Thread by @drlucymichael

New @_IHREC report on Covid emergency powers raises issues of rights and equality for many groups.

https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1364828544166219776

https://twitter.com/_IHREC/status/1364836278223650816?s=19

"The report suggests that garda enforcement of emergency Covid-19 powers has disproportionately affected young people, ethnic and racial minorities, and the Travellers and Roma communities."

"IHREC says effective human rights and equality analysis of these powers is hampered because An Garda Síochána has resisted repeated calls, including from the IHREC and the Policing Authority, to publish its data on how enforcement powers are exercised against particular groups."

https://twitter.com/_IHREC/status/1364837205907296257?s=19

"This, it finds, “allows for the targeting of measures at disadvantaged and vulnerable groups that would not survive scrutiny if effected through a law” and “creates a real risk of the uneven application of enforcement powers by the gardaí”."

"Some restrictions have “been implemented in ways that breach the rule of law and that disproportionately affect disadvantaged and vulnerable groups”." "

"Vagueness in the formulation and application of pandemic rules is particularly problematic “if you come from a group with a history of bad relations with the gardaí”, the report finds."