Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

167. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the persecution of Christians has been discussed at any recent EU Foreign Affairs Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19073/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ireland is deeply concerned by the continued discrimination, intimidation and systematic harassment of people based on their religion or belief. Ireland strongly condemns all forms of persecution on the basis of religion or belief, irrespective of where they occur and who the victims are.

Our commitment to promoting freedom of religion and belief is reaffirmed in the Global Island: Ireland’s Foreign Policy for a Changing World, which was published in January 2015 and more recently in the Programme for Partnership Government. We work to advance our commitment to promoting freedom of religion or belief at the EU, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN General Assembly and through our bilateral contacts.

Ireland has reiterated this commitment on many occasions, including during my address to the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2016, where I reaffirmed Ireland’s commitment to speak out in defence of religious minorities who continue to suffer persecution. More recently at the 71st Session of UNGA in October 2016, Ireland made a statement expressing our concern for those facing persecution on the basis of their religion or belief.

Ireland also supported an EU-led resolution on freedom of religion or belief adopted during the UN General Assembly in 2016 and the March 2017 session of the Human Rights Council.

Ireland works within and alongside the EU to address the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. During our Presidency of the European Council in 2013, Ireland played a key role in the development of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief, which provide a framework for the promotion of this right in the EU’s external human rights policy. In 2015, Ireland also pressed for the inclusion of a reference to the promotion of this right in the EU Action Plan for Human Rights and Democracy 2015-2019, which ensures that the EU will continue to engage on the issue of the promotion of freedom of religion and belief.