Nine Women Administering Polio Vaccines Shot Dead in Nigeria

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KANO, Nigeria — At least nine women who were inoculating children against polio have been shot dead in northern Nigeria by gunmen suspected of belonging to the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram.  The attacks took place in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north, where families typically feel more comfortable allowing women inside their homes.

Nigerian women wait for their children to be immunized against polio in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. (Lost Angeles Times via Deji Yake / European Pressphoto Agency)


On Friday morning gunmen arrived by three-wheel taxis and opened fire in the Hotoro Hayi neighborhood, killing at least eight female vaccinators.  Four more people were killed in a second attack in the Unguwa Uku neighborhood.

The final death toll remains unclear; however, a Kano police spokesman, Musa Magaji Majia, said the attacks killed nine women who were administering oral drops to children as part of a polio vaccine drive.

Unfortunately, this is not the first strike against polio vaccinators in Kano.  For example, in October police reported that two officers who were involved in guarding an immunization drive were shot and killed.

While officers said there were no immediate suspects for the shootings, witnesses said the Islamist militant group Boko Haram was responsible.  Boko Haram, whose Hausa name is often translated into “Western education is sacrilege/forbidden,” has been behind a series of violent attacks across northern Nigeria.  Boko Haram continues to fight the country’s weak central government as the death toll climbs.

The sect has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.  This includes an attack in Kano in January 2012 that killed at least 185.

The attack on vaccinators highlights the religious tensions surrounding the inoculation of children in one of three nations where polio still remains endemic.  Last year, Nigeria registered 121 new polio infections, more than half of all cases reported around the world, according to data from the World Health Organization.  The other two countries are Pakistan and Afghanistan, where there were 58 polio cases in Pakistan and 37 in Afghanistan in 2012.

Moreover, in the past month, polio workers have also been targeted and killed in Pakistan, where the Taliban have threatened anti-polio efforts.  The Taliban accused health workers of working as U.S. spies and alleging that the vaccine makes children sterile.  These rumors have only grown since it was revealed that a Pakistani doctor helped the CIA discover Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts by maintaining a pretexual polio vaccination program.

For more information, please see:

ABC – Gunmen Kill Nigeria Women Giving Polio Vaccine– 8 February 2013

BBC News – Nigeria Polio Vaccinators Shot Dead in Kano – 8 February 2013

Reuters – Gunmen Kill Nine Polio Health Workers in Nigeria – 8 February 2013

Washington Post – Suspected Islamic Extremists Kill at Least 9 Women Giving Polio Vaccines in Northern Nigeria – 8 February 2013

Syrian Revolution Digest: Thursday, 7 February 2013

“Yeah!”

The battles in Damascus City represent a serious escalation on part of rebel groups. In time, the regime will lose control of certain outlaying neighborhoods, such as Al-Qaboun, Al-Tadamon, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, Al-Qadam and the Yarmouk Camp, but it will remain entrenched in the center for a while, and will use massive fire power to wreak havoc on rebel-held areas. In short, we are heading towards an Aleppo-style stand-off in Damascus.  

Today’s Death Toll: 161 martyrs (including 13 women, 8 children and 1 martyr under torture). 68 in Hama (most of them were martyred in an explosion in Salamiya Munition Factory), 33 in Damascus and Suburbs, 28 in Homs, 14 in Aleppo, 6 in Daraa and 2 in Raqqa (LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 366 points, 8 points were shelled by warplanes, 4 points by barrel bombs, 4 points by Cluster Bombs and 1 points (Eastern Ghouta) by Thermobaric Balloons

Artillery shelling was reported in 149 points, mortar shelling in 117 points and missile shelling in 83 points (LCCs).

Clashes: 169 locations. Successful operations include blocing an attmpt by regime forces to wrest control of Port Said Neighborhood in Damascus City, and asserting full control of Harmala checkpoint in Jobar Suburb. In Raqqa, FSA rebels took control of the Alam checkpoint in Raqqa city (LCCs).

 

News

Fight Expands in Damascus as Diplomatic Hopes Sink The expanded mayhem, described as some of the worst fighting to afflict Damascus in months, offered further indication that any hope for a diplomatic resolution to the nearly two-year-old conflict has all but evaporated.

Syrian jets bomb Damascus ring road to halt rebel push Warplanes fired rockets at southern parts of the route where rebels have spent the past 36 hours overrunning army positions and road blocks encircling the heart of the city, the site of key state security and intelligence installations.

Islamic Summit Backs Syria Dialogue Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose country is Syria’s closest ally in the Middle East, attended the summit and said at a news conference Thursday that he supported dialogue. He added that Egypt, Turkey and Iran were moving toward cooperation on Syria. But he also defended Bashar Assad regime, warning against meddling in the domestic affairs of other countries.

UN Chief Criticized Syria’s President The U.N. chief told a group of journalists Thursday that the Syrian crisis didn’t start because of terrorism — but he said because Assad continued to kill his own people, terrorist elements are now taking advantage of the turmoil. “He could have stopped this violence a long time ago and this political dialogue could have commenced a long time ago,” Ban said. “But he has been continuously killing … That’s why people, out of frustration, out of anger, they have been fighting against their own government.” The secretary-general strongly welcomed opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib’s proposal for political talks and expressed hope that Syrian authorities would accept it.

Aid doesn’t reach camp for displaced Syrians just outside Turkey This is Syria’s biggest camp for the internally displaced, and the flimsy tents shelter more than 20,000 people who have nowhere else to go. In its poverty and dire shortages, its poor hygiene and lack of utilities, Atma’s white wave has become a symbol of the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who’ve fled the fighting in their country… “We know about Atma,” said Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a little-known U.N. agency. “In order to get to these parts of northern Syria you have to cross the border,” she told McClatchy on Wednesday. “We have to work with the government of Syria in order to cross the border.”

Syria Says ‘No Truth’ Israel Targeted Convoy Israel has all but confirmed it was behind the Jan. 30 airstrike a few miles (kilometers) from the Syrian capital, Damascus. U.S. officials said the Israelis struck a military research center and a convoy next to it carrying anti-aircraft weapons destined for the Islamic militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Panetta backs Syria rebels arms plan In testimony to Congress, Leon Panetta said he still supported the supply of weapons to rebels fighting forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The plan was proposed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus, then director of the CIA, but reportedly rebuffed by the White House. The US has so far offered only diplomatic backing to Syria’s rebels.

Syria Soldiers Dance To Usher In Online Video (VIDEO) A video posted online purportedly shows Syrian soldiers taking a break from the country’s civil war by bopping around to American R&B star Usher’s hit song “Yeah!”… Near the end of the video, they stop dancing and break into their version of an oft-heard battle chant in the Middle East: “With our souls, our blood, we sacrifice for you Bashar!” as black smoke billows from a building in the background. In a jarring finale, they shoot bursts of automatic gunfire in the air.

 

Special Reports

‘Syria could be a second Somalia’
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon warns of increasing Islamist forces in Syria, in an interview with DW: On the one hand, it seems as if there is no consensus in the Security Council. On the other, it has become a zero-sum game inside Syria between the opposition and Assad. There is no in-between; both sides are going to fight to the bitter end. This is very bad. Once Assad is gone, and nobody can say when, I’m afraid Syria will fall further into a chaotic situation of sectarian warfare. The danger is that the Islamists – the jihadists who have the weapons on the ground and the financial backing of certain Arab countries – will turn Syria into an extremist Islamist state, or a failed state like Somalia or Mali. In the absence of any international consensus, things could get very bad, especially for the Syrian people, and the situation will also destabilize the region, because what happens in Syria won’t stay in Syria. It will spill over into Lebanon and Iraq.

A film that foretold the downfall of the Baathist conceits
“Thirty-three years ago, I was a staunch advocate of modernising my homeland, Syria, to the degree that my first film was about building a dam: the Euphrates Dam, the source of pride and joy for the Baath Party.” That introduction to the film A Flood in Baath Country leads to a very different story. Life under the Baath Party in Syria was not about modernity, but about a facade that led to these past two years of bloodshed… “Today I regret that mistake I had committed in my youth. The collapse of a dam [Zeyzoun Dam in 2002] and the release of a report that foresees the same fate for the rest of dams that were built during the reign of the Baath Party pushed me back to the location of my first film.”

A staggering map of the 54 countries that reportedly participated in the CIA’s rendition program
The section on Syria is disturbing. That government’s record of horrific abuses has spilled out into the open since the uprising of 2011 became a civil war, with more Syrians subjected to – and speaking out about – a torture regime that sounds as if it were from another century. According to a 2005 article by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, quoted in the report, Syria was one of the “most common destinations for rendered suspects.” Government forces, according to the report, held some U.S.-provided detainees in a prison known as “The Grave” for its coffin-sized cells and subjected them to “torture involving a chair frame used to stretch the spine (the ‘German chair’) and beatings.”

In Syria, blood flows while money runs dry
From oil shortages to commodities inflation and climbing unemployment, the Syrian economy is essentially bankrupt. Will it change the course of fighting? Not any time soon.

My new paper, prepared for a briefing in Washington, D.C. that took place on January 15, 2013, is now out and is titled “Syria 2013: Rise of the Warlords.” It should be read in conjunction with my previous briefing “The Shredded Tapestry,” and my recent essay “The Creation of an Unbridgeable Divide.”

Ground War: Syria’s Rebels Prepare to Take a Province from Assad
It was pomegranate season when the battle for Wadi Deif began in mid-October. Like so many rebel offensives, the fight for the Syrian military base, just east of the devastated city of Maaret Numan and one of the last major loyalist outposts in the vast northern province of Idlib, soon sputtered for the usual reasons — the rebels’ lack of coordination, lack of ammunition and heavy weapons and the strength of regime reinforcements backed by airpower and artillery…

On Wednesday, the push to take it was forcefully renewed, but unlike previous offensives here and elsewhere that tend to be disorganized, poorly-coordinated actions by a few brigades, this phase of the battle has been carefully planned over many weeks. It is not an isolated fight but part of a wider strategy, codenamed Marakit il Bina il Marsoos, or The Battle of Reinforced Structures, to open all of the remaining fronts in Idlib province at around the same time — Wadi Deif, the Karmid Checkpoint, the Mastoomeh Checkpoint, the Abu Duhoor military airport, and the smaller checkpoints associated with these outposts — before rebels turn their full attention to the regime forces concentrated in Idlib city, the provincial capital, and the city of Jisr al-Shughour, the two key urban areas still in the regime’s firm grip. If the rebels succeed, they will have created the first “liberated” province in Syria, an area completely free of regime forces and a de-facto “safe zone” — without direct international help.

The offensive is overseen by a council of religious clerics, a Sharia court led by Jabhat al-Nusra, the militant group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S but widely respected by rebels for its disciplined fighting prowess. The court has knitted together dozens of groups from across Idlib province, extracting a sworn pledge from each brigade leader that he will work with the other groups under the direction of the court and will not compete with his counterparts for any ghanaim, or spoils of war, from the outposts if they fall.

It’s not the first time Jabhat al-Nusra has taken the organizational lead in a fight in Idlib. In coordination with the Salafist Ahrar al-Sham brigades, it shepherded the final two-week phase in the months-long battle for the strategically important Taftanaz military airport that fell to the rebels in mid-January. The participation of other groups in those final stages of the fight was only at Jabhat’s invitation. Jabhat al-Nusra also established a committee that first itemized and then distributed the war spoils. Still, the sheer scale of Marakit il Bina il Marsoos, its multiple fronts, and the pledges to the Sharia court mark it as a new battlefield experiment the rebels hope will be emulated by others if it is successful.

Settling Syria: Why a Negotiated Peace is Possible — And Likely
In Syria, if the rebels were going to achieve a decisive military victory, they would have done so by now. The real options left there are quite narrow. The Alawites, the religious minority loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, are also not likely to achieve a military victory. Even if they were able to defeat the rebels, it would be a temporary lull. Instead, leaders in Damascus could offer amnesty to the rebels to initiate negotiations for a formal cease-fire, which would include international monitoring and peacekeeping troops. That would create the space to begin a slow, deliberate process of formal mediation that addresses all of the major conflict issues. Mediation ought to involve third parties and all the major factions of the opposition. Of peace agreements that have met those conditions, less than five have failed in the last 25 years.

The goal of prolonged mediation should be a final agreement, built upon previous ones, in which inclusiveness and broad institutional reforms are the goal. Civil war data and current conflict trends predict that the Syrian conflict will end in a negotiated settlement. The only choice is whether it will be soon, leaving Syria largely intact, or later, when even more of the country is in ruins.

Putting the foolishness of the first sentence aside (for no one provided the rebels with the kind of support that could help them achieve military victory), from an academic standpoint, the above assertions make excellent sense, but getting us from here to where such a plan could be implemented, requires much work, including empowering certain rebel groups and neutralizing Assad’s airpower. For so long as Jabhat Al-Nusra and its affiliates are currently in charge of leading offensives in Aleppo, Al-Raqqah, Deir Ezzor and Idlib, among other areas, and so long as Assad remains capable of wreaking havoc on rebel strongholds, no international monitors, no peacekeeping troops, no dialogue and no process are possible. Si vis pacem para bellum. Mr. Panetta seems to have understood this, while President Obama continues to mull things over.

 

Video Highlights

A leaked video shows pro-Assad soldiers dancing to Usher’s “Yeah!” during a lull in ongoing clashes in the town ofBasr Al-Harir in Daraa Province http://youtu.be/bRfTnWhgBW8 The lull was short-lived, clashes soon resumed

The pounding of the Daraa City continues http://youtu.be/ZsF_xoQxy-s , http://youtu.be/nu9NTuHXPz0 ,http://youtu.be/GRLDXQBbBcU

Clashes in Damascus City continue: The pounding begins at dawn http://youtu.be/-VPL6DJ9Eg4  Rebels pound a checkpoint in Jobar http://youtu.be/a1V6cR6FDOg Loyalists respond with mortars, tanks and MiGs http://youtu.be/nstKhrepEgE , http://youtu.be/NSEAI4kd83o Loyalists are trying to regain control of the Harmaleh checkpoint along the southern ring highway http://youtu.be/2MbLYVGeH44 But rebels push back and manage to destroy some of the attacking tanks http://youtu.be/DiifnWXp9UI Scenes from yesterday’s battle that allowed rebels to take control of the Harmala Checkpoint http://youtu.be/NPv7wTiQt9k

Pro-Assad militias in action in Qaboun http://youtu.be/sZgXSYms6nw , http://youtu.be/2LS_0QKRXd8 Al-Qadamneighborhood was also pounded http://youtu.be/uMp6FvMz7t0 With more rebels coming to take part in defending ithttp://youtu.be/NHeHKfTQ3ig Clashes in Al-Qadam train station continue http://youtu.be/fqKpdIcWI0Y The pounding of Eastern Ghoutah with MiGs continues http://youtu.be/_6s8zfaJ-Vo

In the Northeast, the pounding of Deir Ezzor City continues http://youtu.be/WaJ1BiT1aME , http://youtu.be/8O-jUsYp2UM , http://youtu.be/2perpWEJvE8 But rebels try to fight back using improvised missiles http://youtu.be/LlhXYkS16Tc

In Raqqa, major clashes took place in the town of Tabaqa, with helicopter taking part in pounding rebel positions http://youtu.be/7wdJnS55K3w Rebels try to take down the helicopter http://youtu.be/CXjGKcDeiOo Rebels take control of an attacking tank http://youtu.be/ssfa0HCMgIM Sounds of clashes http://youtu.be/Bo3HSJTxf30 Rebels mange to take control of the Alam Checkpoint http://youtu.be/rPYKET9zzmw , http://youtu.be/Dh0A3WlDO6g

Tear Gas Present at Funeral for Chokri Belaid

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TUNIS, Tunisia – Popular secular politician, Chokri Belaid, was shot in the neck and head and killed just outside his home in Tunis, on his way to work, a couple of days ago. This was the first time a politician was assassinated in Tunisia since the Arab Spring uprising of January 2011. Today thousands of supporters attended his funeral while many others protested all throughout the country.

Tens of thousands of Tunisians attend the funeral of assassinated secular political leader Chokri Belaid.

Belaid was a human rights activist and lawyer who was the co-head of the leftist Democratic Patriots Party. Although the party lacked much power in Tunisia, Belaid was seen as an outspoken critic of the government who, for many, symbolized the Tunisian revolution.

French President Francois Hollande stated that, “[t]his murder robs Tunisia of one of its most courageous and free voices.”

A day before his assassination, Belaid partook in a televised interview in which he blamed the moderate, Islamist Ennahda party for giving “an official green light” to political violence. He also claimed that Ennahda and Salafists attacked a meeting of his liberal supporters this past Sunday.

The prime minister, Hamadi Jebali, has promised to act swiftly in arresting the perpetrator of what he deems to be a terrorist act. President Moncef Marzouki said that, “[t]here are many enemies of our peaceful revolution. And they’re determined to ensure it fails.”

Despite not yet knowing who committed the murder, in the wake of Belaid’s death, demonstrators have set an Ennahda party building on fire in Mezzouna. Others ransacked raided the party’s offices in Gafsa where petrol bombs were used. At least half a dozen Ennahda buildings have been destroyed so far.

Additionally, crowds of protestors have been chanting “Ghannouchi, assassin, criminal” and that they want a “second revolution.” Rachid Ghannouchi is the leader of the Ennahda party.

Throughout the many protests across the country, the police have fired tear gas at the demonstrators to disperse them. The use of tear gas was not absent from Belaid’s funeral either; however, this time the police were not trying to get rid of Belaid’s supporters.

The funeral was rather peaceful for a while, with little security intervention. Reports have indicated though, that while the mourners’ procession approached the cemetery to lay Belaid’s body to rest, that young men just outside the cemetery were attempting to steal mourner’s phones cameras, and cars. When police tried to stop these individuals, the young men began throwing stones at the police and began to set the cars ablaze. As a result, the police were forced to use tear gas which ultimately found its way into the cemetery.

Reports out of CNN indicate that the tens of thousands of mourners last stop in its procession may not be the cemetery. Apparently, there may also be a plan to march to the Ministry of the Interior after the funeral. Police fired tear gas there just a day ago to get rid of protestors.

For further information, please see:

Alchourouk – Two Days MRA Assassination Belaid Preoccupation with Security Back: Congestion in the Street and Horror Among Citizens – 8 February 2013

Assabah – The Final Lesson – 8 February 2013

Guardian – Tunisia Turmoil: Chokri Belaid’s Funeral and General Strike – Live Updates – 8 February 2013

BBC – Tunisia: Chokri Belaid Assassination Prompts Protests – 6 February 2013

Chilean Marines Caught On Tape Chanting Xenophobic Tunes

By Brendan Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – Discomfort rocks the already uneasy relations among in the South American continent. The Chilean government has felt the sting of embarrassment as a video surfaced early Wednesday morning of Chilean Marine Cadets jogging through town chanting what is being called, a ‘xenophobic’ chant. “Argentinos kill, fusilare Bolivian, Peruvian killeth,” the video echoes, or translated as “Kill Argentines, shoot Bolivians and slit the throats of Peruvians.”

A video showing Chilean Marine students chanting xenophobic songs surfaced earlier this week. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

The posted video was recorded by tourists visiting the coastal city of Las Salinas. Nearby the Naval Polytechnic Academy was busy, training the new batch of Chilean marines and technical soldiers for the new age. Late in the afternoon a group of ‘apprentices’ began trotting by in formation, led by a superior, chanting as they made their way to the city’s main attraction – a large flower clock tower – before returning to base.

Upon the videos dissemination via the internet the Navy immediately began the process of identification and within hours was able to identify all participants.  According to the Chilean Secretary of State, the event took place on January 28, at about 1600 hours. The Navy was almost immediately able to identify the 27 apprentices from the Academy Polytechnic, including the sergeant who was acting as an instructor.  According to reports, many of the 27 were engineering students, second year apprentices training in the mechanical field for senior technical positions before graduating as a marine. The Navy and Secretary of State were quick to denounce the apprentices actions emphasizing that “these practices are far from their doctrine” and believed that the songs were improvised to move along with the normal military marching songs.

But according to Internet users from twitter and social media, this may not have been a singular instance. While some came to the Academy’s defense, claiming that this was merely the isolated incident, others including a former graduate from the Polytechnic Academy explained that these chants are sung every day during their physical training. Another user managed to quote an allegedly missing line: “and we’ll drink their blood.”

Reeling back from the controversy, the secretary of state was quick to point out that while sanctions and punishments were to be leveled, it is currently unclear where blame should be associated with. Merely the recruits jogging and chanting, or their sergeant. Either way, the State Department will has stated that they establish an administrative inquiry within 20 days to determine possible sanctions.

For more information, please see:

La Nocion – The Chilean Navy Already Plans Xenophobic Chants Sanctions – 8 February 2013

Noticias Terra – Argentina Expressed “Discomfort” With Chilean Sailors Xenophobic Chants – 7 February 2013

Noticias Terra – Government And Xenophobic Chants: “Lyrics Are Offensive” – 7 February 2013

Latercera – Navy Report On Video Identifies Higher By Apprentices And Sets 20 Days To Assess Penalties – 7 February 2013

BBC – Chile Navy Investigates ‘Xenophobia’ In Video – 6 February 2013

Ireland Releases Report on Forced Labor at Magdalene Laundries

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

DUBLIN, Ireland – Describing the severe conditions in the Magdalene laundries, one survivor revealed: “In our heads, all we could think of is we are going to die here. That was an awful thing to carry.”  A report released Tuesday by Ireland’s Department of Justice and Equality found “significant” State involvement in their suffering.

Girls as young as 9 were institutionalized at the Magdalene laundries under a regime of intimidation, prayer, and unpaid work. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

The Magdalene laundries constitute an infamous chapter in Irish history in which between 1922 and 1996 more than 10,000 women, aged 9 to 89, were institutionalized in ten workhouses run by several Catholic congregations under conditions described as “cold with a rigid and uncompromising regime of physically demanding work and prayer and many instances of verbal censure, scoldings and humiliating put-downs.”  The women and girls worked to exhaustion each day behind locked doors, without wages, from 8:30am to 7pm in strict silence.  Some worked to death.

Following the report’s publication, survivor Mary Smyth described her experience: “You got up at six in the morning and went to the laundry, then ate at two o’clock.  The food was just horrific – dripping every day.  Six o’clock was the rosary, then back to bed we went.  Nobody was allowed to talk whatsoever. It was worse than any prison.”

The Irish government commissioned an inter-departmental committee, chaired by Senator McAleese, to investigate state involvement with the Magdalene laundries after the UN Committee Against Torture called on the government to do so in 2011.

The report also found from interviewing survivors that certain allegations such as severe physical and sexual abuse had been exaggerated, except in isolated cases.  More often, the inquiry, led by Senator Martin McAleese, found that the women had been subjected to “verbal abuse,” “belittling comments” and “mental cruelty.”

One woman told the inquiry: “The nuns were very nasty.  They’d say, ‘Your father is a drunkard’ in front of everyone.  It would degrade me.”  Another said: “They were very, very cruel verbally – ‘Your mother doesn’t want you, why do you think you`re here.’”

Girls from the laundries gained a reputation as “troubled” or being what were then called “fallen women.”  Despite a rumored reputation for such, the report found no evidence that unmarried girls had babies in the laundries or that many of the women were prostitutes.

However, the report did find that half the women shut away in the laundries to do “harsh and physically demanding work” were girls under the age of 23, and that 40%, or more than 4,000 women, spent more than a year incarcerated.  15% of women were kept in the laundries for more than 5 years, although the average term was 7 months.  Some were incarcerated more than once.  Of the deaths on record, the youngest victim was 15, while the oldest was 95.

Mary Lou McDonald, deputy leader of the Sinn Féin party, described the findings of the report as “a very Irish form of slavery.”

The statistics were compiled from only eight of the ten laundry workhouses because two, both operated by the Sisters of Mercy in Dun Laoghaire and Galway, were missing a substantial portion of their records.  The inquiry committee also stressed that it had interviewed just a small sample of survivors who “cannot be considered representative”, and that the interview data was “biased towards more modern years.”

While according to the report nearly a fifth (19%) of the women entered the laundries voluntarily and one in ten (10%) were sent by their families, more than a quarter (26%) were institutionalized by the state.  Petty offences including failure to pay a train ticket, school truancy, and vagrancy were sufficient to land a girl in the Magdalene laundries.  Furthermore, if a girl was recalled to the laundries or ran away, she could be arrested without a warrant by the police.

Previous Irish governments had claimed that the Magdalene Laundries were run purely privately, an assertion flatly contradicted by the findings of the report.  It also appears that the government either directly or indirectly funded the laundries by providing a significant portion of their business.

Fergus Finlay of the Barnardos children’s charity asserted that the report catalogues “how the state turned a blind eye to the appalling conditions in which women lived, while supporting the religious orders who enslaved them in financial and other ways. These women were treated like slaves.”

The Religious Sisters of Charity, one of the orders that operated the laundries applauded the report, while simultaneously apologizing for and defending its actions, saying: “We apologi[z]e unreservedly to any woman who experienced hurt while in our care. In good faith we provided refuge for women.”

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, while expressing sympathy for survivors and the families of those who died, stopped short of issuing a formal government apology.  Instead, he stated: “To those residents who went through the Magdalene Laundries in a variety of ways, 26 percent of the time from state involvement, I am sorry for those people that they lived in that kind of environment.”

Survivor advocacy group Justice for Magdalenes rejected Kenny’s statement and demanded a full, frank admission of responsibility from the government and religious orders involved, saying that the prime minister’s statement fell “far short of the full and sincere apology deserved by the women who were incarcerated against their will in Ireland’s Magdalene laundries”.

There have also been calls for compensation for the survivors, to which the government has not responded, desiring to wait until after the lower house of Ireland’s parliament debates the report in two weeks.  However, Irish president Michael D. Higgins has expressed his support for compensation and a state apology, saying Thursday, “[W]e need a public response, an institutional response and a State response and the State no doubt will make its own decisions and take its own actions.”

Of the women and girls of the Magdalene laundries, report author Senator McAleese wrote: “None of us can begin to imagine the confusion and fear experienced by these young girls, in many cases little more than children, not knowing why they were there, feeling abandoned, wondering whether they had done something wrong and not knowing when, if ever, they would get out to and see their families again.”

For further information, please see:

Irish Times – President ‘Moved by Their Story’ – 7 February 2013

Irish Times – ‘All We Could Think of is We are Going to Die Here. That was an Awful Thing to Carry’ – 6 February 2013

Irish Times – Kenny Under Fire for Failure to Issue Full Apology to Magdalene Women – 6 February 2013

Al Jazeera – Irish PM Says ‘Sorry’ for Laundries Abuse – 5 February 2013

BBC News – Irish PM: Magdalene Laundries Product of Harsh Ireland – 5 February 2013

The Independent – Ireland Issues Apology to the ‘Fallen Women’ it Sent to Catholic Workhouses – 5 February 2013

Irish Times – State had ‘Significant’ Role in Magdalene Laundry Referrals – 5 February 2013

Department of Justice and Equality – Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to Establish the Facts of State Involvement with the Magdalen Laundries – 5 February 2013