Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 6 Feb 1997

Vol. 474 No. 5

Written Answers. - Human Rights Abuses.

Mary Wallace

Question:

34 Miss M. Wallace asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs whether the Government recognises that the European Union-Israel Association Agreement is in direct conflict with the principle that human rights should be a central consideration in agreements between the EU and third countries due to the legalisation of torture in Israel under the Supreme Court ruling of 14 November 1996; and if the Government recognises that the agreement is itself internally inconsistent in so far as Article 2 provides that relation between parties, as well as the provisions of the agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy, whereas Article 76 allows that nothing in this agreement shall prevent a party from taking any measures which it considers essential to its own security in the event of serious disturbances affecting the maintenance of law and order which under Israeli law includes the use of various forms of torture. [3223/97]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

The European Union insists on the fundamental nature of human rights obligations in all of its new generation association agreements, including those within the framework of the Euro Mediterranean process, such as the EU-Israel Agreement. Both the human rights clause and the other clause to which the Deputy refers, Article 76, are now standard in all of these agreements. However, the overwhelming importance of the human rights clause, and the extent to which it underlies all subsequent commitments, is shown by the fact that it is placed in Article 2, at the very beginning of the association agreement.

Nothing in Article 76 in the agreement with Israel, or the comparable clauses in other agreements, releases the signatory state from its obligation to comply with the fundamental norms of international law. Israel is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which stipulates that parties can in no circumstances derogate from a number of rights, such as freedom from torture. Israel is also a signatory of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

It is our intention, and that of the EU as a whole, that these human rights clauses should be regularly monitored and strictly enforced. The Government has expressed its concern at decisions taken by the Israeli Supreme Court in recent months that Israeli secret service investigators can use physical pressure in the questioning of Palestinian detainees. We expect Israel to engage in discussions with the Union on human rights issues in the context of the Euromediterranean Partnership Agreement which was signed on 20 November 1995. In these contacts, the Union will underline to the Israeli Government the importance of respect for human rights, both in Israel itself and in areas under Israeli occupation.

It is clear that Israel enshrines respect for human rights in its legislation. It has ratified a number of relevant UN instruments including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. We expect Israel to live up fully to its commitments in these international instruments and in the association agreement and to the standards, which it has freely set itself, of a normal democratic society.