Some important questions hang over referendum

I WISH to comment on the citizenship referendum, but would like to make clear at the outset that Amnesty International is not advising people on how to vote, nor are we offering an opinion on whether or not a referendum is necessary.

Government representatives have in recent days been increasingly using human rights language to justify the referendum proposal and so, before this degenerates into abuse of the human rights framework, I would like to clarify a few matters.

In Amnesty's correspondence with the Taoiseach on the referendum proposal, we have been critical of the timing of the referendum because of the inevitable and inappropriate politicisation of such a sensitive issue. We have also expressed serious concern at the absence of prior consultation with relevant stakeholders such as the human rights commissions and the political parties North and South, the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution and social partners including ethnic minority representatives.