Ms Zoe Smith:

Deputy Brendan Smith mentioned the epicentre of extremism in sub-Saharan Africa and asked whether it was connected with the Middle East. There are some connections. Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to ISIS a number of times. The media are playing an interesting part in the persecution there in that groups that previously would only have been known locally are now known internationally and able to feed off each other's success. To that extent, the success of ISIS in the Middle East spurred on Boko Haram, al-Shabab and so on. There are splinter groups in various countries. We are not sure how powerful they are, but they are, at least verbally, connected with one another. We are interested in sub-Saharan Africa as the growing epicentre of Islamic extremism, particularly in countries where it has not previously been an issue such as Kenya. I visited that country about three years ago and was a little frustrated in going there because I did not think Christians faced many problems, but we are all aware now that they do and they have been growing over time. We are aware of and concerned about this. We are also concerned about the situation in Tanzania where there are sporadic attacks, the number of which has been increasing. It is something on which to keep an eye.

Apostasy and blasphemy laws work on an international level. The Vice Chairman has mentioned a resolution at the United Nations to combat hate speech. It has been a real success, as it replaced a resolution on the defamation of religions, which effectively legitimised all apostasy and blasphemy laws internationally and which had been voted through continually at the United Nations. There was a huge campaign a few years ago to get rid of it. For the first time in a long time, it was not tabled in 2012, which was a major success, but it has not been defeated, which is a shame. It has not been voted out, but it has not reared its head for a while. I have heard different country representatives say that to maintain the status quoat the United Nations on freedom of religion, one must work incredibly hard to stay still and not regress. Ireland is already working to ensure a lack of international resolutions supporting apostasy and blasphemy laws and it would be great to see that work continue that.

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights is very explicit in what it covers. One of the things it covers is the freedom to choose or change one's religion or beliefs or not to hold a religion or beliefs at all. That freedom is under constant attack in various parts of the international community and successive treaties on human rights; the right to choose and change religion is often dropped. I do not think it made it into the Commonwealth human rights charter, for instance, and there are other regional human rights charters in which freedom of religion is mentioned but the right to choose and change one's religion is not. Maintaining the specific wording is something on which Ireland can definitely work and it would make a significant difference for those who decide to leave a religion or choose another one and follow their conscience.

It is great to see Senator Michael Mullins back. He asked me to expand a little on the issues of denominational protectionism and organised corruption. To do this, I will use two country examples. We see denominational protectionism in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has a great deal of control over society. Members of other Christian denominations face harassment, intimidation and false imprisonment because of this. When one talks about the persecution of Christians, it is awkward to mention that Christian groups do not always like each other, but it is something of which we are aware and which needs to be addressed. A good news story from Syria is that different denominations that have been suspicious of each other for a long time are increasingly working together and realising we are all one in Christ. That is very good news as far as we are concerned. In Colombia we run an orphanage for children of Colombian pastors who dared to speak out against the guerilla organisations and lead young people who could have been caught up in violence to Christ and show them there was a different way of life. For this they have often forfeited their lives. That is what we mean by organised corruption.

Mr. Turner mentioned the asylum system and the fact that he had received a translator from the Iranian embassy. In the United Kingdom we are working with the Home Office on the asylum procedure to make it more accessible for Christians who face persecution. For instance, in one of the questions asked five years ago which, thankfully, is no longer asked the applicant was asked how they cooked a turkey at Christmas time as a means of proving they were a genuine Christian.