IV
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 152
Expressing the sense of the Congress that all parties to the multiparty
peace talks regarding Northern Ireland should condemn violence and
fully integrate internationally recognized human rights standards and
adequately address outstanding human rights violations as part of the
peace process.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 17, 1997
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. KING, Mr. MANTON,
Mr. WALSH, Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. PAYNE,
Mr. SHAYS, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. ANDREWS, and Mrs. KENNELLY of Con-
necticut) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on International Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress that all parties to
the multiparty peace talks regarding Northern Ireland
should condemn violence and fully integrate internation-
ally recognized human rights standards and adequately
address outstanding human rights violations as part of
the peace process.
Whereas approximately 3,500 people have died and thousands
more have been injured as a result of the political vio-
lence in Northern Ireland since 1969;
Whereas both Loyalist and Republican paramilitary organiza-
tions in Northern Ireland have carried out terrorist ac-
HCON 152 IH
tivities, killing and permanently maiming innocent civil-
ians and members of the security forces;
Whereas hundreds of people—more than half unarmed have
been killed in Northern Ireland since 1969 by the use of
lethal force by members of the British police and security
forces, many in disputed and controversial circumstances;
Whereas the denial of human rights continue to be at the
heart of the violence and the conflict in Northern Ireland;
Whereas the Department of State’s Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices for 1996 and numerous other
reports released by international human rights organiza-
tions state that pervasive restrictions on due process of
law remain in effect in Northern Ireland;
Whereas emergency legislation, namely the Northern Ireland
Emergency Provisions Act and the Prevention of Terror-
ism Act, have provided the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC), Northern Ireland’s police force, with sweeping
powers to arrest and detain suspects, deny them access
to counsel for at least 48 hours, and search their prem-
ises without a warrant;
Whereas Northern Ireland’s Criminal Evidence Order and
section 34 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act
violate the rights not to be compelled to testify against
oneself and the presumption of innocence which are en-
shrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Politi-
cal Rights and the European Convention for the Protec-
tion of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to
which the United Kingdom is party;
Whereas an unnecessary reliance on emergency powers and
the absence of jury trials in Diplock courts has created
significant problems in the judiciary in Northern Ireland,
HCON 152 IH
including a dependency on confessions obtained through
abusive police tactics, and the acceptance, at face value,
of uncorroborated police statements, which have under-
mined the credibility of a significant number of convic-
tions in Northern Ireland;
Whereas these Diplock courts have, among other abuses, in-
consistently applied the controversial doctrine of common
purpose, convicting people such as Sean Kelly and Mi-
chael Timmons on the premise that they should have an-
ticipated the actions of others around them;
Whereas the United Nations Committee Against Torture and
many human rights organizations have raised serious
concerns about mistreatment of detainees in Northern
Ireland where suspects arrested under emergency legisla-
tion are interrogated in special holding centers and where
people such as William Bell are forced to sign confessions
under duress;
Whereas in 1996 the European Court of Human Rights
found that aspects of the detention regime in Northern
Ireland violated the European Convention for the Protec-
tion of Human Rights;
Whereas in 1994 the European Committee for the Prevention
of Torture concluded that ‘‘persons arrested in Northern
Ireland under the Prevention of Terrorism Act run a sig-
nificant risk of psychological forms of ill-treatment dur-
ing their detention at the holding centres and that on oc-
casion, resort may be had by detectives officers to forms
of physical ill-treatment’’;
Whereas the United Nations Human Rights Committee and
the Independent Commissioner for Holding Centers have
HCON 152 IH
recommended closing down the Castlereagh Interrogation
Center;
Whereas the emergency laws have also led to widespread life
threatening intimidation of defense attorneys and inter-
ference in the attorney-client relationship;
Whereas credible accusations persist that the RUC and other
security units have harassed citizens and leaked names of
solicitors and others to paramilitary groups;
Whereas the British authorities have failed to provide an ef-
fective means of independently investigating threats
against solicitors and complaints of police harassment
and abuse raised by citizens and solicitors;
Whereas the murder of Patrick Finucane, a leading defense
and civil rights solicitor, is just one case in which the
government has refused to release the findings of its in-
quiries and has ignored the call for independent public
inquiry for the purposes of identifying responsible par-
ties;
Whereas human rights organizations report that Loyalist and
Republican terrorists in Northern Ireland have carried
out ‘‘punishment attacks’’ against members of their own
communities, killing some and causing serious head and
body injuries to others by hanging people upside down,
hammering them with iron pipes and nailed and spiked
clubs, and driving metal spikes through knees and el-
bows;
Whereas punishment attacks by paramilitary groups are di-
rected at young people 14 and older as a means to force
obedience and coerce behavior, are often carried out
against middle-aged persons in front of their spouses and
HCON 152 IH
children, and at times harm people with no previous role
in the conflict because of mistaken identity;
Whereas in contravention of internationally recognized stand-
ards and despite criticism by the United Nations Com-
mittee Against Torture and the European Parliament,
the British Government uses plastic bullets only in
Northern Ireland and in a way that appears sectarian;
Whereas 17 people, including several children, have been
killed and several thousand wounded by the use of rubber
or plastic bullets since 1969;
Whereas Catholic males are more than twice as likely as
Protestant males to be unemployed, and a series of im-
portant proposals concerning employment equality await
serious attention by the Government;
Whereas the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, the 1993 Joint
Declaration, and the 1995 Framework Document were
signed by the British and Irish Governments as means to
facilitate justice, peace, stability, and an end to violence
in Northern Ireland;
Whereas the Framework Document strongly renounced vio-
lence, launched a new schedule for multi-party talks, and
committed both the British and Irish Governments to the
active pursuit of human rights measures;
Whereas the multi-party talks, attended by the representa-
tives of the British and Irish Governments and represent-
atives elected from the political parties and chaired by
former United States Senator George Mitchell, which re-
sumed on September 15, 1997;
Whereas the restoration of the Irish Republican Army cease-
fire on July 20, 1997, has been declared ‘‘genuine’’ by
the British Government, opening the talks to Sinn Fein,
HCON 152 IH
the political party which had heretofore been excluded be-
cause of its refusal to denounce violence;
Whereas the objectives of the United States, which has con-
tributed to the International Fund for Ireland, has al-
ways been to help facilitate a just and lasting peace
based on a guarantee of human rights and fair employ-
ment opportunities for members on both sides of the con-
flict; and
Whereas, in our diverse Nation there are over 40,000,000
Americans who claim Irish Heritage and are concerned
about civil rights issues in Northern Ireland: Now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That—
(1) the Congress condemns the violence com-
mitted by paramilitary groups on both sides of the
conflict in Northern Ireland and, at times, by agents
of the British Government, as illegal, unjust, and in-
humane;
(2) the Congress commends and supports those
in the British and Irish Governments who are build-
ing on the accomplishments of the Anglo-Irish
Agreement, the Joint Declaration, and the Frame-
work Documents by bringing the various political
parties into the current negotiations and creating an
environment in which negotiations may be reached
expeditiously through inclusive talks;
(3) it is the sense of the Congress that—