Vol. 248 No. 12
asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will outline the initiatives taken by Ireland in the past ten years at the UN and elsewhere to update and to strengthen international conventions dealing with methods and weapons used in declared and undeclared international and civil wars; and if he will indicate his future policy in this regard.
26.
asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will outline the initiatives taken by Ireland in the past ten years at the UN and elsewhere to update and strengthen the Geneva Convention on Human Rights in armed conflicts; and if he will indicate his future policy in this regard.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose taking Questions Nos. 25 and 26 together.
I assume that the Deputy is referring to the principal international instruments dealing with the law of war namely, the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the Geneva Protocol of 1925 on the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, and the four Geneva Conventions of 1949.
On the instructions of the Government the Irish Delegation at the United Nations cosponsored resolution 2603A adopted on 16th December, 1969 at the 24th Session of the General Assembly which declared any chemical and biological agents of warfare as contrary to the recognised rules of international law as embodied in the Geneva Protocol of 1925. I might add that the Government have supported at the United Nations General Assembly, at the International Conference on Human Rights at Teheran in 1968 and at the International Red Cross Conference in Istanbul in 1969 the relevant resolutions on Human Rights in Armed Conflicts.
In regard to future policy I can assure the Deputy that the Government will pursue their efforts in the United Nations and elsewhere to promote effective international measures for updating and strengthening the international conventions on the law of war.
Apart from the law of war I might add Ireland has taken an active part in promoting effective disarmament measures. The most important Irish initiative in this field dealt with the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Is the Minister aware that one of the big difficulties is the fact that they do not sufficiently cover situations of undeclared war like the war in Vietnam, South East Asia and Nigeria and this is one of the fields which need the greatest study?
That is true. I agree with the Deputy.
Would the Minister say if the CS gas purchased in large quantities by the Irish Government comes into the categories he has mentioned?
That does not arise on this question.
Would the Minister agree that some of the resolutions are only resolutions and have not reached the status of international conventions and further initiative will be required from the Government?
That is what I said. Efforts must be pursued in this direction to make the resolutions effective in the real sense of the word.
