Written answers
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Human Rights Issues
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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153. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which he continues to use his influence at EU and UN level with a view to ensuring that women and girls under various regimes worldwide not known for their observance of women’s human rights are encouraged to address these issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49548/13]
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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The Government remains fully committed to combating all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls. This is a key element of our human rights agenda. I will continue to advocate for this important issue at the regional and international level. Ireland has been a strong advocate of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. We have taken a leadership role in the international arena calling on other states to commit to implementation of this resolution. The resolution calls for an increase in the participation of women in peacemaking and peacebuilding processes; the protection to women and girls in armed conflict; and the incorporation of a gender perspective into peacekeeping and peacebuilding processes.
At an EU level, Ireland has taken an active role in negotiations on the EU guidelines on violence against women and girls and combating all forms of discrimination which were adopted in 2008. Ireland is an active member of the EU Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security.
Ireland is also an active participant in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which is the principal global policy-making body on gender equality and the advancement of women.
Combating all forms of violence against women and girls is a key priority of Ireland’s overseas development programme both through policy dialogue and programme support.
Both bilaterally in our engagement with partner countries, and at the UN and in other multilateral bodies, the Government consistently emphasises the importance of gender mainstreaming as a key aspect of ending poverty, hunger, discrimination and vulnerability across the globe.
The Government cooperates closely with key UN partners in their work on combating all forms of violence against girls. UNICEF, UN Women and UNFPA work closely with governments across the developing world to promote women’s rights and empowerment. In this context, Ireland supports specific programmes on targeting elimination of discrimination against women and girls; empowerment of women; and achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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154. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which the international community continues to engage with Yulia Tymoshenko in the context of the need for observation of her entitlement to basic human rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49549/13]
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I am on record in Dáil Éireann expressing concern over the ongoing detention of the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko and refer the Deputy to my statement to this House of 2 October last. As the Deputy will recall, I raised the matter with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister during our bilateral meeting on 27 September on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York. The issue was also raised at an informal ministerial level breakfast meeting between members of the Council and Ukraine which I attended before the FAC last month.The European Parliament’s monitoring mission to Ukraine, which is led by the former President of Poland, Aleksander Kwaœniewski, and the former President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, has also been engaging actively with the Ukrainian authorities to resolve all areas where the EU has expressed concern, including the area of selective justice. The mission has met with Ms Tymoshenko in hospital in Kharkiv more than a dozen times over the past 17 months. I wish to commend the mission for the conscientious and professional manner in which it has performed its important task and to reaffirm Ireland’s full support for its work. On 4 October, the monitoring mission made a public appeal to the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, to release Ms Tymoshenko for medical treatment on health and humanitarian grounds by way of pardon. Germany has publicly stated that it would be ready to host Ms Tymoshenko for such treatment. I support their appeal. However, President Yanukovych has indicated a preference for the alternative path of a special law, to be agreed in the Ukrainian parliament, which would permit treatment abroad of convicted persons on health and humanitarian grounds, including Ms Tymoshenko.
Unfortunately, and as the monitoring mission reported to the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents on 13 November, the Ukrainian parliament has been unable to reach agreement to date on a draft law or formula that would permit Ms Tymoshenko to leave Ukraine for medical treatment. While the monitoring mission has expressed the view that it would be premature to conclude that there has been compliance with the conditions set, it believes that the outstanding issues can be resolved with the necessary political will. The mandate of the mission has been further extended until the Vilnius Summit and it is scheduled to return to Ukraine this week.
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