Equality and Human Rights Commission

March 2016 1 5

heIrishHumanRightsandEquality

Commission (IHREC) has just

launcheditsrstStrategyStatement.

This sets out an aspiration to be

“alignedtoanambitiousandcoura-

geousapproachtoequalityandhumanrights”.

Thereismuchthatispositiveandpromising,

however,therearesomeindicationsthatambi-

tionandcouragemightnotbesufcientlytothe

fore.

Oneofthevestrategicgoalsisthe“proac-

tive implementation of our legal powers, in

particularpublicduty”.Actionscommittedto

includeensuringthatduty-bearers

are more effectively held to

account.Thismustsurely

promise ambition and

courage.

But any sense of

ambition is tem

pered by the

limited aim of

duty-bearers:

“being measura-

blymoreawareof

theirobligations”.

Itisonethingtobe

awareofobligations,

anothertoactonthem.

Anysenseoftheimpera-

tiveofcourageistempered

becausetheclaricationandfur-

therdevelopmentofhumanrightsand

equalitylawisidentiedastheindicatorofsuc-

cess. Thisindicator suggeststhe IHRECwill

prioritiseitssupportforcasesdeemedstrate-

gic for its capacity to achieve new legal

interpretationsofthelawintheCourts.Amore

courageousapproachwouldhavebeentosup-

portacriticalnumberofcases,sufcientto

developandsustainacultureofcompliance

withthelawamongpolicymakers,employers

andservice-providers.

TheIHREClaunchwasaccompaniedbyan

extraordinarypressreleasefromInclusionIre-

land,thecivilsocietyorganisationpromoting

the rights of people with intellectual

disabilities.OnthebackoftheÁrasAttracta

scandalandvariousHIQAreportshighlighting

humanrightsabusesagainstpeoplewithdis-

abilitiesinresidentialsettings,ithadrequested

IHRECtoconductaninquiryintothecontinued

useofsuchcongregatedsettingsandtheinad-

equatepaceofde-institutionalisationofpeople

withdisabilities.ItnotedanInquiryhadbeen

requestedayearagoinFebruary2015without

response. This raises serious questions of

ambitionandcourageonthepartofIHREC.

TheemphasisonthepublicdutyintheIHREC

Strategyreectsimportantambition.Theleg-

islationthatestablishedtheIHRECin

2014 included a new duty on

public-sector bodies “to

haveregardto”eliminat-

ing discrimination,

promotingequalityof

opportunityandpro-

tecting human

rights in carrying

outtheirfunctions.

Thiswasadramatic

developmentinour

human rights and

equalitylegislation.

However,thispublic-

sectordutyhasyettobe

implementedtoanyextent.

Public sector organisations

havearguedthattheyawaitguid-

ancefromIHRECbeforefulllingwhatisstill

an obligation on them. The development of

guidance,supportsandactionbyIHRECtopro-

moteandenforcethepublic-sectordutywillbe

keytorealisingthepotentialinthisnewduty.

IHREC launch its Strategy in a context of

growinglevelsofeconomicinequality,poverty

anddeprivation.ItiscourageousthattheStrat-

egyplacesparticularemphasisonsocialand

economicrights.Actionscommittedtoinclude:

human rights and equality prooﬁng budgetary

processes, “enhanced support for expanded

protection measures for socio-economic

rights”, and ensuring public awareness, under-

standing and support for socio-economic

rights. Thisactivitywillbecentraltoanyambi-

tiontocontributetofulllinghumanrightsand

achievingequality.

TheStrategyincludesagoalof“promoting

understandingoftheindivisibilityofequality

andhumanrights”.Humanrightsareindivisi-

bleinsofarasyoucannot cherry-pick which

humanrightsyouwishtorespect,protectand

full.However,thegoalappearstomisunder-

stand the difference between equality and

humanrights,andtoputatriskthechallenge

ofintegratingthesetwomandatesinamanner

thatisbenecialtoboth.

Theexperienceofintegratingthesetwoman-

datesinasinglebodyhasnotbeenpromising,

acrosstheEuropeanUnion.Thereisagrowing

practiceofmergingequalitybodiesandnational

humanrightsinstitutions.Thelanguage,tradi-

tion,andapproachofhumanrightshastended

to dominate in these merged bodies to the

exclusionofsomeoftheconcernsandambi

tionsforequality.Thelanguageofhumanrights

isalreadyover-usedintheIHRECStrategyand

thisdoesnotbodewell.

The Strategy establishes a concern for

“implementing and monitoring equality and

humanrights standards”.Human rights are

minimuminternationally-setstandards.Non-

discrimination is one of these standards.

Equalityis,sadly,notrecognisedassuchamin-

imumstandard.Equatingequalityandhuman

rightsinthismannerrisksreducingtheambi-

tionforequalitytotheminimumstandardof

non-discrimination.Equalityshould,however,

beaboutseekingmoresubstantiveoutcomes

ofeconomic,political,culturalandaffective

equalityfor individuals, groups and society

itself.

ThereisworktobedonebyIHRECinintegrat-

ingitsmandatesforequalityandhumanrights.

Otherwisetheambitionforhumanrightswill

compromisetheambitionforequalitythatmust

accompanyit.

A more courageous

approach would be to

support a critical number

of cases, sufﬁcient to

develop and sustain a

culture of compliance

with the law among

policy makers

Equality and Human

Rights Commission

Ambition and courage are not to

the fore in the IHREC

by Niall Crowley

POLITICS