Ms Fiona Crowley:

I thank the committee for the kind invitation to come before it today to discuss Ireland's upcoming review by the UN Human Rights Committee. As the committee will know, in November, the UN Human Rights Committee published its list of issues, seeking further information from the Government on key areas in Ireland's periodic report. The Government submitted its response on 24 February 2014. In our submission to the committee, we highlighted some areas in the Government's reply which we believe the committee might usefully examine with a view to seeking further information and-or clarification from the Government in advance of the review. Ireland's past involvement in extraordinary renditions is one of those issues.
While there may be no direct evidence that victims of renditions physically transited Irish territory, it is beyond question that Shannon Airport has been used as a stop-over point by the US intelligence services in rendition circuits. We presented flight logs to the Government in 2005 showing that in at least five instances involving four known individuals, US aircraft used Ireland as a refuelling stop en routeto or returning from rendition missions.
A 2007 diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Dublin was released by WikiLeaks in 2010 describing a December 2007 meeting between the then US ambassador to Ireland and the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, which stated that the Minister "seemed quite convinced that at least three flights involving renditions had refuelled at Shannon Airport before or after conducting renditions elsewhere". We also know that the so-called assurances Ireland received from the US Government applied only to aircraft physically carrying rendition victims - no assurance has ever been given that the USA would not use Ireland as a staging post for rendition circuits. The Government in its reply to the UN Human Rights Committee's list of issues says that "no consent would be granted by the Irish authorities for the transit of an aircraft for the purposes of extraordinary rendition under any circumstances". But it is quite clear that the US aircraft that used Ireland did not seek such consent, so that is of very limited value.
It is also beyond question that, under international human rights law, Ireland has an obligation to investigate what happened, and to take measures to prevent the further use of its territory or airspace for such purposes. Victims of renditions have a right to truth and justice. This has been communicated to Ireland by the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee against Torture, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the Irish Human Rights Commission.
The committee has asked us today to "expand on what precise measures the State should put in place to ensure that aircraft suspected of involvement in 'extraordinary rendition' do not pass through the State's territory, and to investigate the previously alleged offences regarding Article 7 ICCPR obligations". I must reply that the answer to the first part of the question lies in the second part. The precise measures the State should put in place to ensure that aircraft linked to rendition do not transit Ireland can only be determined through the State's effectively investigating how this happened in the first place.

The precise gaps in Irish law, policy and practice that enabled those aircraft to circumvent Irish law can only be revealed by an investigation with full powers and resources to compel data and information that might otherwise be considered sensitive or be hidden. Amnesty International Ireland corresponded with previous Governments over a number of years. We asked them to put in place adequate measures to ensure this would not be repeated, but to no avail. In 2009, we published a briefing, Breaking the Chain, in which we set out a range of measures that might be considered. Copies of this briefing have been circulated to the members of the committee. Even though the briefing was published five years ago, it remains quite relevant, sadly. In the briefing, we paid particular regard to loopholes or gaps that potentially exist in Ireland's civil aviation law.

The Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952 prohibits foreign "military" aircraft from flying over or landing in the State without express permission from the Irish Government. It is not clear whether the section of the order that relates to aircraft engaging in "military service" covers aircraft owned, operated or commanded by foreign secret services, such as the CIA. If this order does not include secret services, such services may freely abuse the automatic overflight and landing clearances available to civilian aircraft. The USA's extraordinary renditions programme has used civilian overflight and landing procedures across the world by masquerading as civilian flights. In many countries, the law provides that aircraft controlled by foreign secret services are viewed as state aircraft and are not entitled to use civilian procedures. We still do not know what is covered in the law in Ireland.

It is made clear in Article 3 of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation that the automatic overflight and landing permissions required under that convention are limited to "civilian aircraft". It might be assumed that if our law in this regard were clarified, it would facilitate the Irish aviation authorities to demand from civilian aircraft making unscheduled stopovers the sort of information that would trigger suspicion of illegal activity. This sort of information would include full details of past and future itineraries, or of the crew and passengers. When we drew up our briefing, we were conscious that there may be domestic and international constraints on the sorts of measures we proposed. That is why we submitted it to the then Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Transport and asked for considered responses to our recommendations. We received no substantive response from either Minister. The Department of Transport referred us to the Department of Foreign Affairs, even though the regulation of civilian aircraft is within its remit. It is fair to say that the then Government had no appetite to engage with any of our suggestions.

As the committee is aware, the human rights committee in its list of issues has also sought information from Ireland on the "specific and concrete steps taken, beyond official assurances, to ensure that aircrafts used for the purpose of extraordinary rendition, whether they carry prisoners on board or not, do not pass through the territory of the State party". It is disappointing that the Government's response merely refers to the possibility that "anyone with evidence which suggests that any person has transited an Irish airport as part of an extraordinary rendition operation [can] make this evidence available to An Garda Síochána, so that an investigation can take place". At least this response reveals that the State evidently has nothing further to report on this.

I would like to come back to the need for an independent investigation. The human rights committee's list of issues also asks for details of any "measures .... taken to investigate past allegations". The Government's reply does not cite any form of investigation, other than Garda investigations of complaints of suspicious aircraft on a case-by-case basis. We can assume that no substantive or meaningful Government investigation has occurred. The precise form of the investigation we are seeking must be independent, comprehensive, effective and timely. The mechanism must have the resources and powers to compel the production of information. The question of whether the mechanism to be used should involve the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission or an Oireachtas committee with the necessary guarantees of independence from the Government's political parties, or whether an entirely new mechanism should be used, is a matter for discussion.

One way or the other, this issue will not go away until and unless an investigation is conducted. The European Parliament's resolution of 11 September 2012 shows that this remains a live issue across Europe. We must continue to remind the Government that the US renditions involved the international transfer of individuals in a manner that breached international law and resulted in grave human rights violations, including enforced disappearances and torture. In the programme for Government, the current Government promised to "enforce the prohibition on the use of Irish airspace, airports and related facilities for purposes not in line with the dictates of international law". No concrete action has emerged from this commitment to date. Amnesty International asks this committee to consider the recommendations we made in 2009 and raise them with the Government. Such an initiative might yield further information that could be of use to the human rights committee.