CPT RESPOND ON DUBLIN CHILD ARRESTS

This news published by the Celtic League:

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

CPT RESPOND ON DUBLIN CHILD ARRESTS

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture have responded (today) to concerns raised by the Celtic League about arrests of children in dawn raids in Dublin recently.

The brief reply from Head of Division at the CPT, Hugh Chetwynd, would seem to indicate that the CPT will monitor the situation henceforth.

Coincidentally, this year, as part of the twenty fifth anniversary of the start of its monitoring role for the Council of Europe, the CPT has placed a particular emphasis on custody issues relating to juvenile justice.

The text of their reply is set out below:

“Dear Mr Moffatt

Thank you for drawing our attention to this case of arrests of a number of children.

We are indeed aware of this incident and the Committee will follow-up as appropriate.

With kind regards,

Hugh Chetwynd

Head of Division
Secretariat of the Eurropean Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)”

The query from the League to the CPT which was posted previously on CL News is set out below:

“CPT Secretariat

Council of Europe
F67075 Strasbourg Cedex
FRANCE

12/02/15

Dear Sir,

I draw the attention of the CPT to allegations made by a member of the Dail earlier today that a number of children were included amongst persons arrested in the west Tallaght area of Dublin .

The TD who made the allegations suggested that children ranging from 14 -17 had been arrested and in relation to the 14 year old a separate news report suggests 8 members of An Garda Síochána in three police vehicles were used to conduct the arrest.

Bearing in mind that it is just weeks since your Committee used the 25th anniversary of its founding to upgrade its ‘Standards’ and in particular focus on the area of safeguards surrounding the detention of juveniles we would urge you to look into this issue.

I should stress that the arrests referred to were in connection with civil protest last year about ongoing austerity programmes instituted by the Irish government. We are therefore not talking about serious criminal offences. However not withstanding that I trust that the CPT will agree with us that the overwhelming use of police resources (as alleged in these cases) to detain a number of minors in any circumstances is disproportionate.

The decision to affect the arrest of children in the early hours of the morning is also in our view intimidatory and flies in the face of the ‘Standards’ set by the Council of Europe and also the United Nations (Beijing Rules).

I trust you will with a degree of urgency raise the matter with the Irish government and obtain assurances about the manner in which children detained were treated.

Yours sincerely

J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information”

Related links to the CPT website here:
http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/children/publications/CPTReport_en.pdf
http://www.cpt.coe.int/en/about.htm

Related link: UN Beijing Rules:

http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/beijingrules.pdf

J B Moffatt (Mr)

Director of Information
Celtic League

J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information

17/02/15

(Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.)

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