KC praises Ireland’s Human Rights Council election
Ireland’s election to a three-year term on the United Nations Human Rights Council this week (13 October) comes at a pivotal time in the international rule of law, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC has said.
“I congratulate Ireland on its election,” the KC said at an event marking ten years of the LSRA at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin 2.
Gallagher noted that the election came as the International Criminal Court was subjected to sanctions by the US government.
“Ireland’s membership of the Human Rights Council at such a critical time is a key element of [its] foreign policy, protecting and defending human rights,” she said.
The election comes amid international conflicts, human-rights violations, and tensions surrounding the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Dangers
The KC said that those defending human rights faced escalating dangers, and lawyers were increasingly targeted by authoritarian regimes, citing the examine of Essex Court Chambers being sanctioned by the Chinese government for providing human-rights advice.
Gallagher said that Ireland should leverage its expertise in commercial law and arbitration in this wider field.
“We actually have a leadership role, which we can and should play in relation to international human-rights and social-justice law in a transnational international way," she stated.
“We have seen how the authoritarians of the world get creative in targeting human-rights law, and it’s time for us, as defenders of human-rights law, to get creative too,” she stated.