Children's toys and flowers at the 'Little Angels' memorial plot in Bessborough, Co Cork Image: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie Children's toys and flowers at the 'Little Angels' memorial plot in Bessborough, Co Cork Image: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie THE UNITED NATIONS Human Rights Committee has called on the Irish State to thoroughly investigate all allegations of human rights abuses in mother and baby homes and related institutions.
Under current proposals by the Government, all mothers who spent time in an institution are eligible to apply for redress – but a person who spent time in an institution as a child is only eligible if they spent at least six months there. The UN committee called for this legal waiver to be scrapped, and for Ireland to “take measures to ensure all human rights violations in these institutions are fully recognised”.
Transitional justice consists of the implementation of judicial and non-judicial processes in order to respond to legacies of human rights abuses. Such measures include criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, redress schemes, and various kinds of institutional reforms. She said that Ireland should investigate all alleged human rights violations related to these institutions and “where still possible, prosecute – and if found guilty, punish the perpetrators”.