Men’s Human Rights Ireland

Mission Statement

Mens Human Right Ireland is a fact based pro-equality group, which is not anti-women in any way, means, shape or form. We stand for the Human Rights of Men and Boys, our mission is to address the legal, political, social and cultural climate, here in Ireland and wider afield, that undermines, seeks to diminish and strip away, ignores and abuses the Human Rights of Men and Boys.

Our goal as an organisation and as individuals is to campaign, educate and support the human rights of men and boys and their mental, emotional, and physical well being. We will simultaneously address the legal, political, social and cultural climate in Ireland while providing a platform to give men and boys a place to be heard and express themselves in safety.

We will engage in peaceful legitimate protest, use all legal means necessary and at our disposal as Free Citizens of The Republic of Ireland, the EU and the wider world to highlight, expose and bring to public scrutiny all abuses of the Human Rights of Men and Boys wherever we see them being abused or violated.

The Values of Men’s Human Rights Ireland (MHRIreland)

True Equality

True equality means rejecting compulsory gender roles which are outdated at best and dysfunctional at worst. Traditional gender roles teach us that a woman’s place is to limit herself to the home, and that a man’s place is to fight and work himself into the grave. Transitioning into a free and equal society cannot be done by cherry-picking which parts of equality and traditionalism we prefer; to truly progress we must perform both simultaneously. Overtly misogynistic commentary should be called out as well - we are not opposed to women, just feminism and all of the ills it brings.

Nonviolence

In all forms of advocacy and activism, MHRIreland strictly advocates and adheres to a philosophy of non-violence in both words and actions. No calls for or perpetrations of violence will be promoted by us, and any members who engage in such rhetoric will be expelled and their comments removed as soon as possible.

This is a zero tolerance policy area.

Freedom of Speech and Expression

Truth is the foundation of justice, and freedom of expression is the means by which to ascertain truth. Where there is no truth, there will be no justice. And in a society in which there is no freedom of expression, there will be no means to find the truth. In a war truth is always the first casualty, and this is most quickly accomplished by allowing others to attack the freedom of others to speak, and by extension the power of principled dissent.

While those who oppose and attempt to silence the voice’s of men and boys in our education system often suppress their freedom of expression, MHRIreland does not encourage retaliating with the same underhanded tactics. Even if you disagree with their posters, do not tear them down. Voice your concerns, but do not prevent others from speaking, or disrupt the ability of others to hear them.

If you find their ideas offensive, let them speak. If useful, document their actions with recording devices or cameras. Do not advocate that those who merely speak offensive words be fired from their jobs, or engage in threats or blackmail against them, but rather document and publicize their actions. Dedicate your energies to perfecting your ability to articulate your values, and then inform and build up a community against them. With determination, skill, and a little luck, in time their castles will become their prisons.

Compassion and Fairness Regarding Rape and False Rape Accusations

Sexual assault and false rape accusations are significant and often complex problems in society.

Unfortunately, the discussion is often inevitably mired in ideological and political interests that oversimplify and skew the discussion, and in the long run work to the detriment of all those affected. This is the official position of MHRIreland.

Men and women have the right to advocate for victims of rape and victims of wrongful rape accusations. It is not sexist to say that some women lie about rape any more than it is sexist to say that some men rape. What is sexist is the idea that we should exclude and silence an entire class of victims from the discourse on gender equity.

MHRIreland is dedicated to a factual discourse on rape and false rape accusations without any hyperbole, and are opposed to the dissemination of false or skewed statistics promoted in an attempt to incite an environment of rape hysteria in society.

Due Process

It has long been the wisdom of Western jurisprudence that it is better to occasionally let the guilty go free than to punish the innocent. Pressure is being put on our societal institutions from feminists and other agents of misandry who view equality as a zero sum game, to adopt an alternative model: that it is better to occasionally destroy an innocent person, so long as it is done for reasons that are politically convenient.

It is the position of MHRIreland to support in all cases fair hearings, evidence based justice, and the protection of both the accuser(s) and accused until a decision is reached by a duly appointed court of law.

Consistent with due process, when referring to prehearing and pre-trial phases MHRIreland promotes the use of such neutral terms as “the accuser” and “the accused,” rather than such terms as “victim,” “alleged victim,” and “alleged rapist,” which at their utterance promote bias and a presumption of guilt against the person accused (and which in turn promote heightened scepticism toward accusers if the accusation proves false).

Provocative Tactics and Direct Action

Education and awareness are a critical part of any activism endeavour. While we will engage in such a manner with those who are willing to listen, we must also acknowledge its limitations: in order for education to be effective people must be willing to listen and they must have equal compassion for both sexes. Unfortunately, society is conditioned into the belief that men are responsible for everything that is wrong with the world, many who preside over and advocate inequity are not only unwilling to listen, they may also seek to prevent others from caring as well.

In addition, when dealing with bureaucrats, it is in their general nature to ignore a problem until ignoring it becomes a liability. The unfortunate reality of the human condition is proven true time and time again: sometimes you have to be noisy to get things done. You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches, and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to heighten the issue that it can no longer be ignored.

MHRIreland will promote the use of creative, provocative, and confrontational tactics so long as they stay within the boundaries of the law and remain consistent with the mission and values of this organisation. This may include the covert use of recording devices to expose misandry and corruption, the placement of corrupt officials and influential bigots on a public registry, the distribution of provocative flyers, private consultations with an institution’s donors, and the general aggravation of the status quo.

Non-Partisan, Non-Proselytizing

It is an unfortunate characteristic of the human condition that we invest ourselves in labels and establishments to such a degree that the values they are supposed to represent are sometimes neglected, forgotten, and even betrayed. MHRIreland requires and supports no affiliation with any political party or religious group. In addition, MHRIreland welcomes all members of the religious and skeptic communities, requires no affiliation with either, and makes no advocacy for or against either, with the exception that this site may point out what misandric elements exist within certain partitions of either community.

Evidence-Based Inquiries and Solutions

While passion and moral convictions can help drive social and political change, these must be based in accurate evidence in order to produce positive change in the world. As noted earlier, truth is the foundation of justice. And yet, truth is not always readily apparent; it must be triangulated and sifted from half-truths and falsehoods. It was once well-known in academia that “ideology is the enemy of science,” as ideologues will inevitably filter out or distort evidence that is disconfirmatory with their position. But the culture of our educational institutions has in many areas flipped and now takes the stance that science is meaningless if it does not serve an ideological purpose.

Even as we criticize those with whom we disagree for their disregard of scientific inquiry, we must adhere to the same high standards ourselves. We must also have the humility to admit that, as even a broken clock is right twice a day, those with whom we would regularly disagree may have a point every now and then.

In social and political issues especially it is wise to remember that there is evidence for virtually any claim; the question is whether the evidence is proportionate to how broadly the claim is being generalized. It may also be the case that a claim may be true, but we do not have sufficient methods of data collection at this point in our technological evolution to accurately measure it.

The position of MHRIreland is to present evidence based data and arguments to counter hyperbole and misandric propaganda in the media and in social discourse when and where possible.

Policy Areas of MHRIreland

These are the core areas where the rights of men and boys are systematically violated.

1. Parental Rights – abuses and violations of: Family Law – To whit, Guardianship/Custody/Access/Maintenance (Child Support)/Divorce.

2. Criminal Law - Protection (Barring) Orders/False accusations of sexual assault/rape/ false accusations of ANY crime. The encroachment of and suspension of the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” (Habeas Corpus).

3. Freedom of Speech, Thought, Conscience and Belief – the right to believe or not believe anything without supporting evidence or as our consciences dictate. The right to question criticise and call to account dissemination false information, data and statistics to support any pernicious and provably wrong dogma, doctrine or ideology.

4. Education - at all levels from Primary to Third level, to question, to highlight, to draw legitimate attention to policies and practices which imply, suggest or insinuate that boys and men are by default, less valuable, of lesser status, worth and concern as Human Beings than girls or women.

To campaign for policies that recognise, support and embrace the unique experiences, perceptions and abilities of boys, and to end the paradigm within education that sees masculinity as something negative, as something that needs to be “trained out” of boys and young men.

To demand cessation of the current regime of using places of higher learning as political and ideological indoctrination camps, where suppression of Free Speech is rampant, where dissenting beliefs and opinions are punished with by a climate of intimidation, and where ideologues use their positions of authority to bully students into complying with a narrow and politically motivated agenda.

5. Cultural and Social - to challenge and demonstrate the falsity of perceptions that relegate men and boys to a demonised class of persons on the sole basis of their sex, to challenge as demonstrate as false, perceptions of women and girls as endlessly perfect, endlessly unaccountable for their actions. To educate and inform the public of not just obvious abuses of the Human Rights of Men and boys but more subtle, more devious, and less obvious negative messages disseminated throughout society and culture, via whatever media.

6. Political - To campaign against public policies, or enactment of legislation that seeks to elevate the needs and rights of women and girls over the needs and rights of men and boys.

To highlight the ideologically motivated campaigns of disinformation that diverts funding and resources away from men and boys issues to an already bloated and resource rich “women’s issues” area. To expose the false data, false statistics and cherry picked research that seeks to mask the Human Rights abuses of men and boys, that seeks to hide male victims of poverty, of abuse, of violence, of miscarriages of justice.

7. Support and Advocacy - to attempt to help reduce the number of male suicides and homeless by campaigning for provision of services and a structure to help men to come to terms with injuries done to them in the process of divorce, higher education, or through unjust laws, either alone or working with other organisations who are attempting to redress the balance. As part of this process we aim to set up a nationwide network of men’s shelters and support groups for domestic violence and abuse incidents.