Amnesty accuses Ireland of putting profit before p

[earl]

Amnesty accuses Ireland of putting profit before people

AMNESTY International has accused Ireland of protecting American investment in the country ahead of the need to protect human rights.

The human rights organisation's most senior global official yesterday highlighted the alleged use of Shannon airport for the secret and illegal transfer of prisoners to US camps.

Amnesty's Secretary-General Irene Khan said in London that US assurances it did not transport prisoners through Shannon "were really not worth the paper they were written on". And Irish executive director Colm O'Gorman told the Irish Independent there was a perception Ireland had "placed economic success above the rendition and illegal transportation of boys and men for the purposes of torture".

The hard-hitting comments , however, are unlikely to change the Government's policy of refusing to put pressure on the US over the flights.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: "The Government is unequivocally opposed to extraordinary rendition and have made this clear to the US on many occasions. The assurances given to Ireland, and confirmed at the highest level, are of a particular clarity and comprehensiveness in the wider European context.

"It remains the case that there is no evidence, nor even a single concrete or credible allegation, that any extraordinary rendition has ever taken place through Ireland."

But Mr O'Gorman added: "The Government must now come out and explain its stance of just accepting assurances from the US.

"What's behind the thinking on this, is it, as some believe is the real subtext, that we we are putting US investments in Ireland above our obligations in regard to human rights?"

[Bilk]

The US is the most powerful nation in the world, I don't blame the Irish for what they might be doing. The British and many other countries are guilty of the same sins. They are ignoring the wishes of there own people, and siding with the Americans.
And amnesty are right it is about greenbacks. It has nothing to do with right or wrong, it has to do with the mighty dollar and where it might go.

[Jim]

I've a certain dislike for Amnesty International, I think they whinge too much, they condemn this and that but offer little alternatives and often fail to see the context and the situation in which a nation takes a decision. What exactly was IReland going to do, tell the yanks to shove it up their arse?

The Irish Government should take action and make sure every plane that lands in Shannon airport is free of people being transported for torture, and hold all those responsable on their territory as they would with any other nation and did with various British spies, but they won't, and there is good reason. Amnesty doesn't like to know reasons, they just like to condemn, and stay silent in situations they don't want to be linked with.

[Bilk]

I have no love for this organisation either nd for all the same reasons you have given. They have a habit of telling governments what they shouldn't do, they never make any suggestions as to what it is they should do.

[collina]

May 31, 2008 9:52:34 GMT Jim said:

I've a certain dislike for Amnesty International, I think they whinge too much, they condemn this and that but offer little alternatives and often fail to see the context and the situation in which a nation takes a decision. What exactly was IReland going to do, tell the yanks to shove it up their arse?

The Irish Government should take action and make sure every plane that lands in Shannon airport is free of people being transported for torture, and hold all those responsable on their territory as they would with any other nation and did with various British spies, but they won't, and there is good reason. Amnesty doesn't like to know reasons, they just like to condemn, and stay silent in situations they don't want to be linked with.

But Amnesty have a point. We've turned into a nation of hypocrites. Its not that long since we had the ECJ condemn the British for torture in Northern Ireland. We brought that case because we said innocent people were subject to regular brutality by the RUC and the British Army and many were not even charged or had the benefit of due process.

Why have we changed the rules for the USA? Look what they are doing on Guantanamo. Look what the British Army are doing to innocent prisoners in Abu Ghraib . Humiliating and brutalising men, many of whom have had no charge brought against them.

The real whiners here are the us (the Irish) not Amnesty. At least Amnesty are looking after the welfare others instead of themselves.

I am always suspicious of decriers of Amnesty. We used to love them when they pointed the finger at the Brits, but now it's pointed firmly at us too, we won't listen. I'm not a member of any group, but if I was, it might be Amnesty.

Remember the old monologue "they came for the Jews and I said nothing, etc, etc", "....."then they came for me and there was nobody left to stop them". Well the only group I know that are actually doing something to fight injustice in the world is Amnesty.

The rest of us stand by like cowards and say " oh well what could we do, we're too small". Well, we weren't too small to throw out the British Empire. Now we are in the USA Multi-national empire, it's greed and not size that stops us demanding the same level of justice and democracy for Muslims, we once demanded for ourselves. We've sold out and I'm glad Amnesty are here to remind us of that.

[Bilk]

I agree with an awful lot of what you say here, but there is something missing like I and others have said. You can't just go condeming people without first having some idea what those people should be doing. We can all stand back and condem, that's easy, coming up with suggestions as to what should be done is a whole new ball game. And one amnesty have never addressed.

[Jim]

Oh, they certainly have a point, but what are they going to do about it? Sit in their offices giving statements and getting students to annoy people in shopping centers to sign up with them?

I've never loved Amnesty and they didn't do very much in Ireland, a lot turned a blind eye because it was closer to home, fair enough to those that didn't, but they certainly had nothing to do with any change we have made.