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	Jfm Welcomes Un Committee Recommendation for Statutory Inquiry and Redress for Magdalenes, Prosecution and Punishment of Perpetrators Justice for Magdalenes June 6, 2011 http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/press/JFM%20PR%2005-06-11.pdf [pdf] The UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) today issued its "Concluding Observations" following the first examination of the Irish State under the UN Convention Against Torture. The Committee reiterated its calls for an independent investigation into the Magdalene Laundries abuse and redress for the women who suffered. It also recommended that the State "prosecute and punish the perpetrators with penalties commensurate with the gravity of the offences committed." Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), the survivor advocacy group, is now calling on the Irish State to act immediately on foot of UNCAT's recommendations and issue a formal apology to all survivors of the Magdalene Laundries and immediately establish a statutory inquiry into these abuses. JFM's submission to UNCAT, written by Maeve O'Rourke (Harvard Law School 2010 Global Human Rights Fellow), and which includes testimonies from four women who spent time in the Laundries, highlights the continuing degrading treatment that survivors are suffering today because of the government's ongoing failure to apologise, investigate and compensate for the abuse. At the examination in Geneva on 24th May 2011, acting UNCAT Chairperson Felice Gaer, questioned the government's statement that "the vast majority of women who went to these institutions went there voluntarily, or if they were minors, with the consent of their parents or guardians". (Links to videos below) She said, "We had testimony about locked doors and people being captured
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