NCJ Number
142102
Date Published
1991
Length
198 pages
Annotation
Based on a January 1991 site visit to Northern Ireland, this report concludes that human rights abuses are persistent and ongoing in Northern Ireland and that they affect both Protestants and Catholics.
Abstract
These abuses are committed by both government security forces and paramilitary groups in violation of international human rights and humanitarian laws and standards. Security forces have broad powers to stop and question people, to search their homes, to detain them without charges for as long as 7 days, and to exclude them from Northern Ireland or Great Britain. The right to trial by jury has been suspended for offenses related to terrorism. Political violence occurs daily, and almost 2,900 people have died as a result of it since 1969. Recommended measures to address these abuses include a standard of "absolute necessity" for the use of deadly force by the police and the army, thorough and prompt investigations of killings by security forces, a ban on the use of plastic bullets for crowd control, reforms in detention policy and practice, and a gradual resumption of trial by jury for offenses related to political violence.