UN torture committee rules against Magdalene survivor 

Elizabeth Coppin argued that the Irish State was refusing to investigate her claims of torture and ill-treatment between 1964 and 1968.

The UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) has ruled against a Magdalene survivor who claimed the Irish State has refused to investigate her allegations of torture and ill treatment suffered in three Magdalene Laundries.

Elizabeth Coppin took her individual case to UNCAT in July 2018. She argued that the Irish State was refusing to investigate her claims of torture and ill-treatment that she suffered in three Magdalene Laundries between 1964 and 1968.

In response, the State claimed that Mrs Coppin had not exhausted domestic remedies by taking proceedings in the Irish courts. 

Although it acknowledged that she had to waive her legal rights against the State in order to receive financial redress, these schemes "operated on an entirely voluntary basis and she had an option to refuse the awards and bring proceedings before domestic courts".

Previous rulings

The UNCAT has previously concluded on two occasions, in 2011 and 2017, that Ireland, through the McAleese inquiry, had failed to conduct an independent, thorough, and effective investigation of allegations of ill-treatment in Magdalene Laundries, or to punish the perpetrators. The UN Human Rights Committee also took a similar position in July of last year.

However, in Mrs Coppin’s individual case, in a ruling published in October, UNCAT found these State measures, along with her engagement with redress schemes and with the criminal and civil law courts, mean her rights have been vindicated.

While the Committee as a whole ruled against Mrs Coppin, three of its members formally dissented, pointing out that the decision was inconsistent with UNCAT’S jurisprudence and observations on the Magdalene Laundries in 2011 and 2017.

Responding to the ruling, Mrs Coppin said that, since 1997, she had tried every possible mechanism available to her under Irish law to try and get the State to engage with her claims – including a civil action in the High Court which was dismissed for ‘inordinate and inexcusable delay’.

“At the young age of 73½, I recently received the Committee’s findings in response to my complaint. They found that there had been no violation of the Convention. As soon as I read their findings, I felt deflated, so low, and very sad, not just for me but for all of the Magdalene Women who died in vain. Thoughts of isolation, despair and how I felt as a young girl came flooding to mind, of when I was trafficked to three Magdalene Laundries, by the State and their agents,” she said.

'Depressing'

Professor of Feminist Legal Studies at Birmingham Law School, Máiread Enright described the decision as ‘depressing’ in its conservatism.

“The Committee notes that the State permitted Elizabeth Coppin to ‘access’ judicial remedies but does not take seriously the obstacles to making effective use of that access. Even the most determined litigant will be unable to meet the Committee’s standard. Irish readers will be aware that the survivor-activist Derek Linster died late in 2022. His long-standing High Court action died with him.

“This UNCAT decision is a shocking rebuff to a brave and dignified survivor of serious institutional abuse. It deserves serious critical engagement from all human rights lawyers with an interest in ‘historical’ injustice,” she said.