asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the procedures in the training of diplomats for the human rights aspects of diplomacy which currently exist.
35.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Foreign Policy on Human Rights.
23.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if it is his intention to establish an advisory committee on the specific problems of human rights foreign policy.
48.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights, he will allocate the responsibility of co-ordinating the human rights aspects of all areas of Irish foreign policy to a senior official in his Department.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 23, 35 and 48 together.
I have no plans to establish an advisory committee on the specific problems of human rights foreign policy.
The Government attach considerable importance to the question of human rights in the formulation of foreign policy and play an active role on the Third Committee of the UN which deals with human rights matters. Ireland has also been active in this regard during our six year membership of the UN Commission on Human Rights, to which we were first elected in 1983.
As regards the suggested allocation to a senior official to responsibility for co-ordination of policy in this area, I consider that the current arrangements within the Department, which provide for the co-ordination of all political matters, including human rights aspects, are satisfactory. These arrangements ensure that due account is taken of human rights considerations in the formulation and implementation of foreign policy across the board.
I am also satisfied that the present arrangements for the training of officers for the diplomatic service adequately reflect the priority attached — and rightly so — by successive Irish Governments to human rights.
The questions dealt more with the internal arrangements of the Department of Foreign Affairs, particularly the human rights dimension to these. Is the Minister aware, if one takes the European Community countries as a simple example, that in the Netherlands a senior Foreign Affairs official has been allocated the task of co-ordinating human rights aspects of foreign policy, that a year ago the French Foreign Ministry allocated a similar post and that in October of 1983 the Spanish Foreign Ministry allocated such a post? Might I ask the Minister, if this is the road our partners are taking, why can we not, without being simply imitative, on this 40th anniversary, allocate overall responsibility to some senior official? So as to complete matters in relation to Questions Nos. 23 and 35, can the Minister tell the House if the training of diplomats for posting abroad includes human rights preparation and if their reports from areas to which they are posted include a description of——
The Deputy's question is over-long. We are having an extension of this question.
——the human rights situation in that area?
Our behaviour on human rights is beyond reproach.
That is not the point.
What is the point, and is far more important, is the political will in this respect. That will permeates all levels of my Department. Ireland has a very particular part to play in this area. It has a niche of its own. That is why we have been represented on the specialised United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The mere appointment of specific officers to particular Departments is not the answer, unless the political will for human rights permeates all aspects of the Department's foreign policy. In Ireland that does happen. It affects all our decisions taken at the United Nations and elsewhere. We do not lag behind anyone in our advocacy and implementation of human rights proposals.
A very brief question, Deputy Higgins. I must dispose of one other Priority Question, together with a Private Notice Question.
If human rights are so all-pervasive in the Department of Foreign Affairs, why is it that we were unique in not celebrating formally the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights last Saturday?
Last Friday, I met Amnesty International. I made a significant speech on the matter——
I myself met them on Saturday.
——in which we guaranteed the distribution of a copy of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights to every school in the country. That has been done as our contribution towards human rights in Ireland. I was glad to represent the House and the Government in Paris on Saturday——
With distinction, I note——
——when I spoke with President Mitterand on this matter.
——but the Minister could have arranged for some gesture at home, for some little celebration.
I call Question No. 50.