Vol. 476 No. 2
42 Mr. R. Burke asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give details of the Government's and the EU's response to a recent Human Rights Watch statement which criticised the EU for omitting human rights issues from the agenda of the recent EU and Gulf Co-operation Council ministerial meeting; and the steps, if any, being taken by Ireland as a member of the EU Troika to address this issue. [6596/97]
I attended the most recent meeting of the Co-operation Council between the EU and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in Doha on 17 February, which discussed a range of political and economic issues of common interest to both sides. The European Union raised a number of human rights issues, and this is reflected in the joint communiqué which was issued following the meeting.
In the joint communiqué, the Gulf Co-operation Council Ministers, while noting the diversity of systems of values, joined EU Ministers in reiterating their continuing commitment to the promotion of human rights and recalled the commitment of all states, expressed at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, to the principle that all human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent. There was a more extensive discussion of Human Rights than at previous meetings of the EU-Gulf Co-operation Council.
As a matter of course, the European Union raises the issue of human rights in the Gulf in its speech to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and at the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. The Government fully supports the principle that human rights should be a central consideration in relations between the EU and Third Countries. The European Union will continue to raise the issue of human rights obligations in its political dialogue with Third Countries, including with the members of the Gulf Co-operation Council.
