University of Sussex
Browse
O'Sullivan&Fazaeli_Strategic Use_Ireland v UK case.pdf (680.81 kB)

Multilateralism, human rights and the 1970s: insights from Ireland's role in the development of the human rights field

Download (680.81 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-15, 20:51 authored by Aisling O'SullivanAisling O'Sullivan, Roja Fazaeli
The Ireland v United Kingdom case concerns the treatment of detainees by British security forces in Northern Ireland and the implementation of internment or detention without trial, introduced in Northern Ireland in 1971. By reading human rights ‘as a language’ and ‘an endless semantic battlefield’, we explore how the Irish Government in the Ireland v United Kingdom case sought to use the European Convention of Human Rights strategically to secure its own political assessment towards internment and the controversial interrogation methods as a legal outcome before a regional human rights institution. In this sense, the Irish legal team re-described and reframed the Irish Government’s political position on the use of internment and of interrogation methods in the language of Convention and according to concepts developed within the European Commission of Human Rights jurisprudence. We focus on two strategic moves that the Irish legal team pursued at the admissibility and merits stages of the European Commission of Human Rights proceedings, namely, submitting a wider range of allegations, alongside article 3 allegations, as an administrative practice and advocating for the hearing of expert testimony on the use of the interrogation methods (the ‘five techniques’). We explore these strategic moves in order to illustrate the semantic battlefield in operation and the potential limits of the strategic use of human rights as a language.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Irish Studies in International Affairs

ISSN

0332-1460

Publisher

Royal Irish Academy

Volume

29

Page range

181-197

Department affiliated with

  • Law Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research Publications
  • Crime Research Centre Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-10-25

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2018-12-13

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-10-24

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC