Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Senator Norris on the motion he has proposed concerning sexual violence in conflict, including Ireland's national action plan and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1327. I also commend the Senator for having achieved unanimity for the motion. That unanimity was evident from all the excellent contributions that have been made here today. As was mentioned earlier, it is an extremely appropriate time to table this motion because 25 November marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The 10 December, meanwhile, will mark International Human Rights Day. The period between both dates is extremely important. It is also important to highlight all these issues concerning gross interference and abuse of human rights.

Senator O'Keeffe asked what we could do.

It is not sufficient to talk about it, we must deal with it. We are at the cutting edge in Ireland on the drawing up of the national action plan and its implementation and monitoring.

A quotation from the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, in 2007, illustrates the situation starkly: "In no other area is our collective failure to ensure effective protection for civilians more apparent than the masses of women and girls, but also boys and men, whose lives are destroyed each year by sexual violence perpetrated in conflict". The estimate is that up to 500,000 women and girls were raped during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, up to 50,000 women and girls were raped during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990s, an average of 50 women and girls were raped every day in the south Kivu area in the Democratic Republic of Congo, while in Sierra Leone and Liberia in a conflict that only finished ten years ago, up to 50,000 thousand girls and women were raped. I met many of the young women and saw the trauma that had occurred as a result.

United Nations Resolution 1325, which is part and parcel of this, and UN Resolutions 1820, 1888 and 1889, demand that we take certain action. There should be full participation by women in decision making related to peace and security, the protection of woman and girls from gender based violence and the incorporation of gender perspectives in all peacekeeping, peacemaking and peace-building strategies undertaken by the United Nations and its member states.

In response, Ireland has produced a national action plan, which was developed in co-operation with a range of stakeholders, including the Departments, civil society organisations and women living in Ireland from conflict affected countries. An innovative cross-learning process between women in Northern Ireland, Liberia and Timor Leste also informed the process and development of the action plan.

Ireland's national action plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security was officially launched by the Tánaiste and the former President, Mary Robinson, at the annual meeting of the Irish Consortium on Gender-Based Violence in November 2011. It sets out how Ireland would promote and implement the objectives of the United Nations resolutions. The plan aims to strengthen women's leadership and implement accountability mechanisms and to build capacity through comprehensive training of staff deployed overseas, including the Defence Forces, on responding to and protecting people from sexual violence. There are also support programmes to support women's participation in peace-building and post-conflict transitional and related activities.

The plan also commits Ireland to playing a leadership role in global and regional fora and to champion the implementation of Resolution 1325 and we are living up to this commitment. In our capacity as chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2012, we are acting as chef de fileon all the issues related to Resolution 132 and we have encouraged all 56 OSCE states to do likewise.

We have been consistent supporters of UN Women since its establishment in 2010 to address the needs of women where there are threats to peace and security. This is a core priority for UN Women and when Ireland assumes its seat on the executive board next year, we will work to ensure this priority is maintained. We have increased our international support to this organisation to ¤1.5 million in 2012. Also, the national plan includes commitments to its implementation across Departments, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Justice and Equality, and the Defence Forces. My Department is fully committed to playing an effective coordination and leadership role in the implementation of the plan.

I affirm that implementing the national action plan will continue to be a key priority for the Government's overseas aid programme, Irish Aid. Likewise, civil society organisations are extremely important partners with which we work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Syria, Liberia and Sierra Leone. We also work with the International Rescue Committee to enhance protection and support for the empowerment of women and girls in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. We are working with the Governments of Sierra Leone and Liberia to strengthen national and local structures to prevent and respond to gender based violence.

As I noted, earlier this year I met many of those involved in the programmes we have in place to provide education, training and entrepreneurship and other skills for women who have been physically and sexually abused during the civil war ten years ago. We are also providing gender-based violence response services and prevention activities for Somali women at the Dolo Ado refugee camp in Ethiopia.

The rapid response register managed by Irish Aid is a register of highly skilled individuals from the public and private sectors, including the Defence Forces, who can be deployed at short notice to assist in emergency relief scenarios. The register is building up expertise and capacity for addressing gender-based violence in emergencies to ensure the relevant skills on gender equality and gender-based violence and protection are available at short notice.

Irish Aid is also an active member of the Irish joint consortium on gender-based violence, comprised of development, humanitarian and human rights non-governmental organisations. The consortium, alongside Irish Aid and the Defence Forces, has played an important role in supporting the development of the national action plan. As several speakers noted, Ms Liz McManus, a former Minister of State with responsibility for housing and urban renewal, has been appointed as the independent chair of the group following consultation with civil society. Many people may not be aware that in 2002 the then Deputy McManus became the first Member of the Oireachtas to introduce a Bill to abolish female genital mutilation. She set the ball rolling and Senator Ivana Bacik subsequently introduced similar legislation which is now on the Statute Book, with the ministerial instrument having been introduced in September 2012.

The Government is committed to the implementation of the national action plan and is very much at its cutting edge. According to the Nobel Peace Prize winner and President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, "Wartime sexual violence has been one of history's greatest silences." The Liberian President will speak at a major international conference to be held in April 2013 as part of the Irish Presidency. The event will be organised jointly with the Mary Robinson Foundation, World Food Programme, International Agriculture Committee and Irish Aid. The Government is placing the issue of gender-based violence very much to the forefront of the Irish Presidency in terms of the review of the millennium development goals. It will be a challenge and privilege to prepare the ground for the European Union for the new negotiations that will begin in September 2013. We must seek to achieve an agreement across the 27 EU member states for a new set of proposals for the goals and we are anxious to ensure gender based violence will be a core element of the new goals.

Gender-based violence is also a core part of our review of the 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid which will be launched shortly. Senators called on the Government to use Ireland's new position as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council to table a resolution on this matter.

I will consider this suggestion carefully to determine whether we can put it on the agenda at the earliest possible stage in order that, from the very beginning, we will be seen as viewing gender-based violence as one of the key areas we will address during our membership of that particular body.

I thank Senators, including those who have not yet contributed, for their contributions. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to respond to this debate.