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

I welcome the Commissioner. It has been a good opportunity to hear his views and to present ours and ask the questions we have. No doubt it is a gigantic task that the Commissioner has at present and ahead of him.

I am struck that when we talk about disasters that require humanitarian aid, we can separate them into the so-called natural ones that come about because of climate, such as hurricanes that we see now in the Caribbean, and the others that are man-made. When we see what is happening in Syria, and I am glad the Commissioner mentioned Yemen, and I would wonder about Libya as well, it is man who is at the root of all those. As the Commissioner said, unless we get to the political solution of men - unfortunately, it seems to be all men, and maybe we need more women involved to have their input into resolutions and solutions - we will not see an end to what is going on. What we see in the meantime is UN resolutions, international law and international humanitarian law being ignored completely. People continue blithely ignoring all this. What are Mr. Stylianides's views on this and his input on the political solutions?

The Commissioner mentioned dignity. I visited the Turkish-Syrian border and saw good examples of humanitarian aid, but I also saw the opposite - the exploitation of refugees that was going on. I, too, would have reservations. I note Turkey's reaction to the coup with the crackdown and the arrest of teachers and journalists and the Turkish treatment of the Kurds. Despite this, we are turning to Turkey to look after refugees. I also note this recent development with Afghanistan and the threat to withdraw aid. We have the expression, NIMBY, not in my back yard, and many European countries, including Ireland, have taken the route that it is okay that the solutions are elsewhere and it is up to somebody else to look after it. None of us is stepping up to the mark.

Are those countries which have pledged aid honouring those pledges monetarily? I am involved in an organisation called the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, AWEPA, which involves us working with African parliamentarians. People are leaving African countries because of human rights abuses, for example, because of the lack of access to education. We seem not so much to accept that as not to get into the root of those countries, so to speak, and put pressure on them to respect human rights. Sometimes we look to close the stable door after the horse has bolted when instead we must see what we can do when the horse is in the stable. I have questions about humanitarian aid being targeted at people with a disability - disability is finally in a sustainable development goal - and about unaccompanied minors. I refer to the particularly vulnerable groups.

Returning to the issue of humanitarian and international law being completely ignored, we look at it in terms of Gaza. What can be done with the rebuilding of Gaza? The pledges have been made but nothing is happening. We are familiar with the humanitarian crisis there.

One other matter, given the anniversary of another UN resolution that is coming up, is the relic of the Cold War which is the blockade against Cuba. This has had a significant impact on Cuban society which has lost billions of euro because of it. The UN passes a resolution every year condemning that with few exceptions, yet it continues. When a resolution is passed or a humanitarian law is breached, when do we get into that mindset that we can do something about it? The Commissioner's work will continue until we get back to that position.