Amnesty renews pressure on renditions

A MOTION calling for increased pressure on the Government to take action on 'extraordinary renditions' was carried unanimously at the Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International members in Ireland over the weekend.

The Irish Government had last November committed to review policy and law relating to suspected 'extraordinary rendition' flights.

Amnesty members called on the Irish Government to:

• Publish the terms of reference for their review, and announce when the review will be published
• Deliver robust mechanisms to ensure that Ireland's complicity in extraordinary rendition and torture is ended
• Hold a full public disclosure into any involvement by agents of the state in facilitating or permitting 'extraordinary renditions' and related human rights abuses.

"To our knowledge, the special cabinet sub-committee set up to address these issues has met only once. It is not clear what progress if any they have made, so the name of Ireland remains sullied by association with torture and terror. Our 15,000+ members in Ireland will continue to campaign on this issue until the Government meets our demands, and we can say with confidence that Ireland is no longer complicit in human rights violations," said Colm O'Gorman, Executive Director.

Amnesty International will be publishing new research on Ireland and extraordinary renditions in June. To date Ireland has been directly implicated in the illegal renditions of three individuals.

Niall Crowley, former CEO of the Equality Authority, delivered the keynote address to the Annual Conference and was presented with the Sean McBride Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Rights.

The Amnesty Group in Kilkenny was presented with the Group Impact Award 2009 for their work on Rendition Flights and Women's Rights issues.

The Annual Conference took place in Dublin city centre over two days where members launched their local and MEP manifestos, worked on issues of concern in Zimbabwe and Israel / the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the issue of female genital mutilation.