[JURIST] The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [official website] on Monday released a report [text, DOC] calling on Ireland to “take all necessary steps, including a referendum on abortion, to revise its legislation on abortion.” The committee expressed grave concern over Ireland’s criminalization of abortion even in cases of rape, and it believed that its recommendations would help align Ireland’s abortion policies with international human rights standards. The committee also recommended that Ireland revise its constitution and the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act [text, PDF] in order to help achieve this goal. The committee further called for Ireland take steps to make provisions of its constitution more “gender-equal”, increase women’s representation in decision-making positions, and close the gender pay gap.

Abortion [JURIST backgrounder] is a continuing controversial topic in both Ireland and the neighboring state of Northern Ireland. Earlier this month Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] said Ireland’s abortion laws threaten the lives [JURIST report] of women who choose to remain in the country. In December the High Court of Ireland ruled [JURIST report] that a pregnant woman may be removed from life support, concluding that the life of an unborn child must be prioritized. Also that month the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) announced that it planned to file a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the region’s law against abortions. Northern Ireland’s current abortion law was proposed shortly after the 2013 death of Savita Halappanavar [BBC report], a 31-year-old dentist who was denied a potentially life saving abortion. Following her death, Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore [official website] pledged [JURIST report] to bring “legal clarity” to the country’s abortion laws.