---

CLM celebrates 50 years of work for justice

An event at Dublin’s City Hall to celebrate 50 years of Community Law and Mediation (CLM) heard that ‘dig where you stand’ should be the motto of those wishing to campaign for social justice (26 February).

Author and journalist Dearbhail McDonald moderated a panel discussion with Michael O’Flaherty (Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights), Bernadette Devlin McAliskey (social-justice and human-rights campaigner), Tessa Khan (Uplift UK), and Rose Wall (chief executive of Community Law and Mediation). 

McDonald said that law centres such as CLM had been the source for much of her work as a journalist, by identifying and educating on the key legal issues.

O’Flaherty said that he had seen a remarkable difference in attitude over the past decade by authorities on issues concerning Travellers.

“There really has been a deliberate effort to get planning in place to deliver the difference in housing, health, education, and the justice system. The problem is, there's such a long way to go,” he said.

Ambiguity about Traveller issues came from a “deep racist tendency inside ourselves,” he stated.

O’Flaherty said that the present time was the worst he had ever seen in his lifetime of standing up for human rights, which were not referenced in relation to ongoing conflicts.

“It’s part of my job to work with others to bring human rights back to the table,” he said.

O’Flaherty said that he could see a “willingness to concede at the centre”, which he found disturbing.

The universal language of international human-rights protection must be protected, he said.

Stand up

“We are only as good as our willingness and our efforts to stand up for the most forgotten and the most marginalised people,” he said.

Rose Wall of CLM said that rules-based systems failed many, including those with a nomadic way of life.

Despite good equality legislation, there was still systematic discrimination against Travellers, she said.

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey said that the existing system was one of hierarchy and privilege, and that people lived under a lot of social and economic pressure.

“That’s because the State has diminished itself in its role for the protection of citizens’ rights,” she said.

“Everybody is finding somebody else to blame,” she added.

Human-rights activist Tessa Khan said that climate change was an issue of justice along many different axes, and the richest countries and most powerful companies were responsible for a disproportionate volume of greenhouse gas emissions.

Strategic litigation

CLM now has an environmental-justice centre that engages in strategic litigation, and Rose Wall said that the poorest people were most affected by these issues.

Children, the elderly, and those with disabilities were worst affected by pollution, she said, and those sleeping rough by  extreme weather.

“While we have achieved some things, we are way off course in terms of what needs to be done,” she said.

“The gap between what we have committed to do and what we should be doing is widening – and time is running out,” Wall stated.

Because of this, the climate transition would be disruptive, disorderly, and abrupt, she said.

Wall is to leave the CLM chief executive position after 12 years to be replaced by incoming solicitor Aoife Kelly-Desmond next week.