News & Events

LLM students Emily Williams, Fernanda Souza, Holly Hayes, James Spillane, Maria Tapias Serrano and Shauna Joyce, who have been working with Mary Harney as part of the Human Rights Clinic, have recently launched a 5 episode-series' podcast titled 'My Country is My Prison'. The podcasts aim to promote awareness of human rights violations perpetrated against women and children in Ireland's institutions in the 20th century.

The students stated: "We have developed this podcast to consolidate information regarding Ireland's so-called 'historical' institutional abuses. We aim to explore these ongoing human rights violations in simple terms to help educate young people or those who are not familiar with these institutions. Our goal is to inform younger generations why this issue is relevant today and why we must keep working for justice."

The podcasts "highlight the continuing human rights abuses currently being experienced by survivors of the institutions, namely those of the Mother and Baby Institutions, the Industrial Schools, and the Magdalene Laundries."

The episodes discuss the following issues: Adoption and the Right to Identity, Industrial Schools and Children's Rights, the Abuse of Women's Rights in Ireland's institutions, as well as Ireland's Continuing Obligations Today and Moving Forward. The students interviewed the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection to the Government of Ireland, Dr Connor O'Mahony, for the fifth episode on Ireland's continuing human rights obligations. They also released a bonus episode with a full interview conducted with Elizabeth Coppin, survivor of Magdalene Laundries, who has brought her case before the United Nations' Committee Against Torture.

All episodes are available to listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Olil8kdrzQk8M9ykjnW6R?si=bccd9d3c91d44ec0

Check 'My Country is My Prison' podcast on social media channels:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mycountryismyprisonpodcast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcimp_podcast