Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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321. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is aware of the Western European and Others Group’s decision to nominate Israel for the chairmanship of the United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee; if Ireland will back this nomination; and if he is concerned that Israel, a State that continues to breach international law and conventions, international humanitarian law and countless United Nations resolutions, is being nominated to head a legal committee that aims to promote international law and protect basic human rights and freedoms. [18222/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The effectiveness and universality of the United Nations system has been a central principle of Irish foreign policy for very many decades. Successive Irish Governments have accepted that Israel, like any other state, should be able to stand for election to, and occupy positions in, UN structures. On this basis, Ireland has agreed to the inclusion of Israel in relevant Western European and Others Groups (WEOG), in a number of UN fora, so long as they are refused membership of their natural geographic group.

There are very many states within the UN system with which Ireland would have serious human rights concerns.

In the recent election for the Chair of the General Assembly’s Sixth (Legal Affairs) Committee, the system of rotation used it meant that it was expected that a WEOG candidate would be elected. Israel was the only member of WEOG to stand for the post and was duly elected to the Chair.