Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The answer to the question is there was quite a deal of discussion about the requirement to promote and protect human rights in accordance with the United Nations Charter. A willingness was expressed by everybody to promote further co-operation through the Asia-Europe Meeting, ASEM, in the field of human rights, including, as I stated, through what is best practice in the sharing of experiences. There was a welcome for the convening of the 13th informal ASEM seminar on human rights which was held in Copenhagen in 2013 and which focused on environmental and human rights. The 14th informal ASEM seminar on human rights took place in Vietnam in November and the 15th seminar will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, in October. The leaders present at the meeting underlined the important roles of governments and international and national human rights institutions in promoting and protecting human rights. They underlined their commitment to strengthen collaboration to advance the promotion and protection of human rights through the Human Rights Council. They emphasised that members of vulnerable groups needed particular attention to enjoy their full human rights. They reaffirmed the important roles of parliaments, civil society and the media in strengthening the foundations of democracy, thereby contributing to the sound basis for sustainable development. In that sense, there was a welcome for the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership held in Rome in October 2014 and the tenth Asia-Europe People's Forum which was held in Milan. As I stated, there was total condemnation of all issues from xenophobia to religious hatred and violence.

The leaders reiterated their determination to strengthen preparedness and the response to disasters and to build resilience, including through awareness programmes, early warning systems, search, rescue and relief operations and applying innovation, science and technology, as well as reducing vulnerability to and losses caused by disasters. They also stressed the need to build the resilience of the most vulnerable, including women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities, as well as improving the capacities of local communities and societies to adapt to and manage the impact of disasters. There was a welcome for the two ASEM conferences on disaster risk reduction and management held in 2013 and 2014. There was a call for a deepening of co-operation between Europe and Asia on disaster risk reduction and management, while there was an invitation to all ASEM partners to work towards a strengthening of the renewed international framework for disaster risk reduction to be adopted at the third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to be held this month in Sendai, Japan. There was a call for greater collaboration in dealing with health care for children, women and the elderly, in particular.

In this context, there was a welcome for the ASEM workshop on public health emergency management, which was held in Beijing, China, at the end of 2014. In addition, an initiative is to be held in India next month on non-invasive diagnostic technologies for diabetes and its treatment as a lifestyle disease. All of these things were mentioned and reflected upon, and are included in the statement I circulated to Members. In the not too distant future, they might get a chance to follow through on some of these again.

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