Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept what the Minister of State said about the generally positive progress following the Arab spring but there is no doubt in some countries it has been one step forward and two steps back for women. The situation in some of the countries is worse for women and they are being deprived of certain rights and freedoms they had under the previous regimes. I hope that will form part of any EU discussion with the governments in these countries.

There have been positive steps on Kurdish issues in Turkey. Does the Minister of State have any more information on that? We have had representations before us on Bosnia Herzegovina. There is concern that democracy is not moving in the way everyone would like. The Minister of State said in her speech that it is down to the political leaders but Europe could play a stronger role.

We had a meeting with the Clean Clothes group on what happened in Bangladesh, and asked also about the judge from Colombia. The question arose of very strong labour rights and laws to be included in any of the agreements, and not just lip service to human rights. There must be specific sections in the agreements on the rights of workers.