asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government intend to co-sponsor a resolution at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights concerning the treatment of the Bah'ai people in Iran in view of the continuing suffering of these people and in view of the fact that such a resolution was co-sponsored by the Irish Government in 1983.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Human Rights in Iran.
13.
No specific resolution on the treatment of the Bah'ai people in Iran was proposed at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. I presume, therefore, that the Deputy is referring to the resolution on human rights in Iran which was recently adopted there.
The Government are deeply concerned about the state of human rights in Iran and in particular the situation of the Bah'ai people there. That concern has been made clear at the United Nations, at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and by approaches made to the Iranian authorities both bilaterally and as a member of the Ten.
It was for this reason that Ireland voted in favour of the resolution on human rights in Iran at the recent session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. This resolution makes a specific reference to the plight of the Bah'ai people.
The question of co-sponsorship of resolutions is a more general one. One of our principal objectives in co-sponsoring texts is to ensure that the problems of concern to us are introduced onto the international agenda so that the member states of the Commission can make known their position on these problems and so that the Commission can take appropriate action. This was done last year in relation to the human rights situation in Iran when Ireland helped introduce that item onto the agenda of the Commission by co-sponsoring it. We did not feel it necessary to do the same again this year.
Would the Minister agree that there are scandalous abuses of human rights in Iran, and that there should be more vigorous protests by the international community against these abuses?
The attitude to human rights of the Iranian Government is a nearly continuous preoccupation of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. It is one of the subjects that comes up there very frequently and, unfortunately, until the matter is resolved, I am sure it will continue to be the case. I would wish it was not, when there would not be a problem.
Would the Minister say whether much time and thought is given to this situation by his colleagues and himself in the EEC?
In the context of the Iraq-Iran war, yes. The fact that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights are dealing with human rights in Iran at present is something about which we tend to say, wait until their results emerge, let us see what they will say before we make any approaches to the Iranian Government. The Commission's findings are important to the Ten in indicating what path they should follow.
Would the Minister not agree that, if anything, the format of the question by Deputy Collins talking about the suffering of the Bah'ai people understates the position, that the truth of the matter is that there are from time to time wholesale executions of members of the Bah'ai faith, very often of young girls. I have seen reports relating to girls of 19 or 20 years of age. Would the Minister not agree that it is somewhat remarkable that there is not a greater outcry on the international stage having regard to the appalling atrocities that take place there and the suppression of those unfortunate people?
I fully accept what Deputy Taylor says. I am sometimes intrigued by the things that do not engage the attention of the international stage. The Afghan war is one of them, the Iran-Iraq war is another, where there have been almost 2 million people lost in the last three and a half years, and which hardly receives mention in the papers——
Many of them young children.
——yes, many of them very young children — and where chemical warfare is being used. These are extraordinary breaches of the dignity of mankind in operations between two neighbouring states which do not appear to receive anything like the attention they should. I endeavour to bring it up on every occasion at meetings of the Ten, I am glad to say with some degree of success. Another one is the human rights situation in Iran. I am not saying that other areas in which there are breaches of human rights should not get attention but these deserve just as much attention as some other cases.
Would the Minister agree that because Iran is an oil-producing nation that should not in any way deter — I know it does not deter ourselves or our colleagues from voicing our objections — objections being raised to the situation as it exists at all times? Would he agree that other nations in the Western world should not be backing away from their responsibilities because of the fact that Iran is an oil-producing nation?
No, I do not think so. There is such a large surplus of oil in the world at present I would think that that is not a consideration in anybody's mind.