European Commission to publish POWs report
The European Commission is set to publish a report in September
into the conditions of political prisoners throughout the
European Union, with a ``special focus on the problems of Irish
prisoners in England and their families,'' Piet De Pauw, a human
rights activist said.
De Pauw, a member of the Lawyers Group of Amnesty International,
Flanders, has long campaigned on behalf of Irish prisoners.
The Commission report is the result of of a resolution tabled in
the European parliament by a Flemish MEP and a member of the
Belgian Green Party which itself came in the wake of De Pauw's
own report on prisoners last autumn.
It is believed that British government efforts to delay the
report's publication will prove futile as pressure on them to
repatriate Irish prisoners in England is growing.
A number of European MPs appealed to the British over the last
two months to allow Irish POWs to serve their sentences in
Ireland and for the abolition of the Special Secure Units in
England. These SSUs, which have been described by human rights
groups as ``cruel and inhumane'' and ``concrete coffins'', are in
violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Both the
British and Dublin governments are signatories to this Convention
which also outlaws keeping prisoners under conditions which
punish their families - such as imprisoning them in a foreign
country and inflicting traumatic strip searchs on their relatives.
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