Mr. Eamon Gilmore:

Clearly, as I said earlier, the situation in Venezuela is having an impact. I do not have a role in respect of Venezuela but I can say to the Senator that the European Union has established an international contact group with a number of Latin American countries which is working to try to achieve a political solution to the situation in Venezuela.

The difficulties are in the detail. The JEP, the transitional justice system, is working and is independent. Its independence has been challenged politically. There has been a lot of political comment about the JEP, but I have met the president of the JEP, Patricia Linares, a number of times. She has done a fantastic job and her people are doing a fantastic job, but they are being subjected to a lot of political criticism. This is part of the political narrative in the country, but they are continuing to work. There are difficulties. Senator Bacik asked where the sticking points are. The implementation of the agreement requires a lot of resources, so one issue is resources. The land reform will require restitution or reparation for victims, which requires a lot of resourcing. I refer to the institutions, the operation of the JEP and the transitional justice system. The JEP has 800 staff. It requires a lot of resources and is now seeking to operate regionally, so there are big resourcing issues.

Senator Bacik also asked me about my new role. I would be happy to talk with the committee at some stage again about this. I am very honoured to have been appointed as the Special Representative for Human Rights. It is a very challenging time for human rights internationally. Civil society space is being shrunk in many countries and there is a rise in authoritarianism. There have been many attempts even to redefine the concept of human rights on the part of some in the international community and, unfortunately, a withdrawal by some from human rights institutions. I am quite happy to come back to the committee at some stage if it wishes and talk about this. My role is in human rights in the external and foreign policy of the European Union. I do not have a role in respect of human rights internally in the Union. Obviously, however, I must be mindful of the human rights situation internally in the promotion of the human rights values and policy of the European Union in its external action and foreign policy work.