Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The Minister said that the convention is primarily a vertically effective instrument, by which he meant that it is designed as a means of redressing human rights violations as between the individual and the state. The prohibition on slavery is not a matter between the individual and the state. It is not a prohibition on slavery implemented by the state but a prohibition on slavery per se, which is a horizontal right according to the Minister's terminology. It is not simply that the state is prohibited from allowing slavery but that any citizen is entitled to redress if he or she is in a position vis-à-vis another citizen of slavery or servitude. The principal plank of the Minister's argument, that he does not want this to have a horizontal effect, is in contradiction with Article 4 of the convention, which has horizontal effects. By excluding the courts, we are making that more difficult.

I am not aware of a prohibition on slavery in the Constitution, although I am sure it is implied in the provisions on personal liberties. However, there is a prohibition of slavery in the European Convention on Human Rights and our courts should be required to enforce that right. We are effectively diluting the capacity to enforce it by not including the courts in this provision.