I move:
That Dáil Éireann approves the terms of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, signed by Ireland on 1st February, 1995, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 23rd March, 1999.
The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is part of the Government's commitments under the Good Friday Agreement and our effort to advance the cause of peace on this island through the provision of a comprehensive framework of human rights protection. It is another step towards peace and accommodation between all the people of this island.
The framework convention originated with the Council of Europe's Summit of Heads of State and Government in Vienna in 1993, where it was resolved that a framework convention should be drawn up to specify principles for the protection of national minorities. The draft framework convention was opened for signature on 1 February 1995 and Ireland was among 21 Council of Europe member states who signed the instrument on that occasion. On ratifying the document, Ireland will be the 24th member state to do so.
This framework convention sets out a comprehensive set of principles regarding the protection of national minorities, elaborating the obligations which states undertake in ratifying the convention. States which accede to the convention are obliged to ensure equality before the law and equal protection for all their peoples. Religious tolerance, the right to assembly and the right to the use of minority languages are all specific commitments within this document.
In addition to making these commitments on paper, states which accede to this framework convention are subject to monitoring by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Within 12 months of ratification, Ireland will submit a report to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe regarding the situation in this jurisdiction. We would expect to furnish our initial report by May 2000, with further periodic reports submitted every five years thereafter. These reports will be subject to scrutiny by an advisory committee of the council, consisting of between 12 and 18 independent experts, who will make recommendations to the Committee of Ministers as to the effectiveness of our efforts to implement the convention. This committee will be free to draw its information from a wide range of sources and it has already been indicated that information provided by non-governmental organisations could play an important role in its work. We look forward to working with the committee to ensure that Ireland meets the highest possible standard of human rights in this regard.
The framework convention does not define a "national minority". This was a deliberate decision. By not providing a definition, the drafters of the framework convention recognised that each situation and state is unique, but that we share a common underlying goal, the protection and promotion by states of the legitimate rights and interests of their national minorities.
Given that all the situations and states are unique, it is not necessarily appropriate that an individual state should have the responsibility for identifying or labelling any particular national minority as being such, rather, the question of national minorities must be considered in the context of clearly applied external criteria. These must take into account not only the opinion of states but, in particular, the views of such communities and the right of individuals to choose whether to be treated as members of a national minority.
In part for this reason, the Government has decided not to make a declaration as to which, if any, groups are considered national minorities. Legally, it is considered that no national minorities within the context of the framework convention exist in Ireland. That is not to say that Ireland does not have minority ethnic or similar groups, or that such groups or communities may not emerge in the future. In any event, the Government considers that existing legislative measures meet the requirements for the implementation of the framework convention.
In the larger European context, this framework convention points the way towards an accommodation between the various peoples of Europe. It is the first legally binding multilateral instrument concerned with the protection of national minorities in general. Its aim is to protect the existence of national minorities by creating conditions which will enable them to preserve and develop their culture and to retain their identity. Oppression of language, culture and of religion has proved time and again to be a cancer which destroys societies and causes conflict. Events unfolding in the Balkans underline just how important an issue this has become. Two world wars and many savage conflicts during this century have made evident the ways in which ethnic conflicts deeply affect international politics. Third party countries become involved in such conflicts, particularly when their co-religionists of other groups with which they identify are involved. Conflicts spill across frontiers and refugee flows affect other countries in serious ways.
As we have witnessed all too often in recent years, many of the causes of inter-ethnic conflict have their roots in policies and practices directed by a particular ethnic majority against a minority. The protection and promotion of minority rights is, therefore, a key component in ensuring that ethnic tensions do not result in violence as well as an essential key to finding long-term solutions in situations where conflict has already occurred. Safeguarding the rights of national minorities has, therefore, long been seen by the international community as being of vital importance to stability, democratic security and peace in the world.
The Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities is part of a developing body of international legal instruments concerned with these matters. They include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention for Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Copenhagen Document of the OSCE. Ireland plays an active role internationally in ensuring that these standards are applied and, in ratifying the framework convention, we are taking a further step in underpinning the rights of groups and individuals. The Government is actively pursuing the ratification of all the core international human rights instruments and will shortly bring forward regulations which will enable us to move to ratify the UN Conventions on Torture and All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
It is important that Ireland should choose the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Council of Europe to ratify this important instrument given that we have been intimately involved with the organisation since its foundation. On 5 May 1949 Ireland was among a group of ten states which put their names to the Treaty of London to establish the Council of Europe. The organisation has changed greatly in the intervening per iod. It now encompasses 41 member states and the importance of its work in human rights and democratisation has taken on renewed importance since the collapse of communism in Europe.
The Council of Europe has taken in the former Eastern Europe, including the Russian Federation, and has developed a new model of partnership and co-operation in the greater European region. Now, half a century on from its foundation and during this anniversary, it is fitting that Ireland further demonstrates its belief in the Council of Europe and its standard setting work in human rights through the ratification of this important convention. In doing so we can add another piece to the jigsaw of reconciliation on our island while, at the same time, making an international declaration of our desire for accommodation and mutual respect between the different cultures and nationalities which share our Continent. It is also appropriate in this anniversary year that Ireland will take up the reins of leadership in the Council of Europe by assuming the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council. From November 1999 until May 2000, it will be the responsibility of this State to direct the progress of the organisation's work.
Through agreements such as this convention, Ireland, in common with other member states of the Council of Europe, is engaged in an attempt to build an agreed framework for the future. The upheavals of European history have shown that the protection of national minorities is essential to stability, democratic security and peace in this Continent. A pluralist and genuinely democratic society should not only respect the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of each person belonging to a national minority, but also create the appropriate conditions to enable them to express, preserve and develop this identity. Through the creation of a climate of tolerance and dialogue, cultural diversity can be a source and factor not of division but of enrichment for each society. There are few guarantees in this world but at the very least agreements such as this convention can make a valuable contribution to ensuring a minimum level of human rights and of human dignity for all the peoples of Europe. At a time when the need for such measures could not be more apparent, this convention commends itself to the House. Leis sin ba mhaith liom a mholadh go nglacfar leis an rún seo. Creidim gur rud an-tábhachtach é.