Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

32. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on Ireland’s participation in the 37th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to date; the issues Ireland’s representatives have raised; and if Ireland has raised or will raise the deteriorating human rights situation in Bahrain at this Session. [11914/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

While not a member of the Human Rights Council (HRC) Ireland is participating actively in the current session of the HRC which began on 26 February and will run until 23 March. My colleague Ciaran Cannon, Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development took part in the high level segment at the beginning of the session and delivered a national statement on behalf of Ireland on 27 February. In his speech the Minister emphasised the centrality of human rights to Irish foreign policy and highlighted human rights situations of concern in a number of countries including Yemen, Myanmar and the occupied Palestinian territory. He also raised the treatment of human rights defenders and called for more effective promotion and protection of the rights of LGBTI persons.

Apart from the national statement to the Ministerial segment, Ireland is also intervening in a number of specific debates on issues such as human rights mainstreaming, human rights defenders, terrorism, truth and justice, food and the rights of the child. Statements will also be delivered this week during Interactive Dialogues on country specific human rights issues, including, DPRK, Myanmar, Syria, Iran, Burundi and South Sudan. Copies of all Irish statements are uploaded to the Department of Foreign Affairs website following delivery.

With regard to Bahrain, Ireland has raised concerns at its human rights record on previous occasions including at the most recent review of Bahrain in the context of the Universal Periodic Review in May 2017 and at the 36th Session of the Human Rights Council, in September 2017, when Ireland made specific reference to Bahrain in our statement under Item 4 of the HRC’s agenda which deals with Human Rights situations that require the Council's attention. During the current session of the HRC, in its Item 4 Statement delivered on 14 March, Ireland expressed its grave concern at the end of the de facto moratorium on the death penalty in Bahrain.