Mental Health Services Inadequate, Prisons below Standards – Amnesty

The Journal
May 24, 2012

http://www.thejournal.ie/mental-health-services-inadequate-prisons-below-standards-amnesty-460744-May2012/

Colm O'Gorman, Amnesty International (File photo)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HAS said that the provision of mental health services in Ireland continued to be inadequate in 2011 and has said that conditions in the country’s prisons continue to fall below standards.

In its annual report on human rights in 155 countries and territories, the organisation also criticised the United Nations Security Council, saying it has failed to show the kind of courage that ordinary people have showed during the Arab Spring last year.

For Ireland, Amnesty raised concerns about the lack of prosecutions in the reported cases of violence against children in the State’s religious-run institutions.

It noted the publication of the Cloyne report which said that two-thirds of allegations about clerical sex abuse in the diocese between 1996 and 2009 were not forwarded to Gardai.

It also noted that the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture’s said there had been slow progress on mental health reform in Ireland.

The committee also raised concerns with the Mental Health Act 2001 its lack of protection for so-called ‘voluntary patients’ as well as the provision regarding the use of electro-convulsive therapy.

The Amnesty report said there continued to be “significant delays” for asylum applicants in Ireland to have their needs or application assessed.

“Long-promised legislation to establish a single procedure for considering claims was still not enacted,” the report said.

For 2012, the organisation cited the commitment of the government to holding a Constitutional Convention as an opportunity to ensure that human rights in Ireland are not ignored in areas such as health, housing and income.

Speaking as the report is launched today, the organisation’s executive director in Ireland, Colm O’Gorman said of the global situation: “The courage shown by ordinary people demanding change in 2011 was matched by a failure of leadership by the UN Security Council.”

“Last year made it all too clear that many countries adopt the language of human rights only when it suits their purposes.

“Men, women and children have been imprisoned, tortured and killed while powerful nations on the UN Security Council put their political interests ahead of human rights and, more particularly, the victims.”