Irish charges against U.K.

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33032, 27 September 1972, Page 15

Irish charges against U.K.

01.Z.P. A.-Reuter —Copyright?

STRASBOURG, September 26. Britain yesterday presented to the European Human Rights Commission the first of a series of arguments designed to keep from being put on trial for her conduct in Northern Ireland.

A high-level legal team led by the Attorney-General (Sir Peter Rawlinson) spent four hours arguing that the commission should not accept charges by the Irish Republic that Britain had violated the European Convention of Human Rights, by “permitting killing, torture, and degrading treatment” to support her policy on Ulster.

Britain is due to finish presenting her case tomorrow, when the Irish delegation, led by the Attorney-General (Mr Colm Condon) will present that of the republic. Conference sources would say today only that Britain j had argued that the commisision should not take up the Irish charges, which could lead to the creation of a j committee of inquiry to take I testimony from witnesses on such questions as whether British forces have used torture in Northern Ireland. It is believed that Britain is arguing that all legal redress to the charges

brought by Ireland have not been exhausted in the United Kingdom—a necessary condition, under the commission’s terms of reference, which must be fulfilled before it can consider the matter. The Dublin Government accuses Britain of violating Human Rights Convention clauses on the right to live, on the use of torture, degrading punishment and discrimination, and on the right to liberty. The commission will issue a communique on the weeklong hearings on Saturday, according to Council of Europe officials. If the commission decides to pursue the Irish charges, then it will have to investigate the entire Northern Ireland situation and the Special Powers Act that Britain invoked to send troops to the troubled province. Its ultimate aim would be to promote a friendly settlement between Britain and Ireland. Failing that, it would draw up a report, denouncing or absolving Britain, for the Ministerial Council of the Council of Europe. The leaders of three of Northern Ireland’s seven political parties are in conference near Darlington, Yorkshire, in a bid to determine the future of the conference, but the discussion there has a hollow ring, because the main Roman Catholic political group in Ulster, the Social Democrat and Labour Party, has boycotted the talks. The delegates agreed yesterday that Northern Ireland should not become part of the Irish Republic without the consent of the majority in the province, and that some form of regional assembly was needed.