Irish Human Rights Commission on CIA Flights Issue

FINALLY, SOME ACTION ON THIS CIA “RENDITION” FLIGHTS ISSUE seems to be taking place in Ireland. The Irish Irish Human Rights Commission today issued a Press Release on the CIA Flights at Shannon Airport issue urging the Irish Government to take action and are insisting that all US Military flights passing through the airport are inspected to ensure no Irish or international laws on human rights are being breached. The story is being picked up by the usual sources (Online.ie Article), Breakingnews.ie Article, but I’d recommend you read the press release directly from the IHRC site.

To quote directly from the press release: The President of the IHRC, Dr. Maurice Manning, stated “The Irish Government has a clear obligation both under the Convention against Torture, the ECHR and under domestic law to prevent any actions on our soil which could in any way facilitate torture or ill-treatment even in another country. Thus far, the Government has said that it has received assurances from the US authorities that they are not using planes which are landing at Shannon in connection with the transport of detainees to locations where they may be tortured or ill-treated. In the Commission’s view, and in light of Ireland’s international legal obligations in this field, reliance on diplomatic assurances is not sufficient to protect against the risk of torture and other forms of ill-treatment.”

I am delighted to be able to report on this news item today as it marks the first real step towards sorting this travesty out in Ireland. Hopefully the government will now be obliged to respond accordingly – as ever I will follow developments on this story which began with Money Talks and Irish Neutrality Walks and developed into Baldonnel Airport being used for CIA Rendition Flights. Stay tuned folks.