Ireland was put under pressure yesterday to legalise abortion, change our laws on the family and weaken the protection given to religious employers at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The meeting was part of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review, which is designed to monitor the progress of member states in implementing human rights treaties.

Ireland was represented by the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter.

(The Iona Institute has issued a briefing note on the UN, Ireland and human rights which can be found here).

The representatives from six countries pressed Ireland to legalise abortion, namely Germany, Denmark, Slovenia, Norway, Spain and the Netherlands. Denmark recommended legalising abortion in cases of rape, incest, or in “situations where the pregnancy puts the physical or mental health or wellbeing of the pregnant woman or a pregnant girl in danger”.

Meanwhile, Finland, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom asked Ireland what it intended to do to give further recognition to non-marital, or what it called “modern, pluralist and inclusive family relationships” and how it intended to improve children’s rights.

The Swiss representative brought up Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act, which gives religious employers the right to take their ethos into consideration with hiring staff.

Egypt asked whether there was de facto religious discrimination in access to education in Ireland, while Uruguay recommended that we implement legislation to ban corporal punishment in the home.

Germany recommended that Ireland change Article 41.2 of the Constitution, which refers to the special place of women who work in the home.

With regard to abortion, Mr Shatter said that the Government was setting up an expert group to look at the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the A, B and C case on the abortion issue last year. The court held that Ireland needed to clarify the circumstances in which women could have abortions.

Mr Shatter said the Government was committed to implementing the ruling quickly.

In response to queries about Ireland’s position on children’s rights, he said that the Government would hold a referendum on children’s rights early next year.

On the issue of education, Mr Shatter said that it was “a matter of considerable concern that we ensure that there is full access to education without any element of religious discrimination of any nature whatsoever”.

He said the Government were looking at ways to provide “a diversity of structures that reflect the diverse wishes of parents who wish to ensure that their children can access both primary and second level schools”.

He added that in Ireland it was “unlawful to exclude a child and prevent them from attending an appropriate school for that child”.

He did not give any response to Switzerland’s remarks on section 37 or on Uruguay’s recommendation on smacking.

Mr Shatter also referred to the Government’s proposed Constitutional Convention.

He said the Convention was designed to allow Irish people to ensure “that our Constitution reflects modern, up to date concerns of the Irish people, today’s values and concerns, adequately protects human rights issues and also deals with any institutional reform that may be required”.