Ms Caoimhe de Barra:

My colleagues have painted a very stark picture of the reality in Sudan. Trócaire also works in Sudan and has done for many years through our local partners. The question now is what Ireland can do.

In general, Ireland can continue to voice its opposition to the violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, the attacks on civilians, the impediments to humanitarian access, and the continued flow of weapons from third parties and their intermediaries to the conflict. There are, however, five specific areas where we would like to see Ireland continue to be very active, both at the EU and UN levels.

The first, as my colleagues have already said, is calling for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire but, in particular, for the establishment of an independent monitoring and verification mechanism to enforce it. That needs to have the full, equal and meaningful participation of women. However, that sounds like something which is quite a way down the line, so my second point is that Ireland needs to support and amplify calls for the deployment, as early as possible, of an independent and impartial force with a mandate to protect civilians in Sudan. The last civilian protection mechanism or force that was in Sudan was wound down as recently as last December. There is no mechanism in Sudan right now to protect civilians but we have heard of appalling abuses being perpetrated against them.

The third point is that Ireland should continue to support and amplify calls for the UN Security Council to expand the recently renewed sanctions regime for Darfur. Unfortunately, while this was renewed at the UN Security Council in September, it remains just focused on Darfur and not on the entire country. That has been heavily criticised but we believe there is scope for that to be revisited and that Ireland has a role to play in that regard.

My fourth related point is that Ireland should advocate for an expansion of EU sanctions. The EU has brought in sanctions on two occasions in the past year but these need to be broadened. The list of those targeted by sanctions needs to be broadened to accommodate the wider political and military elites, their corporate networks and their enablers, including international proxies.

My final point is that Ireland needs to continue to support, as it has vocally done to date, the renewal and resourcing of the mandate of the UN Human Right's Council's independent fact-finding mission on Sudan, which recently reported. The findings of that report were absolutely horrifying but it is the only mission that exists at the moment with a mandate to cover the entire country of Sudan and to report on the human rights violations being experienced by civilians. Ireland, which has been vocal in support of the mission, can and should do more, including looking at supporting the resourcing of that mandate.

In the interests of time and of allowing for questions and answers, I will leave it there. I am very happy to answer any questions members may have or to elaborate.