participating in the massacre by IS fighters of up to 1,700 Shi’a cadets at the Speicher military training camp in June 2014, after President Masum ratified their death sentences. They were convicted after a trial of only a few hours’ duration marred by breaches of the right to a fair trial, including the court’s failure to adequately investigate the defendants’ allegations that their pre-trial “confessions” were extracted under torture. exacerbated by the stigma caused by the criminalization of abortion. On 30 November, the government agreed to provide the complainant, Amanda Mellet, with compensation and counselling. A Citizens’ Assembly, comprising 99 randomly selected members of the public and established by the government to make recommendations on constitutional reform, including on abortion, held its first meetings in October and November. IRELAND HOUSING RIGHTS Republic of Ireland Head of state: Michael D. Higgins Head of government: Enda Kenny Access to and information about abortion remained severely restricted and criminalized. Travellers’ rights to adequate housing were violated. Concerns remained about “direct provision” accommodation provided to asylum-seekers. SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS In February, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern that legislation allowed abortion only where a girl’s life is at “real and substantial risk”, and prevented doctors from providing services in accordance with objective medical practice. The Committee called on Ireland to decriminalize abortion in all circumstances and review its legislation to ensure children’s access to safe abortion and post-abortion care. It also found a “severe lack of access to sexual and reproductive health education and emergency contraception for adolescents”. In June, the UN Human Rights Committee decided in Mellet v Ireland that Ireland’s abortion laws violated a woman’s right to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment, and to enjoy privacy and non-discrimination. The complainant had to travel to the UK for an abortion, despite a diagnosis of a fatal fetal impairment causing her “intense physical and mental suffering”. The Committee found that the suffering was 200 In January, the government referred the right to housing to a parliamentary committee, responding partially to the 2014 recommendation of the governmentestablished Constitutional Convention. However, it chose not to task the same committee with examining the full recommendation that the Constitution be amended to incorporate economic, social and cultural rights. This was despite the fact that as recently as 2015 the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights reiterated its recommendation that the government take all appropriate measures to ensure the direct applicability of provisions in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including through incorporation of the Covenant in its domestic legal order. The shortage of state housing and private rental accommodation contributed to homelessness. The Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed deep concern at reports that homeless families experienced significant delays in accessing social housing, frequently living long-term in inappropriate, temporary or emergency accommodation. DISCRIMINATION Travellers and Roma In May, the European Committee of Social Rights ruled, in European Roma Rights Centre v Ireland, that Travellers faced a violation of their right to social, legal and economic protection on the grounds of insufficient provision of accommodation, poor conditions of many sites and inadequate Amnesty International Report 2016/17