NI: Northern Ireland - new material (1)
01 September 1998
"We who believe in freedom": Reflections on the H-Block/Armagh prison struggle. An Phoblacht 18.6.98. pp8. This supplement documents the struggle to maintain political status by Republican prisoners in Long Kesh (The Maze) and Armagh prisons. It contains interviews with prisoners and their relatives and a chronology of the years 1976-1981 which culminated in the hunger-strike in which ten Republicans died in the most appalling and inhumane circumstances.
Just News. Committee on the Administration of Justice Vol. 13, no 6 (June) 1998. This issue contains articles on victims of state violence, the annual report of the Independent Commission for Police Complaints, the Good Friday Agreement and human rights commitments, sex equality in employment for transsexuals and a prison lay visiting scheme.
Rights, justice, equality: the foundations for the road to a just and lasting peace settlement, Gerry Adams. An Phoblacht 4.6.98. pp10-12. This is the text of a speech, to the American Irish Historical Society, given in New York in May 1998. It spells out the changes that the Republican Movement would like to see implemented as a result of the peace process.
UN calls for Finucane Inquiry, Michael Farrell. ICCL News Vol. 10, no. 2 (August) 1998, p5. Report on the call, by UN special rapporteur Dato Parem Cumaraswamy, for an independent investigation into the murder of lawyer Pat Finucane who was killed by a loyalist murder gang with the collusion of the security forces.
Telling the world the truth of orange sectarianism, Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition. An Phoblacht 9.7.98. pp10-12. This is an edited version of the regular bulletins put out by the GRRC who were besieged in their homes, or the "sterile zone" as the British military put it, in order to negotiate a route for a triumphalist Portadown Orange Order march. The march was eventually cancelled after three infants were murdered in a petrol bomb attack on a nationalist house.
Plastic bullets: a briefing paper. Committee on the Administration of Justice (June) 1998, pp22. This is an overview of the history of the use of plastic bullets in Northern Ireland since their introduction in 1973. The report observes that they are "lethal weapons" inconsistent with the international principle of minimum force. Noting that plastic bullets have never been used in Britain it observes that they "appear to have become a weapon of first resort in Northern Ireland, where 14 people have died - a "disproportionate" 7 of them children." Current guidelines for their use are "much too weak" and existing guidelines are often ignored. Finally, the report notes that: "Charges of sectarian use of the weapon have not been adequately answered." CAJ Telephone: 01232 232394, Fax: 01232 246706.
A briefing on the legislative measures proposed by the United Kingdom Government in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing. Amnesty International 28.8.98. (EUR 45/16/98), pp3. This briefing, prepared by AI, the Committee on the Administration of Justice, British Irish Rights Watch, Liberty and Human Rights Watch, expresses deep concern "about the threat to respect for human rights posed by the legislative measures which both the United Kingdom and Irish governments are proposing...as a result of the Omagh bombing."
Report on the operation in 1997 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1996, JJ Rowe QC. Northern Ireland Office 1998, pp61.
Parliamentary debates
Official report of the Grand Committee on the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill Lords 8.6.98 cols. CWH1-32
Northern Ireland (Sentences) Bill Commons 15.6.98. cols. 19-106
Northern Ireland (Sentences) Bill Commons 17.6.98. cols. 435-481
Northern Ireland (Sentences) Bill Commons 18.6.98. cols. 541-586
Police (Northern Ireland) Bill Lords 22.6.98. cols. 11-30
Guardsmen Fisher and Wright Lords 23.6.98. cols. 216-236
Northern Ireland (Sentences) Bill Lords 29.6.98. cols. 436-493
Northern Ireland Act 1974 (Interim Period Extension) O