I just could not be more proud of the little NGO, Justice for Magdalenes, I co-founded back in 2003 with two other colleagues, no funding (a €26 account balance as we speak) and with less than a David-sized slingshot against a Goliath made of the Irish State and the Catholic Church.  But on Sunday, June 5, the United Nations made that slingshot and ammunition bigger. Tons of international press followed.  A tepid statement of "cooperation" was released by CORI (the Conference of Religious in Ireland, representing the four religious orders who operated Magdalene Laundries)...holy rhetoric, Batman!  But's it a start.  And it proves justice is possible for the most marginalised of Irish society.  The press release we issued June 6 says it all:

The UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) issued its “Concluding Observations” following the first examination of the Irish State under the UN Convention Against Torture.   The Committee reiterated its calls for an independent investigation into the Magdalene Laundries abuse and redress for the women who suffered.

It also recommended that the State “prosecute and punish the perpetrators with penalties commensurate with the gravity of the offences committed.” Justice for Magdalenes (JFM), the survivor advocacy group, is now calling on the Irish State to act immediately on foot of UNCAT’s recommendations and issue a formal apology to all survivors of the Magdalene Laundries and immediately establish a statutory inquiry into these abuses. 

JFM’s submission to UNCAT, written by Maeve O’Rourke (Harvard Law School 2010 Global Human Rights Fellow), and which includes testimonies from four women who spent time in the Laundries, highlights the continuing degrading treatment that survivors are suffering today because of the government's ongoing failure to apologise, investigate and compensate for the abuse. At the examination in Geneva on 24^th May 2011, acting UNCAT Chairperson Felice Gaer, questioned the government's statement that "the vast majority of women who went to these institutions went there voluntarily, or if they were minors, with the consent of their parents or guardians".

She said, "We had testimony about locked doors and people being captured by the police and returned to the institutions - so there’s State involvement as well." She added, "There were physical barriers and there seems to have been an intent to confine people" and she stated "I think 'voluntary' means that one makes a choice; I think that 'voluntary' means that one is informed; I think that 'voluntary' means that one is then free to leave. I think it means that there is nothing coercive in this context." She asked, “Can you identify any examples of efforts by State authorities to inspect or regulate these facilities? Were they exempt from standards? And can you tell us what means were taken to ensure that there were no acts or omissions that amount to torture”?

James Smith, Associate Professor at Boston College and a member of JFM's Advisory Committee, said, "Today's UN recommendation undermines the government's argument that this abuse happened 'a considerable time ago in private institutions'.  It rebuts the State’s assertion that the 'vast majority' of women entered the Laundries 'voluntarily'. And, it underscores that the State’s own definition of torture includes the crime of omission with respect to ensuring due diligence to prevent torture.  The State failed the women and young girls in the Laundries, and now the UN is saying not only that Ireland can, but that it must, make right its own history in this regard." 

Maeve O’Rourke, who presented JFM’s submission to the Committee, said: ”The UN torture committee has added its voice to the Irish Human Rights Commission’s to remind the Irish government that the women who spent time in Magdalene Laundries have human rights which demand respect today. Having suffered torture or ill-treatment, in which the state directly participated and which it knowingly failed to prevent, the women have the ongoing right to an investigation, an apology, redress and treatment with dignity. I am hopeful that, before it is too late, the government will honour its obligations to these women who suffered such injustice in the past.”

JFM Co-ordinating Committee Director Mari Steed said “Magdalene laundry survivors currently receive no pension reflecting the years they worked for no wages.  Many of the women suffer long term physical effects from years of hard labour in the Laundries.  All of the women speak of the psychological trauma of their experiences in the Laundries, in many cases the trauma of arriving in a laundry as young girls has stayed with them throughout their lives.  We call on the Minister for Justice to implement a scheme in line with the ‘Restorative Justice and Reparations Scheme’ submitted to Mr. Shatter in March by JFM.  UNCAT committee member Nora Sveaass commended JFM for this scheme, saying that the State should look at it more closely.”