Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is correct to say we need to take a stand on human rights. There are human rights issues on several levels in the news today. We have heard about the human rights violations in Cork, where a young girl has talked about living in an abandoned place that people forgot about. A member of the Traveller community has spoken about the absolutely unacceptable circumstances in which Travellers are being asked to live in Ireland. When I hear about Gaza, I worry that it might again become a place that people forget about. While there is a ceasefire, the death is continuing. The coronavirus testing laboratory was bombed and the head of medicine was killed so we will see the consequences rolling on. We have seen the effects of the policies of eviction and annexation, which still must be challenged.

I add my voice to the condemnation of the appalling state-sponsored hijacking and piracy involving an attack on a journalist. Sadly, across the world journalists are increasingly becoming front-line defenders. It is unacceptable. Sanctions should be issued. I note that we have a record of issuing sanctions in some cases. Regarding Russia, sanctions related to occupied Crimea and goods from there were found last year by the European Court of Justice to be legal within our trade law, under the Rosneft ruling, because it was found that it is a matter of public policy when human rights are being violated. I still have not heard an explanation as to why the occupied territories in Palestine are different from occupied Crimea and why the same principle of public policy and human rights does not apply. I need to hear that rationale because we have not heard it. I ask that action be taken.

Let me refer to an area where there is no ambiguity on trade policy. We can choose to suspend intellectual property profits for a period to allow global access to vaccines. I welcome the European Parliament's vote for a waiver of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS. Some 62 countries have now signed up for a waiver but Ireland and the EU Commission still stand in the way of something very meaningful that they could do for human rights and global public good and health.