>> tightening the legislative control on journalists in relation to
>> Ireland".
>>
>> Ironically, contempt of court legislation, traditionally used to
>> suppress the truth, is also threatening journalists refusing to
>> pass confidential information to the Saville Inquiry into Bloody
>> Sunday. The impetus here is exposing the truth, yet for
>> journalists the dilemma remains the same.
>>
>> Alex Thompson of Channel Four News, documentary film maker Peter
>> Taylor and Daily Telegraph correspondent Toby Harnden are all
>> currently facing possible contempt of court actions because they
>> are refusing to name their sources.
>>
>> In his recent findings, UN Special Rapporteur Abid Hussain
>> considered "the use of the Official Secrets Act to prosecute
>> journalists and writers to be incompatible with media freedom.
>>
>> The UN official criticised the "attacks against the
>> internationally recognised principle of the confidentiality of
>> journalists' sources." Abid Hussain said emergency powers and the
>> Official Secrets Act had restricted investigative journalism and
>> should be scrapped.
>>
>> The British government should immediately disband emergency
>> legislation like the Prevention of Terrorism Act which "have a
>> chilling effect on the right to freedom and expression," said the
>> UN report.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> >>>>>> Murdered girl remembered
>>
>> Hundreds gathered on Sunday to remember Carol Ann Kelly who was
>> shot dead by a British soldier yards from her home in 1981.
>>
>> Carol Ann - the third youngest of 11 children from Cherry Park in
>> Twinbrook - was walking home after fetching a pint of milk for a
>> neighbour when she was struck on the head by a plastic bullet.
>>
>> On Sunday, three generations of the Kelly family gathered to lay
>> wreaths at the memorial, and after prayers planted a cherry tree
>> in remembrance before staging a minute's silence.
>>
>> Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams described the commemoration as a
>> "hugely sad" occasion for the Kelly family.
>>
>> "As far as the state is concerned it is as if Carol Ann never
>> existed," he said.
>>
>> "And like so many others her death was surrounded by lies. The
>> British claimed there was a riot - there wasn't."
>>
>> Mr Adams said that in the 30 years of use of plastic bullets
>> there had been 17 deaths of which nine were children.
>>
>> "No member of the RUC or British army has ever been convicted of
>> its misuse," he said.
>>
>> Mr Adams said that in any "normal" society police would have been
>> called to investigate the death of Carol Ann Kelly.
>>
>> "That never happened here," he said.
>>
>> Relatives For Justice spokesman Mark Thompson said the sad
>> occasion served to remind people that no one side had a monopoly
>> on suffering.
>>
>> "There is a sense of amnesia out there over victims of state
>> violence. Some people don't want to recognise the hurt caused by
>> the British army and the RUC," he said.
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> >>>>>> Garda-RUC boxing team protest
>>
>>
>> Sinn Fein picketed the Department of Justice headquarters at St
>> Stephen's Green in Dublin yesterday evening in protest at
>> 26-County Garda police joining an RUC boxing team in Belfast
>> tonight.
>>
>> Councillor Larry O'Toole said:
>>
>> "When nationalists in the North cannot join the RUC because of
>> its appalling human rights record and its political role in
>> enforcing the rule of the Orange state, it is inconceivable that
>> Gardai can join an RUC representative side."
>>
>> The Dublin councillor accused the Garda authorities of "mixing
>> politics with sport" because the RUC team "is an official
>> representative side, representing all that the RUC stands for and
>> has been responsible for, including its long history of human
>> rights abuses".
>>
>> "Does anyone think the Garda authorities could get away with
>> ignoring the human rights record of the Serbian Police and play
>> sport with them?" Councillor O'Toole asked. "The Garda are
>> mixing sport with politics by lending credibility to and
>> endorsing the police force with the worst human rights record in
>> Western Europe."
>>
>> Councillor O'Toole said this week's announcement that no RUC
>> officer is to be prosecuted for issuing death threats against
>> murdered human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson would have caused
>> outrage in official circles in any other country. "That decision
>> alone should cause the Department of Justice and the Garda boxing
>> authorities to think again."
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> >>>>>> New Zealand calls for Nelson inquiry
>>
>>
>>
>> Over the past 14 months, Information on Ireland, the New Zealand
>> Irish solidarity group, has been campaigning for an independent
>> and impartial investigation into the killing of civil rights
>> solicitor Rosemary Nelson, who died in March 1999 in a car bomb
>> attack outside her home in Lurgan, County Armagh. The killing was
>> preceded by threats against her by members of the Royal Ulster
>> Constabulary.
>>
>> Last year, Information on Ireland presented the facts of the case
>> to Auckland lawyers sympathetic to Irish affairs. These facts
>> were then put to the NZ Law Society which, in turn, raised the
>> case with the British government.
>>
>> This year, on the anniversary of Rosemary Nelson's death, the NZ
>> Law Society again wrote to the British government expressing its
>> concern and urging Prime Minister Tony Blair to ensure that his
>> government meets its international obligations to carry out an
>> independent and impartial inquiry into Nelson's death.
>>
>> Law Society President Ian Haynes wrote: "The NZ Law Society is
>> concerned that, given the allegations that Rosemary Nelson had
>> experienced threatening behaviour from the RUC and the
>> speculation of collusion in her murder by RUC, involvement by RUC
>> in an investigation... does not give the appearance of an
>> independent and impartial investigation.
>>
>> "The failure to protect Rosemary Nelson, despite complaints from
>> her, an appeal by the United Nations, and the failure to be seen
>> to initiate an impartial investigation into her death undermines
>> the rule of law in Northern Ireland.
>>
>> "I respectfully urge you to ensure that the UK government meets
>> its international obligations to carry out an independent and
>> impartial enquiry into Rosemary Nelson's death. Further, I urge
>> you to ensure that there is an independent investigation into the
>> allegations of RUC harassment and intimidation against Rosemary
>> Nelson and other lawyers in Northern Ireland, and the failure of
>> the RUC and the Northern Ireland office to protect Rosemary
>> Nelson's life."
>>
>> The office of the British Prime Minister replied that the Law
>> Society's views would be passed on to the Northern Ireland
>> Office. Information on Ireland also passed copies of the
>> correspondence on to the Irish Consulate in New Zealand to
>> forward to Leinster House in Dublin as an indication of the
>> worldwide concern over this matter.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> >>>>>> CRJ: Community response to crime
>>
>>
>>
>> With the row over British legislation on RUC reform ringing in
>> our ears the debate over the response to teenage crime and
>> anti-social behaviour in working class communities across the
>> North rages on.
>>
>> The Policing Bill, published last week in the British parliament,
>> is already under fire from republicans. According to Sinn Fein
>> President Gerry Adams it "represents a major departure from the
>> Patten Report".
>>
>> And while for some this debate might only have its place in the
>> bigger political picture, the continuing denial of a proper
>> policing service reverberates throughout nationalist
>> communities. In nationalist aeas in particular, the RUC defended
>> the state while allowing crime to flourish.
>>
>> This week, Marty Morris from the Upper Springfield, in Belfast,
>> who is involved in the area's Community Restorative Justice (CRJ)
>> programme spoke about the fears in communities across Belfast
>> about violent crime involving teenagers.
>>
>> Last Wednesday members of the Upper Springfield put on display an
>> array of weapons, including a machete, which they took from
>> teenagers in the area. Earlier in the week these same knives were
>> used against local man Peter McCausland, who was stabbed four
>> times and feels he is lucky to be alive.
>>
>> "We want the Patten report implemented in full," says Morris.
>> "Our communities deserve to be policed properly and the RUC can't
>> provide that service. It's almost two weeks since Peter
>> McCausland was stabbed and the RUC have yet to contact him to get
>> a statement.
>>
>> "It is almost as if the RUC are looking on this as 'Taigs
>> attacking Taigs' so let them get on with it".
>>
>> As a key worker in the CRJ programme, Marty Morris explained that
>> his group is dealing with "more and more cases", given that
>> people don't trust the RUC.
>>
>> "As the concept of CRJ becomes more familiar to people they are
>> more likely to bring their grievances to us. People have asked us
>> to be involved in disputes between neighbours, in assaults and in
>> incidents of domestic violence. We seek resolution to problems
>> and we shouldn't forget that when the RUC went to a domestic
>> dispute in Newtownabbey three weeks ago a young man was shot
>> dead."
>>
>> Calling for the full implementation of the Patten report is not
>> however simply about scoring political points against the RUC, it
>> points up the lack of commitment by the statutory bodies to the
>> CRJ programme.
>>
>> The RUC, of course, is opposed to the scheme maintaining that it
>> is the only body with the authority to enforce law and order.
>>
>> "With hundreds of volunteers coming forward to be trained in CRJ
>> techniques, the commitment to the scheme is growing", said
>> Morris. "We have so many people voluntarily giving of their time
>> to tackle these problems collectively that we are getting
>> somewhere, but I would appeal for more people to become
>> involved."
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> >>>>>> Analysis: Welcoming the New Irish
>>
>> By Irina Malenko
>>
>>
>> Ireland, North and South, is visibly becoming increasingly
>> multicultural. There are always a lot of sentiments involved when
>> people feel that, using Bob Marley's words, "things are not the
>> way they used to be". As a Russian, I probably understand it
>> better than many people, because my own entire country, with its
>> entire different social system and a unique life style,
>> disappeared just over ten years ago.
>>
>> Some people in Ireland are frightened of the consequences of this
>> new process; scared of people who look different, dress
>> different, speak different languages, have different daily
>> habits. This fear is not something uniquely Irish. Back in
>> Russia, people aren't used to different looking and speaking
>> newcomers either: my home city of Tula was closed to foreigners
>> up until 1993! If you come there now, and people suspect -- by
>> your clothes, for example -- that you are "nerussky"
>> (non-Russian), they would most probably come to you and test if
>> their suspicions were correct by asking you in Russian: "What
>> time is it?" -- just to see what you will answer. Sometimes, just
>> as here, they choose to blame the "nerussky" for all their
>> problems.
>>
>> Life is never again the same when people of different ethnic
>> backgrounds from all around the world come into your country --
>> but such is life in general. It consists of constant changes,
>> whether some of us like it or not.
>>
>> I am not speaking only about the asylum seekers, or as those
>> looking for scapegoats prefer to call them, "the bogus refugees".
>>
>> The media forgets 9 times out of 10 about those foreign workers
>> here who bring the skills so much needed by the Celtic Tiger.
>> Most of these workers are employed in the growing number of
>> international call centres. These are also becoming one of the
>> most exploited groups of modern workers. Most of these workers
>> (although not exclusively) are European nationals who are
>> prepared to accept poor conditions because of the lack of
>> employment in their own countries. They are hoping that in a few
>> years time they will be able to return and benefit from their
>> Irish work experience. But not all of them will go home. Some
>> will settle down in Ireland.
>>
>> As the Dublin government is preparing to issue up to 10,000
>> working visas to non-EU nationals because of the labour
>> shortages, I think it is important for Irish people to be honest
>> with themselves and to realise from the very beginning of this
>> process that many of those who will come here will choose to
>> stay. After World War II, for example, France and the Netherlands
>> experienced similar shortages and invited many workers from
>> Morocco or Turkey to their shores. The intention was that they
>> would go home when they were no longer needed, but this never
>> happened. Instead, the newcomers eventually received the right to
>> be reunited with their families and settled down permanently in
>> those countries, which often forget now how much they are obliged
>> for their current wealth to these very people.
>>
>> The best way to help the newcomers to adjust better to "Irish
>> ways and Irish laws" would be through learning about and
>> understanding their culture so that the Irish, in their turn,
>> could better explain to them the way things work in this country.
>> This is particularly important for those working with the
>> foreigners on a daily basis -- for example, Irish civil servants.
>> I faced this problem while interpreting for asylum seekers: what
>> struck me was the lack of real expertise from the Irish side on
>> this issue. There were major misunderstandings and
>> misinterpretations during the interviews caused by the absence of
>> knowledge of conditions in the countries of origin of the asylum
>> seekers by the civil servants (they were doing their best,
>> undertaking research on the Internet and things like that, but it
>> was obviously not enough). Similar words also have totally
>> different meanings in different languages, and when the
>> interpreter is not a native speaker, it is so easy to confuse
>> things.
>>
>> The numbers of the asylum seekers and foreigners coming to
>> Ireland do not seem scary if you get the proper information about
>> these numbers in other countries. For example, the Netherlands --
>> a country smaller that Ireland and with a population of almost 16
>> million -- receives every year between 48,000 and 60,000 newcomers
>> who come and stay, one way or another.
>>
>> We often hear here in Ireland about "Dutch detention ships" for
>> refugees. What we don't hear is that this measure is a very new
>> one in the Netherlands and that if a person has stayed at least
>> three years, authorities have virtually no right to deport them,
>> as they are considered to be sufficiently integrated into Dutch
>> society. The Dutch government provides subsidised language
>> courses for newcomers and they get, for example, the right to
>> receive student grants and to go to university after holding a
>> residence permit for a year. The Dutch have a lengthier and more
>> in-depth experience of dealing with the immigration, and the best
>> thing would be not to look just at those bloody boats but to
>> learn from the positive sides of their experience as a whole:
>> integration, schools in different languages, ethnic newspapers
>> and radio stations, multicultural festivals, like the yearly
>> Caribbean Carnival in Rotterdam.
>>
>> Having worked in various multinational companies and having lived
>> in various countries, I can really call myself lucky that I had a
>> chance in my life to meet so many people of various ethnic and
>> cultural backgrounds. Back at home, years ago, in our
>> closed-from-outsiders society, I could only dream of this
>> opportunity.
>>
>> I believe that it is time for Sinn Fein to think seriously about
>> attracting immigrants -- people of non-Irish origin living in this
>> country -- to join the party. Those who have chosen to spend the
>> rest of their lives in Ireland will have to (and in many cases
>> want to!) learn about politics here, and it's Sinn Fein's task to
>> show the New Irish that it is the only real radical alternative
>> to the establishment that is trying so hard to put them back on
>> the boat.
>>
>> When I came to Ireland, I knew more about Sinn Fein than most
>> other immigrants. In fact, it was the only Irish party that was
>> known in Russia (we never heard of Fianna Fail or Fine Gael, but
>> the name Sinn Fein was regularly in the news!). I know of other
>> foreigners who live here and are thinking of joining Sinn Fein,
>> but they are not sure that they can do it and that they will be
>> welcome.
>>
>> It might not seem an urgent issue. But if Sinn Fein is thinking
>> about the future and wants to build up its political strength,
>> tit is a good time to start working on this, in the Six and 26
>> Counties
>>
>> The only way to show that Sinn Fein can show that it is really
>> internationalist, not just when people come to the party as
>> guests at the annual conference, is to accept into the
>> organisation new members of different nationalities and to
>> encourage them to join, so that we can build a new Ireland
>> together.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> c. RM Distribution and others. Articles may be reprinted with credit.
>>
>> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>> RM Distribution
>> Irish Republican News and Information
>> http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
>>
>> PO Box 160, Galway, Ireland Phone/Fax: (353)1-6335113
>> PO Box 8630, Austin TX 78713, USA mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>>
>>
>> RMD1000523180820p2
>>
>
>
__________________________________
KOMINFORM
P.O. Box 66
00841 Helsinki - Finland
+358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081
e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.kominf.pp.fi
___________________________________
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe/unsubscribe messages
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________
