Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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207. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to recent developments concerning a person (details supplied) who has been detained by Bahraini authorities since June 2016; his plans to raise these issues with the Government of Bahrain; and if he will call for the release of the person to allow them get necessary medical care from international medical professionals. [20904/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I am very familiar with the case of the person in question, with his work as a human rights defender, and with his treatment by the Bahraini authorities since June 2016, and indeed before this. My Department has also recently been made aware of his health issues, which have reportedly deteriorated seriously during his most recent incarceration.

Ireland attaches a high priority to safeguarding human rights defenders, and has continually advocated for freedom for civil society actors to operate in a safe and enabling environment, without repression. In August 2014, officials from my Department met with the individual who is the subject of this Question, and discussed the situation of human rights in Bahrain with him. In October 2015, the Bahrain National Institution for Human Rights (BNIHR) came to Ireland on a training visit, which included meetings with Irish human rights and civil society organisations. Officials from my Department also met with this group, and set out Ireland’s support for human rights promotion across the Middle East region. We also engage with a number of Irish and international NGOs on human rights issues in Bahrain.

Ireland’s concerns about human rights issues in Bahrain, in particular around civil liberties, are also regularly conveyed to the Bahraini authorities. In March, officials from my Department met with an official from the Bahraini Embassy in London to discuss the human rights situation in Bahrain, and this specific case was discussed. My officials also raised ongoing human rights issues with Bahrain in the context of Bahrain’s Universal Periodic Review, which took place in Geneva earlier this week. In advance of this review, the Irish Mission to the UN in Geneva supported an event by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights in early February.

Further, Ireland’s (non-resident) Ambassador to Bahrain met with the Bahraini Deputy Minister for International Affairs, Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, at the beginning of this year and they discussed human rights. As such, my Department utilises all possible opportunities to express Ireland’s concerns about the human rights situation in Bahrain to the Bahraini authorities, and the case of this individual in particular has been raised where appropriate.

The Deputy puts this question to me at a time where we have witnessed some deterioration in the human rights situation in Bahrain, in particular in the targeting those who express dissent or criticism of the Bahraini Government. My Department will continue to monitor the situation in Bahrain, and will also continue to call on the Bahraini Government to make good on their stated commitment to make progress in the area of human rights.