Amid all the reaction to the revelations about Tuam and Ireland’s other mother and baby homes, there has been little response to Amnesty International’s comments. John Dalhuisen of Amnesty said that the Irish government “must not view this and other cases as merely historic and beyond its human rights obligations.”
The European Convention on Human Rights sets out very clearly a large number of basic human rights:
- The Right To Life
- The Prohibition of Torture, including degrading treatment
- The Prohibition on Slavery and Forced Labour
- The Right to Liberty and security
- The Right to a Fair Trial, and that there shall be no punishment without law
- The Right To Respect for Private and Family Life
- The Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion
- The Prohibition of Discrimination
And yet, as Amnesty so rightly anticipated, the current debate is more about twisting our hands in grief and sadness, and lamenting another aspect of Ireland’s concealed past. By reacting in this way, I personally believe that we inadvertently blame “the culture of the day”, when in fact what happened to each child and each mother in those homes, was a clear breach of their inherent human rights, and a failure once more on the part of the State to vindicate those rights.
The shocking mortality rates, the obscene burial practices, the forced adoptions, the vaccine trials – all clear breaches of human rights? The criminalisation of pregnant mothers, their “incarceration” and their labelling as “offenders” and “recidivists” – all clear breaches of human rights?
Notwithstanding the Tuam revelations of up to 800 dead babies who remain unaccounted for, it appears that there have been groups and individuals in Cork and elsewhere seeking to highlight the abuses for years but to little avail. It is only when international media shone the spotlight of world attention on Tuam that Government finally reacted.
The Government needs to acknowledge that this is not really an historical issue. Some of these homes continued well into the 1980’s. Furthermore, it was only in 2003 that the enquiry into vaccine trials conducted upon children in these homes was suspended, when the Supreme Court prioritised the protection of professional reputation, over children and enquiry.
It is essential that there are no further breaches of these women’s and children’s rights. We need a full and transparent Inquiry, which above all is sensitive to the families involved, and which serves to acknowledge their hurt and the wrongdoing perpetrated upon them, is essential.
In addition we require a proper, full and transparent examination of our current culture, and our treatment today of those most marginalised and vulnerable in our society. We need to examine how we respond when serious abuses are brought to the attention of the authorities – without the spotlight of international media coverage. We need to make a fresh statement of who we are, and design a roadmap to the society we wish to be. Without this, regrettably, history could simply be repeating itself, and the hand wringing will pass on to future generations…..