Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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256. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 650 of 2 May 2017, if he will provide an update on the efforts of the Government to raise the detention of LGBT persons in Chechnya on both a bilateral and multilateral level; if concerns have been raised with the Russian embassy in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31237/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government continues to closely follow developments in relation to widespread reports of a campaign of persecution against members of the LGBTI community in Chechnya. As I mentioned in my reply to Parliamentary Question 157 of 11 May 2017, senior officials of my Department met the Russian Ambassador on 5 May to convey the grave concerns of the Government, and of the Irish public, at these reports. During the meeting, my officials urged the Russian authorities to fully investigate these allegations, to ensure that any such persecution is ended immediately, to provide all affected persons with the assistance they require, and to ensure the safety of activists and journalists investigating the reports of abuse in Chechnya.

At the Council of Europe Ministerial Meeting in Nicosia on 19 May, Ireland expressed serious concerns at reports of gross human rights violations against gay men in Chechnya. These concerns were reiterated at a meeting of Council of Europe Ministers’ Deputies on 31 May.

On 15 June, at the 35th session of the Human Rights Council, Ireland took the opportunity of its national statement to again highlight and strongly condemn the reported extra-judicial killings of LGBTI persons in Chechnya and the targeting of the LGBTI community there. In this statement, we again called on the Russian Federation to take steps to end the climate of impunity which allows these crimes to take place and to bring the perpetrators to justice.