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Magdalene survivors seek recognition with United Nations Committee Against Torture

Survivors seek recognition and voice their concerns

CATHY HAYES,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 7:45 AM

Updated Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 7:45 AM

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Archive photography of young girls outside a Magdalene Laundry

An advocacy group for the survivors of the Magdalene laundry has made a submission to the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

For the first time the UN Committee plans to examine Ireland with relations to human rights obligation to prevent torture, other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. They will meet on May 23rd and 24th.

Justice for Magdalenes, advocacy group, wants to draw the Committee's attentions to Ireland's legal duties under the Convention Against Torture, have them investigate allegations of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and to ensure redress for the victims of such treatment.

Maeve O'Rourke, author of JFM's submission, and Harvard Law School 2010 Global Human Rights Fellow, said "The submission highlights the continuing degrading treatment that the women who spent time in Magdalene Laundries are suffering today because of the government's ongoing failure to apologize, investigate and compensate for the abuse.

For almost two years JFM has worked with various government departments advocating for survivors’ needs.

Chair of the Irish Women’s Support Network, London, and Member of JFM’s Advisory Committee, Councillor Sally Mulready, said "The women were deprived of their liberty, and forced into a form of penal and religious servitude. Compelled to work in the harshest of conditions, they never knew if they would ever again see the outside world again.”

Professor James Smith, Member of JFM’s Advisory Committee, added “we have waited nearly six months for the government’s response to the Irish Human Rights Commission’s unambiguous recommendation to initiate a statutory inquiry on this issue…Simply put, some of these women may not have another six months to wait. The time for action is now!”

The submission of this report coincides with the airing of a Joe Duffy documentary on RTE's Radio One (the national broadcaster). A woman who spent her life in institutions in Ireland, including the Magdalene laundry spoke on "Were You There".

Mary Smith's mother was brought to the laundry while pregnant with her. She said that she finds it utterly impossible to forgive those responsible. She said "there is no God . . . Jesus had it easy . . . I would have preferred being crucified to what I’ve been through”.

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Searlit | Apr 27, 2011, 08:26 PM EDT

Young women were being punished and imprisoned for becoming pregnant then. The babies were stolen from them and sold to other people. Now, there are people who believe that abortion shouldn't be allowed even in the cases of rape. Women have been so devalued by religions and cultural practices. Women may have to be put on the endangered species list, if things don't improve. Just look at China & India.

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JOLIEJO | Apr 27, 2011, 01:48 PM EDT

I saw the movie a month ago while in Ireland. My daughter-in-law and I discussed it, wondering why the church hadn’t had to pony up compensation for these women as they have for the horrible child molestations. One of the things not addressed in the article was the role the women’s families played in their imprisonment. They are as guilty as the institution that confined them. In my wildest dreams I can’t image ever sentencing one of my daughters to such a life. Families should stand together.

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Searlit | Apr 26, 2011, 10:21 PM EDT

I saw that movie. It was horrendous! Yes, it gives you pause. You want to think of Ireland as a beautiful country, but then these dark clouds of abuse keep hanging over it. When will the Irish government seek justice for these innocent people?

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mamaginnty | Apr 26, 2011, 07:21 PM EDT

The Magdalene sisters is a film worth watching, what those poor women suffered. The babies were sold mainly to Americans. My sister has been best friends with one of these woman from 1965, that poor woman is still a nervous wreck in her 70s and still cries for the baby they stole, has tried for years to find out where he was send, but no record was found. She tells of being raped by 3 priests and beaten almost daily by nuns when she mentioned her baby. She is still fighting for justice like many others. She never married because she was brainwashed into thinking no child would love her because she was such a sinner. Yes... there was a few good priests and nuns, but the few were as much to blame because they hid it. If there is a god above why did he have these sort of sicko's serve in his name. Someone said in a comment a few days ago .."well at least they did not kill", bodies have been found of young people in unmarked graves on some of these Magdaline properties. I try not to think about how or why. But the truth will come out with the help of the good people who are fighting for these women. Now I believe in the devil and his works.

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Liamkeyes | Apr 26, 2011, 06:55 PM EDT

As a little boy, when I was bold(which was often) I was reminded that if I did'nt behave, I would be sent to Artane or Daingean so it was well established fact. The Generation before us knew all about it but remained silent, it was the culture at the time but TRUTH WILL OUT!!!!

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ballyhip | Apr 26, 2011, 02:46 PM EDT

Long overdue justice but its amazing to think that the last Magdalene laundry did not close until 1996. The Galway laundry was just up the road from Eyre Sq. so it was not unkown to the Galwegians. We have much to be proud of but can never forget the sins of our nation.

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CaptainCon | Apr 26, 2011, 01:59 PM EDT

Great respect for Councillor Mulready and to Maeve O'Rourke for sticking with this. The Irish Government still has church agents inside it working against justice for the Magdalene women. I've read the reports on the way these women were treated and it disgusts me that citizens of a Republic should have been locked away at the whim of a psychologically damaged culture within the catholic church in Ireland- the Irish Government needs to apologise also for its absolute abdication of duty towards these citizens and for its rank cowardice in the face of what are no more than modern-day witchdoctors. Enough of the cover-ups and lies out of the Irish Government and I want to see church influence in Ireland smashed for once and for all. The church should never have had this kind of warped control over a nation.

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manhattan | Apr 26, 2011, 01:48 PM EDT

My Mother-In-Law grew up in a catholic orphanage in Leitrim in the early 1900's. Her children would ask her time and again what was it like? Never once did she answer them, I never met anyone who couldn't say one thing about there childhood, relatives etc. After seeing The Magdalene Sisters I now know why.

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adrienrain | Apr 26, 2011, 01:19 PM EDT

What is the nameof the RTE Radio One doc by Joe Duffy? Please remember to include these details - it's part of a reporter's job!

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adrienrain | Apr 26, 2011, 01:17 PM EDT

I recommend a film available in the US called The Magdalen Sisters. It comes with a documentary called Sex in a Cold Climate, which interviews women who were confined to the laundries, some for having had a child out of wedlock and some for just looking like 'temptresses'. There;s another film, called The Forgotten Maggies that came out in 2009, but I've been unable to find it in this country. I hope it shows up sometime.

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Suivness10 | Apr 26, 2011, 11:28 AM EDT

"All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke I am so glad that there are good people who are doing SOMETHING. I never knew about the Magdelene laundries until I read this article. I only hope that those who have been so horribly treated will receive the justice they so deeply deserve.

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