UN to slam RUC and judiciary
Devastating report will increase pressure to disband
RUC
By Mary Maguire
A United Nations report into the treatment of defence
lawyers in the North is expected to embarrass the
British government when it is released at the end of
this month. The report is thought to contain
information linking the Crown Forces with loyalist
death squad activity and is expected to establish that
those lawyers defending republicans have been subject
to intimidation, harassment, intrusive surveillance and
death threats from the RUC.
The issues of RUC interrogation methods, denial of a
solicitor's presence during questioning, the absence of
audio recording and the right to silence will be
assessed.
Dr Data Param Cumaraswamy, a special envoy of the UN
secretary general is to release this report on the
independence of judges and lawyers around 31 March. It
will presented in Geneva at the UN Commission for Human
Rights in front of representatives of 53 governments
and more than 2000 representatives from leading human
rights' groups.
A source described the report as, ``politically,
extremely sensitive''.
He said, ``this report is going to have the effect of a
bomb. No one can accuse the UN of being partial. The
United Kingdom is a member of the UN and therefore this
report is going to be a true slap in the face for
London and the securocrats who have refused to take
responsibility for the flaws in the justice and
policing system.''
Dr Cumaraswamy spent 10 days in Belfast and London in
October last year. During his visit to the North, he
called for a full judicial inquiry into the murder of
Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, killed by the UDA in
February 1989. He has seen hard evidence of Crown Force
involvement in the murder as well as reports on the
Brian Nelson case. UDA intelligence officer Nelson was
an agent with British military intelligence - he
organised the Finucane killing.
Dr Cumaraswamy is said to have been very affected by a
visit to Mr Finucane's family and has expressed great
concern about the words of Home Office Minister Douglas
Hogg, who told the British parliament just weeks before
the murder that certain Irish lawyers were ``sympathetic
to terrorists''.
During his stay in Belfast, Dr Cumaraswamy also
criticised the Law Society for refusing to protect its
members from RUC threats. He regretted that only some
20 of the 1400 lawyers and 5 to 10 barristers
courageously defended politically sensitive case on
behalf of clients ill-treated in prisons or
interrogation centres. These lawyers are subject to
death threats from the RUC, conveyed through their
clients in holding centres.
The special rapporteur visited Castlereagh and Gough
holding centres. Speculation is mounting about the way
that Dr Cumaraswamy might have been forced to censor
parts of his report. A source added, ``another weak
point may be the fact that lawyers under threat are
reported to have rarely documented or formally made
complaints to the RUC or the Law Society.''
The report is currently in the hands of British
governmental agencies who are said to be extremely
nervous about its timing. At such a critical time in
the peace process, Dr Cumaraswamy's assessment may well
prove that there is no alternative but the disbandment
of the RUC.
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