Ireland

Humanitarian and step-sister of Anne Frank addresses Amnesty International conference in Dublin

Amnesty International tentatively welcomes inclusion of Citizens’ Assembly on Eighth Amendment in Programme for Partnership

DUBLIN, 5th May 2016 - Amnesty International Ireland today welcomed reports that the draft “Programme for Partnership” document agreed between Fine Gael and Independents, if forming a minority government, includes a commitment to establishing a Citizens’ Assembly on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

Tell the next Irish Government that it MUST expand access to abortion

Ireland’s laws on abortion violate the human rights of women and girls. And people in Ireland want that to end. 87% want expanded access to abortion. 69% think this should be a priority for the next government and 73% want a referendum to repeal the 8th amendment.

Government refers Constitutional Convention recommendation supported by 85% of delegates to Oireachtas Committee

Northern Ireland’s cruel and outdated abortion laws must be urgently reformed, said Amnesty International today in response to reports that a 21-year-old woman from Northern Ireland is at risk of life imprisonment if found guilty of allegedly supplying and taking so-called ‘abortion pills’.
 
The woman faces two charges: the first involves unlawfully taking poisonous substances, namely the drugs Mifepristone and Misoprostol, to terminate the pregnancy. The second charge is supplying or procuring a poison, knowing that it was to be used to induce a miscarriage.

New data shows that almost 25,000 women from across Ireland, north and south, travelled to have abortions in England and Wales – an average of close to 100 terminations every week over the past five years.

Amnesty International Ireland today welcomed the Dáil's  passing an amendment to the 2001 Mental Health Act removing the ability to administer electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) on people against their will.

Amnesty International has welcomed today’s Belfast High Court decision in a Judicial Review case which found that laws governing abortion in Northern Ireland in cases of severe and fatal impairment of the foetus and sexual crime are in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Campaigners have welcomed a vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly today, which saw a majority of Assembly members vote in favour of marriage equality for the first time.

“These cruel and dangerous abortion laws have no place in a modern country.” – Graham Linehan