tianenmen+Jun+12.BMP" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
At the Clonakilty Tiananmen memorial are Town
Councillor Cionnaith O'Suilleabhain, far right; fifth and sixth from right Town
Mayor John Loughnan and Don Pollard, Clonakilty Amnesty Group
Coordinator; and far left are three members of Accapellabella, and Elena
Leoni, whose singing provided spirit and inspiration to those present. <br />
<br />
<br />
See video footage of the events of 1989 here...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/t959SEpUaEw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4"><span>.</span></sup><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989" target="_blank"> And read more here on wikipedia</a> here.<br />
<br />
The <b>Tiananmen Square protests of 1989</b>, also known as the <b>June Fourth Incident</b> in Chinese,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-literally64incident_0-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989#cite_note-literally64incident-0"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a></sup> were a series of popular demonstrations in and near <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square" title="Tiananmen Square">Tiananmen Square</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing" title="Beijing">Beijing</a> beginning on 15 April 1989. The protests ended with military suppression on 4 June.<br />
In the late 1970s, the Chinese leadership of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping" title="Deng Xiaoping">Deng Xiaoping</a> abandoned <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maoist" title="Maoist">Maoist</a>-style planned <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectivist_economics" title="Collectivist economics">collectivist economics</a>, and embraced <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_economics" title="Market economics">market-oriented</a> reforms.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Naughton.2C_Barry_2007._pp.99_1-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989#cite_note-Naughton.2C_Barry_2007._pp.99-1"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a></sup>
Due to the rapid pace of change, by the late 1980s, grievances over
inflation, limited career prospects for students, and corruption of the
party elite were growing rapidly. Communist governments were also losing
legitimacy around the world, particularly in Eastern Europe. In April
1989, triggered by the death of deposed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Secretary_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China" title="General Secretary of the Communist Party of China">Communist Party General Secretary</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Yaobang" title="Hu Yaobang">Hu Yaobang</a>, a liberal reformer, mass gatherings and protests took place in and around Tiananmen Square.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-shadow_2-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989#cite_note-shadow-2"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a></sup>
At its height, some half a million protesters assembled there. The
largely student-run demonstrations called for continued economic reform,
freedom of the press, accountability from officials, and political
liberalization<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nathan_3-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989#cite_note-nathan-3"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a></sup>. Peaceful protests also occurred in other cities, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai" title="Shanghai">Shanghai</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuhan" title="Wuhan">Wuhan</a>, while looting and rioting broke out in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi%27an" title="Xi'an">Xi'an</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changsha" title="Changsha">Changsha</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989#cite_note-4"><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></a></sup><br />
<br />
<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4"><span></span></sup><br />
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<h3>
</h3>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-425761285380274992012-06-05T02:34:00.000-07:002012-06-05T02:34:00.010-07:00Mental Health Campaign Update<h2>
</h2>
<h3>
The Clonakilty Amnesty campaign</h3>
"Our mental health campaign continues--with a
focus on changes in mental health legislation, children and youth mental
health, and challenging mental health prejudice and discrimination.<br />
<br />Legislation is a critical issue, and we have a three-fold focus.
The new HSE Governance Bill has established a Director for Mental Health
Services; with this, we will be lobbying to see A Vision for Change
made enforceable by legislation. We're awaiting a new law that will see
people's right to make mental health care decisions for themselves and
will campaign to ensure people's own will and preferences are central to
decision-making. And finally, in a soon-to-be-published review of the
Mental Health Act, we will campaign to ensure people's liberty and
choice regarding detention of medication are respected."<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1CBGqLoQETy2bkdEsgtwY6EW-2j3f46Tzvb0TU7NwuJEuct-DNruO2V3UU6GtrDyO65JCkrJiKfgARbkxeGQEoqu0cAkgm3v1EIYuCvUzfd5GWxaX3JIqdE-0grvPTLenySYlJuBzdGH/s1600/mh+Amnesty+International+48Sheet_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1CBGqLoQETy2bkdEsgtwY6EW-2j3f46Tzvb0TU7NwuJEuct-DNruO2V3UU6GtrDyO65JCkrJiKfgARbkxeGQEoqu0cAkgm3v1EIYuCvUzfd5GWxaX3JIqdE-0grvPTLenySYlJuBzdGH/s400/mh+Amnesty+International+48Sheet_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br clear="all" />
<br />
<h3>
The AII campaign </h3>
<br />
Mental health is a human rights issue. Amnesty International Ireland has been campaigning on mental health since <a href="http://amnesty.ie/our-work/background">2003</a>. We has been working in partnership with our <a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/content/working-partnership">Experts by Experience Advisory Group</a>
to demand action from the government and achieve real improvement in
the lives of people who experience mental health difficulties.<br />
<br />
Our current priorities:<br />
<a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/our-work/review-mental-health-act-2001-against-human-rights-standards">Mental Health Act 2001 review and Capacity legislation</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/our-work/legislation-drive-move-comprehensive-community-care">Law to drive the reform of mental health services</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/content/end-mental-health-prejudice-and-discrimination-campaign-ads">Challenging mental health prejudice and discrimination</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/content/children-and-young-peoples-right-mental-health">Children and young people's right to mental health</a><br />
<br />Clonakilty Amnestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11251048152590316229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-73401746108064014872012-05-08T00:16:00.001-07:002012-05-08T03:03:31.608-07:00"Crazy, heartless and immoral"<h3>
Two letters to the Irish Times tell the appalling story of rent supplement in Ireland. </h3>
<br />
The first from<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2012/0508/1224315743222.html" target="_blank"> Peter McVerrry SJ </a>puts in context <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2012/0504/1224315590112.html" target="_blank">the second letter</a> from Eileen O'Sullivan telling her own moving story (below).<br />
<br />
Sir, – The plight of Eileen O’Sullivan (May 4th) is by no means unique. <br />
<br />
Many people in private rented accommodation, who depend on a rent supplement from the State, now find themselves at risk of homelessness. <br />
<br />
They are being told that the accommodation they have been living in, some of them for many years, is too expensive and are being given 13 weeks to find cheaper accommodation, or lose their rent supplement entirely. Some will not be able to find cheaper accommodation, as the demand for rental accommodation is increasing, and will become homeless, obliged to sleep in drug-filled emergency shelters. Those who succeed will find themselves in small, dingy, depressing flats, often unfit for human habitation, offered by unscrupulous landlords who will now be rewarded by the State with a guaranteed monthly income. <br />
<br />
The current rent supplement policy is crazy, heartless and immoral. <br />
<br />
In order to save €10 or €15 per week, the State is imposing huge mental stress and potential homelessness on thousands of people who have been forced into private rented accommodation because of a lack of social housing. – Yours, etc, <br />
<br />
Fr PETER McVERRY, SJ <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p9BLo5vgdiY/T6jHwkg-4QI/AAAAAAAACm0/p4F7Qz3uICY/s1600/rabbitte-pat-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p9BLo5vgdiY/T6jHwkg-4QI/AAAAAAAACm0/p4F7Qz3uICY/s400/rabbitte-pat-2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Minister Pat Rabbitte</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sir, <br />
<br />
I am a disabled person.<br />
<br />
Today I was given notice of eviction from my flat by the local community welfare officer. Let me be clear here, it’s the community welfare officer who is evicting me. In fairness, she was upset, but said her hands were tied and the directive is being given from “above” with no discretionary leeway being given to any person. This is happening because my landlady refuses to drop rental rates any further. As it stands the price she is asking for is below market rate, but €75 (per month) above the rent allowance cap. Where I live market rates for rentals are increasing due to the rise in demand as a result of few mortgages being granted to potential buyers.<br />
<br />
Rent allowance limits beyond which, according to strict bureaucratic rules, you may not rent have dropped by the largest amount in the country. (Despite the response to a parliamentary question where Joan Burton back-pedalled slightly on her initial proposal to cut the limit by €200 per month). <br />
<br />
I rely on family and friends for many things. When I inquire, there is nothing/no one in this area that will either accept rent allowance or a disabled person. There is a dearth of social housing in this area and no Nama properties (confirmed by local authority). Even if I could get a place to accept me it will cost me circa €2,000 to move, between deposits, rent in advance, vans and helpers.<br />
<br />
There is no financial help being offered and the spectre of homelessness looms in three months time. My elected representatives ignore my e-mails and requests for appointments at clinics. The stress is impacting very negatively on my health. This is happening under a Labour Social Protection Minister.<br />
<br />
Bunreacht na hÉireann (Article 45 (4) 1°) states: “The State pledges itself to safeguard with especial care the economic interests of the weaker sections of the community, and, where necessary, to contribute to the support of the infirm, the widow, the orphan, and the aged”. It seems Labour and Fine Gael are dancing on the Constitution of this country.<br />
<br />
I would ask Mr Rabbtte is this fairness or cruelty? I would not wish this suffering on anyone, but it would be a lot less if I knew that it was going to help balance the budget in order to get us out of debt as a country and not to pay unsecured bondholders and private debt of dead banks across the EU. – Yours, etc,<br />
<br />
EILEEN O’SULLIVANAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-84089601729150976482012-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:002012-05-01T14:10:39.169-07:00Fracking appeal from Avaaz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Ckw3DtSapmYf7rFhnYLQTkatOHieWlIunjv4NWb49yQJSSsxNV0qWpI5ythweEC63pbCWZ5GOk4RlWWbp3U0GdQB7CEu-leE6Er-FPyaCuK2nlkW162z_M5ks_YopzOaEgE8IQGj3e3b/s1600/CBM-Diagram-EarthJustice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Ban_Fracking_Ireland/?cl=1773798707&v=13931" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Ban_Fracking_Ireland/?cl=1773798707&v=13931" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"></a><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Ckw3DtSapmYf7rFhnYLQTkatOHieWlIunjv4NWb49yQJSSsxNV0qWpI5ythweEC63pbCWZ5GOk4RlWWbp3U0GdQB7CEu-leE6Er-FPyaCuK2nlkW162z_M5ks_YopzOaEgE8IQGj3e3b/s400/CBM-Diagram-EarthJustice.jpg" width="400" /></div>
Dear friends across Ireland, <br /><br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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Foreign companies are descending on Ireland and<b> buying up some of our most beautiful land for a dangerous new unconventional natural gas extraction process.</b> But Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources <b>Pat Rabbitte can stop them.</b><br />
<br /><b>Fracking,</b> a method of extraction that pumps chemical-laced water deep underground to release trapped gas, <b>has been linked to earthquakes in the UK and in the United States.</b> We don't want it here. If enough of us speak out, <b>we can tip the balance and make sure Rabbitte stops these companies.</b><br />
<br />If we raise our voices now we can stop this risky process from being used in Ireland! <b>Sign the petition calling on Pat Rabbite to ban fracking, then tell everyone you know:</b> <br /><br /><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT137"><a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Ban_Fracking_Ireland/?cl=1773798707&v=13931" target="_blank">http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Ban_Fracking_Ireland/?vl</a></span> <br />
<br />Companies are buying up long-term land leases as they expect a cash
bonanza when the government greenlights fracking. Pat Rabbitte can stop
this by taking a stand now. Nations like France have already outlawed
this dangerous and unpredictable extraction method and Ireland should
follow suit. <br />
<br />Backers of fracking claim that local impacts such as water pollution
or earth tremores are outweighed by global benefits. But a recent study
from Cornell University shows that <b>natural gas extracted using fracking is actually worse for the climate than coal.</b> <br />
<br />Let's join together <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT138">today</span> from across Ireland to tell Pat Rabbitte fracking is too risky for Ireland, sign the petition: <br /><br /><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT139"><a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Ban_Fracking_Ireland/?cl=1773798707&v=13931" target="_blank">http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Ban_Fracking_Ireland/?vl</a></span> <br />
<br />Avaaz members have already done so much to fight the climate crisis,
from the critical push to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, to defining
International Negotiations around the world - lets bring a win here to
Ireland. <br />
<br />With hope and determination, <br /><br />Alex, Luis, Andrew, Emily, Paul, Michelle, Kya, Ricken and the whole Avaaz team <br /><br />PS:
This petition was created by Tracey, an Irish Mom and Avaaz member who
wants to keep Ireland beautiful for her kids. Have an issue you care
strongly about? Click here to start a petition now: <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT140"><a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?if1%20cl=1773798707&v=13931" target="_blank">http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?if1</a></span> <br />
<br />MORE INFORMATION <br /><br />UK fracking decision is “worrying”<br /><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT141"><a href="http://www.leitrimobserver.ie/news/local/uk-fracking-decision-is-worrying-1-3768052" target="_blank">http://www.leitrimobserver.ie/news/local/uk-fracking-decision-is-worrying-1-3768052</a></span><br />
<br />Fracking 'should continue with checks'<br /><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT142"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17726538" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17726538</a></span>Clonakilty Amnestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11251048152590316229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-30169864318525591072012-04-24T01:49:00.000-07:002012-07-16T06:32:34.866-07:00Mental Health Care Petition<h2>
Amnesty Mental Health Care Work</h2>
Update from the petition below. Many thanks to the hundreds who signed our petition. Here is an update on the situation. <b><br /></b><br />
<br />
<b>Good News for Mental Health in West Cork</b><br /><br />The psychiatric nursing staff in
West Cork had been halved due to the nationwide moratorium on hiring new
permanent staff members. Since the petition, nearly all community mental health care positions have been filled; the the
last psychiatric nursing position will be filled shortly. And all
community mental health care positions in Cork South will be filled by
the end of 2012. Great news, and thanks to all who worked hard for this
achievement. <br />
<br />
Our next objective is to help newly referred 16 and 17
year olds find mental health inpatient care when needed. They're now
being treated in adult outpatient facilities, but this is not possible
if they require inpatient care. Please help us lobby to have this
intolerable situation corrected.<br /><br />
The plight of 16-17-year olds with mental health problems continues
if they need hospitalization. Despite a new 20-bed facility for
children in Cork, these teenagers are considered too old for the
children's facility and are too young for an adult facility. Expect to
see more activity in this area.<br />
<br />
The West Cork Mental Health Services has received funding to train
staff in a family approach to mental health care. This "Open Dialogue"
approach enables people and their families and loved ones to be active
agents in their recovery plans. This approach will dovetail with the
current recovery-focused, multi-disciplinary approach now pursued by
Bantry psychiatric services.<br />
<br />
The government is now developing legislation regarding the Mental
Health Act and the legal capacity of people with mental health
problems. Amnesty Ireland is campaigning to eliminate prejudice and
discrimination against people with mental health care needs, equality
training the work place, and changing attitudes of mental health care
staff.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Original article here: </h4>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Sign a petition to save mental health services!</span><br />
Please come and sign our petition to help us gain relief from the current ban on hiring full-time staff for mental health care in West Cork. Psychiatric nursing needs are only at 50% staffing. Other needs for the community multi-disciplinary teams such as occupational therapists and social workers are also not being met.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DFhEvzVN8pI/T5ZnStbgnqI/AAAAAAAACdg/I6z5eS3T_uY/s1600/james+reilly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" oda="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DFhEvzVN8pI/T5ZnStbgnqI/AAAAAAAACdg/I6z5eS3T_uY/s400/james+reilly.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Minister Reilly in Mallow</td></tr>
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<div style="color: #073763;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Stop by in front of <b>O'Donovan's Hotel on Saturday, 28 April</b>, to sign the petition to the HSE from 11.00a.m. until at least 2.00p.m.</span></div>
<div style="color: #073763;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: black;">
If you are not around on Saturday, you can send an individual letter (text and address below).</div>
<br />
<b>Petition addressed to:</b> <br />
<i>Dr. Cathal Magee</i>, <u>Chief Executive Officer, Health Service Executive</u>, c/o Dr. Steevens' Hospital, Dublin 8<br />
<br />
Copies to:
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dr.
James Reilly</i>, <u>Minister for Health, </u></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Department of Health, Hawkins House,
Dublin 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kathleen
Lynch T.D.,</i> <u>Minister for
Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People, </u></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heron House, Blackpool Retail Park,
Blackpool, Cork<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mr.
Jim Daly T.D.,</i> Leinster House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mr.
Noel Harrington T.D.,</i> Leinster House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mr.
Michael McCarthy T.D.</i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">, Milleenananig,
Clonakilty Road, Dunmanway, Co. Cork<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<b>Text:</b> <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">We ask you to lift the moratorium on employing full-time Community Psychiatric nurses. In West Cork we have undergone a 50% cut and recruitment for permanent posts is not allowed. We also ask that all Community Mental Health Care Team posts be filled promptly as promised.</span><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b><span style="font-size: large;">Those needing care are suffering.</span></blockquote>
For background information read the attached <a href="http://www.pna.ie/110810A.pdf" target="_blank">report by the Psychiatric Nurses Association</a> from 2010, commenting on 'a mental health service in free-fall' with
mental health receiving 'the lowest ever spend on mental health
services' at 5%, compared with 8% recommended in Vision for Change, and
12% spent in the UK. Further cuts will drain this service beyond
breaking point 'at a time when demand for these services has never been
greater'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-66633853441093968032012-04-21T03:33:00.001-07:002012-04-21T03:33:27.500-07:00Good news!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0373-Q99r1nJeRQDX2QoGKSEMNNYHfmiJyY5rz4huGhjj5cVxno6bzO8Ju8MC1-mcvXymZD2xVYln2VwsNFlHvJel8aQZdBh2jX_0MZui8OtdiSejeO6Sa1kUevi_V4qkyY4pc56FOuz/s1600/KHADER+ADNAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>URGENT ACTION</b></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><b>PALESTINIAN DETAINEE FREED</b></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><b>Palestinian administrative detainee Khader
Adnan was released on 17 April. He spent four months in detention without
charge or trial. For 66 days of this period, he was on hunger strike in
protest at his ill-treatment and administrative detention. He is now back
with his family in the occupied West Bank. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><b> </b></span>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0373-Q99r1nJeRQDX2QoGKSEMNNYHfmiJyY5rz4huGhjj5cVxno6bzO8Ju8MC1-mcvXymZD2xVYln2VwsNFlHvJel8aQZdBh2jX_0MZui8OtdiSejeO6Sa1kUevi_V4qkyY4pc56FOuz/s1600/KHADER+ADNAN.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0373-Q99r1nJeRQDX2QoGKSEMNNYHfmiJyY5rz4huGhjj5cVxno6bzO8Ju8MC1-mcvXymZD2xVYln2VwsNFlHvJel8aQZdBh2jX_0MZui8OtdiSejeO6Sa1kUevi_V4qkyY4pc56FOuz/s200/KHADER+ADNAN.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0373-Q99r1nJeRQDX2QoGKSEMNNYHfmiJyY5rz4huGhjj5cVxno6bzO8Ju8MC1-mcvXymZD2xVYln2VwsNFlHvJel8aQZdBh2jX_0MZui8OtdiSejeO6Sa1kUevi_V4qkyY4pc56FOuz/s1600/KHADER+ADNAN.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">On 17 April, <b>Khader Adnan</b> was released
from detention in Ramleh prison hospital in central Israel. He was taken
to Salem military checkpoint, in the north of the occupied West Bank, where
his family was waiting to receive him. He returned to his family home in
the village of Arrabe in the West Bank, where he was welcomed by hundreds
of Palestinians celebrating his release. Khader Adnan’s release coincided
with the day when Palestinians traditionally commemorate all Palestinian
political prisoners and detainees held by Israel. </span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Khader Adnan began an open-ended hunger strike
on 17 December 2011 in protest at his ill-treatment and administrative
detention by the Israeli authorities. As his health deteriorated, he was
moved first to the hospital of Ramleh prison, where he was detained, and
then to medical facilities outside prison, including Ziv hospital in northern
Israel, from 6 February. He ended his strike on 21 February after an agreement
was reached between his lawyer and the state prosecution that he would
end his hunger strike in return for a pledge from the Israeli authorities
that his detention order would not be extended beyond 17 April. He was
subsequently returned to Ramleh prison hospital after his health had stabilized
and he remained there until his release on 17 April 2012.</span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Amnesty International does not have medical
information about his current condition, but videos of Khader Adnan upon
his release appear to show him in good health. In the videos Khader Adnan
is shown speaking to crowds of Palestinians, thanking them and activists
from around the world for the support they gave him while he was in detention,
and asking that they continue their solidarity with the other Palestinian
hunger strikers protesting against administrative detention. </span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>We will continue to campaign against the
use of administrative detention by the Israeli authorities. Thank you to
all those who took action. No further appeals are required from the UA
network.</b></span>Clonakilty Amnestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11251048152590316229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-56346717675572257992012-04-12T06:55:00.001-07:002012-04-30T01:52:55.752-07:00Group Impact Award for CAGClonakilty Amnesty Group was honoured with the 2012 group award presented by Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International Ireland. Featuring a poem by Seamus Heaney (below) the Southern Star reported about the award that:<br />
<br />
"At the March meeting of the Clonakilty group of Amnesty Ireland the group was awarded the Amnesty International Ireland annual ‘Group Impact Award 2012’. The award, a framed copy of the Seamus Heaney poem, ‘From the Republic of Conscience’ was presented to Co-ordinator Don Pollard by Pina Attansio from the Amnesty Ireland head office.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pina and Don</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In announcing the award at the Annual Conference, Executive Director Colm O’Gorman stated that <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
‘the organisation was delighted to pay tribute to one of the longest serving local groups.’</blockquote>
He congratulated them on their campaigning on a wide range of human rights issues, such as supporting human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories, and especially, in dedicated work on mental health issues. He also mentioned the group’s pioneering role in the establishment of the Clonakilty Human Rights Week, which is now an annual event celebratiang the work of human rights campaigners around the world. <br />
<br />
Finally, he paid tribute to the late Joan McGrath, who founded the Clonakilty group in Amnesty over 25 years ago, and despite all the other demands on her time, ensured it kept going through good and bad times. As he put it, ‘she is still remembered with pride and affection, both by the group and by everyone in Sean MacBride House (the Amnesty head office) who was lucky enough to work with her’. <br />
<br />
The local group is very grateful to the community for their huge support over the years. It meets on the second Wednesday of every month, at 8pm, in O’Donovan’s Hotel, Clonakilty. For further information contact group co-ordinator Don Pollard, 023 40010". <br />
<br />
The poem by Seamus Heaney featured on the award.<br />
<b>From the Republic of Conscience</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iyCH08dGs7M/T4bd2sxM4HI/AAAAAAAACbM/hvGxc5ddNnc/s1600/amnesty_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" qda="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iyCH08dGs7M/T4bd2sxM4HI/AAAAAAAACbM/hvGxc5ddNnc/s200/amnesty_logo.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
When I landed in the republic of conscience<br />
it was so noiseless when the engines stopped<br />
I could hear a curlew high above the runway.<br />
<br />
At immigration the clerk was an old man<br />
who produced a wallet from his homespun coat<br />
and showed me a photograph of my grandfather.<br />
<br />
The woman in customs asked me to declare<br />
the words of our traditional cures and charms<br />
to heal dumbness and avert the evil eye.<br />
<br />
No porter. No interpreter. No taxi.<br />
You carried what you had to and very soon<br />
your symptoms of creeping privilege disappeared.<br />
<br />
II <br />
Fog is a dreaded omen there but lightning<br />
spells universal good and parents hang<br />
swaddled infants in trees during thunderstorms.<br />
<br />
Salt is their precious mineral. And seashells<br />
are held to the ear during births and funerals.<br />
The base of all inks and pigments is seawater.<br />
Their sacred symbol is a stylized boat.<br />
The sail is an ear, the mast a sloping pen,<br />
the hull a mouth-shape, the keel an open eye.<br />
<br />
At their inauguration, public leaders<br />
must swear to uphold unwritten law and weep<br />
to atone for their presumption to hold office -<br />
<br />
and to affirm their faith that all life sprang<br />
from salt in tears which the sky-god wept<br />
after he dreamt his solitude was endless.<br />
<br />
III <br />
I came back from that frugal republic<br />
with my two arms the one length, the customs woman<br />
having insisted my allowance was myself.<br />
<br />
The old man rose and gazed into my face<br />
and said that was official recognition<br />
that I was now a dual citizen.<br />
<br />
He therefore desired me when I got home<br />
to consider myself a representative<br />
and to speak on their behalf in my own tongue.<br />
<br />
Their embassies, he said, were everywhere<br />
but operated independently<br />
and no ambassador would ever be relieved. <br />
<br />
<b>Seamus Heaney</b>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-49419590212009433302012-04-10T05:52:00.001-07:002012-04-10T05:52:47.145-07:00Human Rights Obligations IrelandIt is not hard to imagine that Ireland's economic crisis will result in even more suicides, alcoholism and mental health problems. A good time to meet its obligations under the United Nations periodic review and ratify the human rights legislation on mental health? Apparently not. In fact everything about the government's current policy is about closing hospitals in the name of personal freedoms (a cost saver) while failing to provide services as agreed under the 2005 Helsinki Declaration (a cost). Helsinki commits clearly to "making specialist community based mental health services available" because “mental health is central in building a healthy, inclusive and productive society". While few doubt new Minister Kathleen Lynch's sincerity, services will not be forthcoming simply by <a href="http://healthupdate.gov.ie/featured/minister-lynch-at-the-national-mental-healthcare-conference-14th-september-2011.html">her commitment to</a> 'closing old buildings'. Her intangible promises to build community services so far amount to no more than 'making every effort to ...promote greater understanding, acceptance and support for people with mental health problems". Nice, but it won't create a single new service.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zCTf54bXrSE/TtZpcyi9RuI/AAAAAAAABPk/0RN-GF0AYxc/s1600/alan+shatter+human+rights+q.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="270" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zCTf54bXrSE/TtZpcyi9RuI/AAAAAAAABPk/0RN-GF0AYxc/s400/alan+shatter+human+rights+q.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alan Shatter addresses the UN</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It is now flagged as a matter of cost, of course. But to close hospitals, however old, simply in order to pay banks is criminally negligent when it comes to an already grossly underfunded service. Even while the money was there Ireland spent only 7<a href="http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx">% of its GDP on health</a> compared with a figure of 9% common amongst its OECD peers. And of that 7% it spent only 6% on mental health, compared with an average of 8% in other countries. And of that inadequate investment the returns were hard to see. As <a href="http://www.mhcirl.ie/documents/publications/The_Economics_of_Mental_Health_Care_in_Ireland%202008.pdf">a report into services in 2008</a> found, <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Irish Government has conceded that mental health services are widely deficient, with very few complete multi-disciplinary mental health teams, and limited access to community care or the full range of psychosocial supports that should be part of a modern service. Consequently there is little treatment available for many people beyond medication and/or hospitalisation. </blockquote>
There is also the issue of short-termism. The same report found that 'at a conservative estimate...the overall cost [to the economy] of poor mental health in Ireland was just over 3 billion in 2006, or 2 per cent of GNP'. <br />
<br />
<strong>'Laudable" not to have rights </strong><br />
So what of the rights of people in Ireland? <a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/sites/default/files/file/MentalHealth/HEARMYVOICE.pdf">Amnesty International says</a> that under "international human rights law, states not only have an obligation to prohibit discrimination, they also have a positive obligation to ensure equality of opportunity for the enjoyment of the right to health by persons with mental disabilities". But while it is illegal to discriminate against people on grounds of mental ill health, an amnesty survey found that 90% of respondents had experienced discrimination. In employment for example 45% of employers admitted that they would not employ somebody with a mental health record. The result of that showed in the Irish census data which found the participation rate in employment for people with mental health related disabilities as 27 per cent, compared with 63 per cent for the general population. A DCU report puts that employment rate lower, at just 11% in full time and 13% in part time employment. <br />
<br />
So what did Alan Shatter <a href="http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/SP11000187">say to the UN when</a> they asked him to account for Ireland's human rights record in Ocotober? Well he went for volume. "We devoted 14 pages of our programme to what we described as fairness issues covering much of the human rights agenda". He also blamed the foreigners. It is hard to keep track when "our population is growing and becoming more diverse – about 15% of those living in Ireland are non citizens, for example". And then he introduced a string of special witnesses who argued that it was far better to fail to ratify these rights than it would be to pretend to ratify them without any intention of following through. As special witness Gerard Quinn, Director of Disability Law and Policy said for example, “Although there is a delay it’s laudable because there are some countries that ratify but leave atrocious laws in place,”. In fact failing to ratify was even more laudable because “The other side of the equations is if you do sign, and the period of time between signing and ratification is unduly long, it might in some eyes produce cynicism.” Perish the thought.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--qQwDA1R-dY/TtdOGk9M-PI/AAAAAAAABQE/sCZvNegAAo0/s1600/amnesty+campaign.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="195" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--qQwDA1R-dY/TtdOGk9M-PI/AAAAAAAABQE/sCZvNegAAo0/s200/amnesty+campaign.png" width="200" /></a></div>
For more info on Mental Health <br />
campaigns see the<br />
<a href="http://www.amnesty.ie/mentalhealth">Amnesty International Mental Health</a> <br />
pages<br />
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For advice on living with mental health <br />
and links to support<br />
groups <a href="http://www.shineonline.ie/">go to Shine online </a><br />
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*************************************************************************************Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5580444084137348437.post-30559453851265828872012-04-10T05:50:00.001-07:002012-04-10T05:50:09.644-07:00Homelessness and Human RightsWhen is a promise not a promise? When it's made by the Irish government. Ireland failed to ratify or legislate for the right to housing despite undertaking to do so by signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1953. Instead it promoted housing 'development' as a profiteering activity. The result: there are plenty of houses, but people can't afford to be in them. The speculators who fuelled the housing bubble are still being rewarded for their failures. For example, Fintan O' Toole notes the recent "obscene <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/1108/1224307206463.html">payment of a billion dollars</a> to unsecured Anglo Irish Bank bondholders" and Nama Wine Lake reports the NAMA deal "which appears to <a href="http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/nama-does-secret-deal-with-ddda-to-erase-liability-for-idiotic-property-development-decisions/">wipe out any legacy liability</a> on the part of the Dublin Docklands Development Agency for...the dumbest property development gambles in Irish history".<br />
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Meanwhile over 300,000 homes, "more than double the official estimate", are lying empty around the country according to the <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0913/1224304027431.html">Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland</a>. "If you take the upper end of these figures, it suggests more than 18% of the state’s houses are empty compared with 7.3% in Europe and 3.4% in Britain". And the number of Ghost estates, where most or all the houses are empty, "has risen from 2,846 last year to 2,881 this year". <br />
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But while top property developers are being bailed out, smaller fish are not. Threshold has <a href="http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/tenants-face-eviction-over-repossessions-147762.html">told The Irish Examiner</a> that "thousands of tenants face eviction as landlords who bought properties on the buy-to-let market at the height of the boom default on mortgages". It fears that </div>
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"many of the 500,000 people in the private rental sector could be the victims of a new wave of repossessions, as receivers handling repossessed properties for the banks throw out tenants with little or no notice". </blockquote>
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Despite the rights of tenants with established tenancies Threshold has witnessed "a growing number of cases before the courts where tenants’ legal protections under the Residential Tenancies Act have been flagrantly ignored".<br />
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<strong>Street homelessness rises by as much as 30%</strong></div>
On the streets the results are not yet officially being recognised while we wait for the results of the 2011 census. The housing charity the Dublin Simon Community has eye witness evidence though of "<span style="font-size: small;">a 20% growth in the number of people presenting to their services" and especially to their Rough Sleeper Team</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">which has seen an increase of "over 30% in the last 18 months". According to Sam McGuinness, CEO of Dublin Simon Community, "our figures show an increase every quarter, throughout 2009 and right into 2010. Last year 2,450 people accessed all our services and in the first six months of 2010 we have already worked with over 1,800 people." </span><br />
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The human cost is shocking. <a href="http://www.corksimon.ie/sites/default/files/homelessness-makes-you-sick-october-2010.pdf">Cork Simon conducted a survey</a> of 188 people using their project and found that <br />
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66% had an underlying mental health problem, 59% had an underlying physical health problem and while 51% required medical treatment during the week of the study, 8% had attempted suicide in the previous six months.</blockquote>
<strong>A social system in meltdown, so what is the government going to do?</strong><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">There is a high cost to the current policy of keeping homeless families in inadequate, unsuitable and expensive temporary housing while making private landlords rich at the expense of the state. Focus Ireland, the housing charity, <a href="http://www.focusireland.ie/files/focus%20ireland%20pre%20budget%20submission%202010.pdf">has estimated that</a> "it currently costs €19.5m per year to provide emergency or transitional accommodation to 987 Dublin households- €12.5m per year". They have also found that the numbers of households on local authority waiting lists rose from 56,000 to just under 100,000 in 2010 increasing the payments of Rent Supplement to 91,100 and Mortgage Interest Relief to a further 17,000 families with "more than 36,000 households in mortgage arrears". </span><br />
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The government meanwhile has claimed that it has increased direct funding to housing charities, but Focus notes that "many voluntary homeless service providers experienced significant reductions in funding levels in 2010 as a result of HSE cuts and reductions in charitable donations".<br />
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<strong>Housing Minister absent for budget, then appointed with no vote</strong><br />
Focus Ireland had <a href="http://www.focusireland.ie/files/focus%20ireland%20pre%20budget%20submission%202010.pdf">a detailed pre-budget submission</a> asking for a commitment to maintain funding levels and change housing policies for cheaper and more humane alternatives. But the government failed to appoint a Housing Minister before the budget <a href="http://www.independent.ie/national-news/penroses-replacement-to-be-unveiled-after-budget-2946970.html">so</a> the issues remained unaddressed. After lobbying by Focus Ireland a minister was finally appointed this week, but has no vote in cabinet. So called 'super junior' minister Jan O'Sullivan has pledged to have her voice heard in Cabinet saying that "being at the table gives me more opportunity to have my voice there when decisions are being made" Good intentions but in reality "I don't have voting rights" she said. <br />
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A pre-election pledge from the Simon Community signed by all political parties, including the two now in government, looks unlikely to be fulfilled. <br />
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"If elected to government we will ensure that tackling homelessness will be one of our top priorities. We believe in people and pledge to work with all organizations to ensure that housing, healthcare and other supports are available to everyone at risk of or experiencing homelessness.’ </blockquote>
So another firm promise on housing. Job done. <br />
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To donate to the <a href="http://www.dubsimon.ie/Fundraise/WaystoDonate.aspx">Simon Community go to</a> their website.<br />
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For advice or help on housing rights <a href="http://www.threshold.ie/">contact Threshold</a><br />
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For advice on homelessness <a href="http://www.focusireland.ie/?gclid=CJiG9qjO5KwCFcQf4QodZRWGMw">see FocusIreland</a><br />
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