Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Through the Government’s development co-operation programme, Ireland is committed to providing long-term strategic assistance to nine key partner countries, eight of them in Africa. Good governance and human rights are key elements of our development programme. In addition to providing assistance to organisations promoting human rights, our embassies in our key partner countries work directly, and in co-operation with other EU member states, to engage with Governments on a range of governance and human rights issues, including the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex, LGBTI, people.

In responding to serious human rights situations, including oppressive legislation, our focus is on targeted actions that do not penalise the most vulnerable in society. We deliver aid through a range of instruments and channels to support poverty reduction, and we target our assistance to achieve progress on human rights. We also ensure that the human rights of LGBTI people are kept on the international agenda. Ireland provided substantial input to the EU guidelines on LGBTI issues during our Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013. The Tánaiste pledged our full support to the efforts of the UN Secretary General to lead a global campaign for LGBTI rights when he addressed the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council in 2013. In my address to the Human Rights Council in March this year, I highlighted Ireland’s grave concerns at the enactment of repressive legislation in a number of countries affecting the rights of LGBTI individuals.

We will continue to work internationally and in our partner countries to promote human rights, including the rights of LGBTI people, and to support human rights organisations and institutions.

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