Speaking at a major international conference in Dublin today, UN Human Rights Committee member Professor Michael O’Flaherty has decried what he described as the “scandal” of the government having made deep cuts to the budgets of bodies including the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) and the Equality Authority, only weeks after the UN’s top human rights body had recommended that the resources available to the IHRC be increased and its independence strengthened.

Professor O’Flaherty added that, in his view, it “beggars belief that the Government has failed to designate human rights protection and promotion as a charitable purpose in the Charities Act (2009)”

Professor O’Flaherty was speaking at Implementing Human Rights in a Time of Change: Facing Up to Challenges under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a conference jointly organised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) and FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres).