Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The context of the matter I raise today is that Ireland pays more than €300 million per annum towards the cost of running the United Nations. Within that framework of the United Nations, special rapporteurs are regularly appointed and given a remit to examine and report on a specific human rights matter of broad concern worldwide or a matter specific to a particular country. Examples might include child poverty internationally or specific human rights abuses in a particular country or region. These rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and they are usually lawyers considered to be independent human rights experts.

According to the UN Human Rights Council, these rapporteurs undertake country visits, act on individual cases of reported violations by sending communications to states, seek information, contribute to the development of international human rights standards, engage in advocacy and so on. These positions are unpaid and there are three-year mandates that can be renewed for a further three years. As of last October, there were 58 such mandates. Given the nature of this role, it is vital these rapporteurs carry out these tasks without fear or favour and are beholden to no master. That is why the positions are unpaid and there is a code of conduct that applies to special rapporteurs binding them to "objectivity and non-selectivity in the consideration of human rights issues, and the elimination of double standards and politicisation".

The reason this objectivity is demanded is very clear and obvious. The conclusions these rapporteurs come to can have significant impacts on the position of the United Nations and the UN Human Rights Council on many controversial matters. It can have a positive and negative impact on the reputations of individual member states and their governments. There should not be any conflicts of interest, and this brings me to the matter I raise today.

Earlier this year, the European Centre for Law and Justice, ECLJ, a well-known and respected non-governmental organisation, NGO, based in Strasbourg, published a report indicating some shocking practices relating to these special rapporteurs. Much of this information was in the public domain but it was gathered by the ECLJ as part of an exhaustive research process it conducted. It found various private foundations, NGOs, state governments and private corporations are spending huge amounts to influence these special rapporteurs and, in some cases, to recruit them in the first place. There were 121 special rapporteurs appointed between 2015 and 2019 and 37 of those received payments totalling $11 million outside any UN control from private foundations and NGOs, including the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation of George Soros and other anonymous donors.

It is a matter of public record that the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty, Mr. Philip Alston, was paid $600,000 by the Open Society Foundation in 2018 and 2019 alone through various grants and yet only declared $5,000 to the United Nations. An Irish lawyer, Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, has held special rapporteur positions while concurrently being the chairperson of an Open Society Foundation project. There are myriad other examples in the report of the European Centre for Law and Justice, which is available on its website.

It seems there has been widespread knowledge of these practices for many years but a culture of omertaseems to have grown, so the publication of the report has caused some stir. The problem is this: the Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation and other such groups are not independent and disinterested actors when it comes to certain human rights issues. They often have very particular positions on controversial matters such as marriage rights, the right to life, assisted suicide, religious freedom, religious ethos in education, transgender rights and so on. They spend vast amounts in financing campaigns advancing those views.

Is the Government aware of the ECLJ report to which I have referred? Is it aware of the allegations made about financial influence being exerted over the holders of such positions? Has this Government made any representations in this regard? Is the Irish Government ever consulted when it is proposed to appoint an Irish citizen as a special rapporteur? What monitoring takes place within the Minister of State's Department on the operation of the United Nations Human Rights Council? The Minister of State would surely agree we should insist on proper ethical standards, given Ireland pays more than €300 million per annum towards the cost of running the UN.