Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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29. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the reason she was sent to the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants in place of the Taoiseach; the commitments and any new commitment made by Ireland in respect of the refugee crisis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27423/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that I attended the UN Summit both in my capacity as Tánaiste and because I have Ministerial responsibility for the areas in question.

The outcome of the Summit and the commitments entered into are set out in a comprehensive outcomes document which can be found on the UN website. The commitments entered into particularly focus on the most vulnerable. They include commitments to:

- Protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants, regardless of status. This includes the rights of women and girls and promoting their full, equal and meaningful participation in finding solutions to refugee situations.

- Ensure that all refugee and migrant children are receiving education within a few months of arrival in their country of resettlement.

- Prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence.

- Work towards ending the practice of detaining children for the purposes of determining their migration status.

- Improve the delivery of humanitarian and development assistance to those countries most affected, including through innovative multilateral financial solutions, with the goal of closing all funding gaps.

- Implement a comprehensive refugee response, based on a new framework that sets out the responsibility of Member States, civil society partners and the UN system, whenever there is a large movement of refugees or a protracted refugee situation.

- Find new homes for all refugees identified by UNHCR as needing resettlement; and expand the opportunities for refugees to relocate to other countries through, for example, labour mobility or education schemes.

The New York Declaration also contains concrete plans to build on these commitments including:

- Starting negotiations leading to an international conference and the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in 2018. The agreement to move toward this comprehensive framework is a significant one because it means that migration, like other areas of international relations, will be guided by a set of common principles and approaches.

- Develop guidelines on the treatment of migrants in vulnerable situations. These guidelines will be particularly important for the increasing number of unaccompanied children on the move which I know is an area of particular interest to the Deputy.

- Achieve a more equitable sharing of the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting the world’s refugees by adopting a global compact on refugees in 2018.

Clearly, the world faces highly significant challenges in trying to deal with refugees and migrants, especially given the large population displacements caused by war and climate change. There are no easy solutions. I indicated at the Summit that the scale of the challenges requires global responses. I am pleased, in this regard, that countries are engaging together under the auspices of the UN on identifying global responses to these challenges and I indicated Ireland's commitment to supporting this process.