Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Amnesty International for the presentation. I read the report, Torture in 2014: 30 years of Broken Promises. It makes sickening reading. I am always cautious of the focus of attention on individual named victims. As one goes through this document one may read of a peasant in Sudan who has had a hand amputated or look at the regional snapshots. Where does one start? There is Angola, Chad, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Mali, and the list goes on and on. All I can do is congratulate the work of Amnesty. Who are the unfortunates in Somalia, where al-Shabab have carried out stonings and mutilations? This is a terrible read. It behoves the international organisations, the UN and all the main players in the field of human rights, including the European Union and the High Representative of the Commission, to address the issues. Quite frankly, it is difficult to comprehend that things can swing as badly as they have in Egypt, from democratic elections that elect a democrat and everybody applauds the process of democracy and the participation in elections to what has been in effect an overnight 180 degrees somersault that has created the most horrendous human rights abuses, such as mass sentencing. It is tragic for the victims and those living in these regions where this is part of the unwritten culture of the police and security forces and government.

We need to be focused and reminded every so often about these abuses. I often feel that the cases we highlight are those of people more capable of expressing views, be they be political or personal, or of explaining their torture as against the humble peasant who is the victim of such abuses.