Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work done by Senator Averil Power and one of my predecessors, the former Minister, Mr. David Andrews. I met both of them in connection with their visit to Bahrain which this country has been pressing in multilateral fora to undertake human rights reforms. At the most recent session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva we raised our concerns about the grave allegations of mistreatment, amounting to the torture of detainees, documented in the report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry and urged Bahrain to undertake further steps to implement the full recommendations made in the report. At the previous session of the UN Human Rights Council in June Ireland made a joint statement with 26 other countries urging Bahrain to enhance its co-operation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. At Bahrain’s universal periodic review in May Ireland recommended that all decisions of the national security courts be subject to review in ordinary courts and that laws be enacted to prohibit civilians being tried in military courts in the future. We have called on the Bahraini Government to exercise clemency and release the imprisoned medical professionals. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is a private institution, but I met its chief executive some time ago to discuss the situation in Bahrain.

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