Ms Iverna McGowan:

The Chairman inquired about work we are doing in other EU member states. Amnesty International is involved in a broad body of work across EU member states in respect of torture, monitoring police behaviour, Roma issues, etc.

I will comment somewhat more specifically on our work in respect of Roma, a matter which was highlighted as a priority for this meeting. The most important thing to realise about Roma people in the EU is that states are carrying out forced evictions in respect of them. Roma children are being segregated in schools in EU member states. That is the burning issue which must be addressed at European level with regard to the broader context of how serious we are about human rights policy.

Reference was made to Hungary. The situation there has highlighted a structural issue that exists within the European Union, namely, that if a human rights issue or crisis arises, people are left scrambling around trying to decide how to respond. It should not be a case of considering the matter in the context of east or west. As the Roma issue demonstrates very strongly, there are human rights issues across all member states.

What we need is an internal response to that within the European Union as well as working with the Council of Europe. We need to respond to that. We are making recommendations to the Irish Presidency following the fundamental rights conference of the European Union with some practical things that may be considered by the Council Working Party on Fundamental Rights, Citizens Rights and Free Movement of Persons, known as FREMP. That could be given a stronger role and greater expertise and we could work towards having a European Union internal human rights policy in order that when another situation arises there is no panic in the Union or questions about how we respond. If this were done we would already have a coherent response ready and a way of responding. I welcome that this was discussed at the General Affairs Council. We are keen to see it discussed at the Justice and Home Affairs Council and at fora such as COSAC or between European affairs committees with regard to the broader issue of what the European Union's internal human rights policy comprises.

A question was asked about the cases. The cases were selected at our European Union office. We communicated this to all our national offices in countries throughout Europe. As Mr. O'Gorman pointed out, we look at where the EU has certain leverage. We look at cases that are emblematic. The committee will notice that some of the cases are within the European Union addressing issues on Roma, for example. We also consider EU guidelines on foreign policy and how to align it and we seek to get a regional overview as well. Basically, a good deal of thought goes into it, but it is still a difficult task to get it down to nine cases.