Torture and Emergency Powers under the European Convention on Human Rights: Ireland v. the United Kingdom

Abstract

With the arrival of the British Army in August 1969, in aid of the civil power, intercommunal strife in Northern Ireland entered a new phase, which saw the regeneration of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the emergence of a guerrilla conflict between the IRA and British Army. In the first half of 1971, 8 civilians, 10 soldiers, and 2 members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had been killed; 454 civilians, 110 soldiers, and 71 policemen had been injured. In July 1971 alone, traditionally a period of acute tension, there had been 86 explosions, 2 soldiers had been shot dead, and 21 persons injured. It was this rising tide of violence that set the scene for the introduction of internment without trial on August 9, 1971.