Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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50. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which the most serious locations of war, famine, genocide, abuse of human rights remain a concern for the EU and UN and global communities with particular reference to targeting specific areas such as use of child soldiers, abuse of women and children and in general the civilian populations; if any success has been achieved in restricting the supply of arms to the locations most seriously affected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15898/14]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The most serious locations of war, famine, genocide and abuse of human rights remain of constant concern to the EU, UN and wider global communities. The specific issues mentioned by the Deputy are of particular concern. Limiting illicit flows of arms to regions of tension or conflict is an ongoing priority and in some instances restrictions have been markedly successful. The Arms Trade Treaty, ATT, was approved by the General Assembly on 2 April 2013 and has been signed by 118 states so far, including Ireland and all other EU Member States. Ireland formally completed its ratification of the ATT yesterday, 2 April, along with sixteen other EU Member States and El Salvador, bringing the total number of ratifications to 31; the Treaty's entry into force will be triggered when 50 states have ratified it, possibly within this year. The ATT establishes a set of rules to govern the international arms trade and its terms prohibit the sale of arms which might be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law or acts of gender-based violence. Its comprehensive implementation will result in a significant change in the way the arms trade is conducted and will make transfers to locations affected by conflict and violence considerably more difficult.

Ireland is fully committed to implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and related resolutions on women, peace and security, which recognise the particular impact conflict has on women and girls, and the important role played by women in building and sustaining peace, through a National Action Plan 2011-2014. Ireland has engaged on the issue of Children and Armed Conflict in various ways including, crucially, through the core work of our aid programme in addressing poverty and under-development – major root causes of this problem. Ireland has also supported more targeted and specific interventions from supporting agencies such as UNICEF and the International Criminal Court, to designing interventions in our bilateral programmes that address the needs of children affected by conflict. Ireland also recently made a statement highlighting our concerns in relation to children and armed conflict during an interactive debate with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms Leila Zerrougui, at the Human Rights Council session which took place in March 2014. Furthermore, Minister of State for Trade and Development, Joe Costello TD, spoke of the continuing need to tackle the issue of child soldiers in conflicts in Africa and other regions at the EU-Africa Ministerial meeting on 1st April ahead of the 4th EU-Africa Summit.

We remain deeply committed to addressing this issue, as has been recently reflected in Ireland's new Policy for International Development, 'One World, One Future', where we have pledged to increase our engagement on the issue of child soldiers and children in armed conflict. We are examining options for strengthened action in this area.

Human rights concerns are central to our foreign policy. Together with our EU partners, Ireland closely monitors the human rights situations in many countries throughout the world. We do this on the basis of information obtained from a variety of sources including both official channels and non-governmental/civil society organisations.

Where and when the situation warrants, we make known our concerns about human rights violations to the Governments in question. We do this bilaterally, through the EU or via the positions we take at the UN General Assembly and in the UN Human Rights Council, of which we are a member for the period 2013 to 2015.

The EU has adopted Common Positions on certain countries, which attach priority to promoting human rights, democracy, good governance and the rule of law. In addition, the EU conducts human rights dialogues with a number of countries and also raises human rights concerns as part of political dialogue meetings. In June 2012 the EU adopted a Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy.

Ireland and its EU partners have also been strong and consistent supporters of the International Criminal Court, recognising it as an essential means of combating impunity for the most serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. The Court's Prosecutor has opened investigations into a number of country situations and we will continue to monitor this work closely.