Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. In putting this Commencement matter to the Minister I wish to emphasise, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has acknowledged this, the terrible persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa by Boko Haram, Daesh and various other bodies. There is a growing awareness that this is a systematic killing of minorities such as Yazidis and Christians, and Coptic Christians in the case of Libya. There is a need for the international community to do more than it is doing at present. Rhetoric is fine, but it must be backed by more concrete action which will hopefully, in the first instance, make the perpetrators of these atrocities begin to think that they will be held accountable. Many politicians in the US and Britain have been calling for this to be recognised for what it is, genocide.

The Minister of State might be aware that shortly before Christmas a group of 75 British politicians sent a letter to the Prime Minister to express their concern about the genocide being perpetrated by Daesh against various communities, including Iraqi and Syrian Christians, Yazidis and other vulnerable groups. They pointed out that there is clear evidence that genocide is occurring, including the assassination of church leaders which we have seen, mass murders, torture, kidnapping for ransom in the Christian communities in Iraq and Syria, sexual enslavement, which is very common, the systematic rape of Christian girls and women, forcible conversion to Islam, destruction of churches, monasteries, cemeteries and Christian artifacts, and the theft of lands and wealth from Christian clergy and laity. Daesh has made statements taking credit for the mass murder of Christians, so it is not as if these things are happening unknown to the world. Daesh has put these statements on the media.

One incident is an example of what is happening. Last December, Daesh tortured a young child along with two other Christians and crucified them to death. In an attempt to force the child's father to convert to Islam from Christianity the boy's fingertips were cut off. The bodies were left hanging on crosses for two days under signs reading "infidels". That is a clear indication that what is happening is tantamount to genocide. Genocide as defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide makes it clear that genocide is not simply random killing of individuals but the systematic killing or serious harming of people because they are part of a recognisable group, which may be national, ethnic, racial or religious. The convention identifies it as acts committed with the intent to destroy the group in whole or in part.

The purpose of this Commencement matter is to call on the Minister and the Government to use all the influence at their disposal, at both the United Nations and the European Union, to obtain an agreement that the word "genocide" be used. That will have two main benefits. It will send a clear message to those who are organising and undertaking the slaughter that at some point in the future they will be held accountable for their actions by the international community and that they will be caught, tried and punished. It will also act as an incentive and encouragement to the other 127 nations that are signatories to the convention to face up to their duty of responsibility in this regard. It would be a sad reflection on Europe, which has a strong Judeo-Christian tradition, if it fails when our Christrian brethren are being slaughtered to such an extent across the Middle East and parts of north Africa. The time has come for governments and Ministers to step up on this issue. I hope that ideological groups within the public service in the EU and the United Nations will not thwart this because of their antipathy to some Christian religions. It would be a sad day if that happened.

This is an appalling episode in our midst. I hope the Minister will give a strong reply and that the Government will deny some of the reports that this Government is reluctant to classify it as genocide.