Brendan Howlin
Question:75 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the issue of bonded labour has been or is likely to be discussed in meetings associated with the Security Council; and the Government's action on this issue. [12916/01]
Written Answers - Human Rights Abuses.
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights states that ‘No-one shall be held in slavery or servitude: slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.' Full adherence to the absolute values enshrined in the Declaration is of paramount importance. The concept of slavery has broadened from the traditional concept of the slave trade and now includes practices such as bonded labour.
The Government is committed to the active promotion of full observance of universal human rights standards, including opposing and seeking the elimination of all forms of bonded labour. We voice our concerns, wherever possible in partnership with other like-minded countries, in international fora such as the UN general assembly, the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Council of Europe and the OSCE.
Efforts to eliminate contemporary forms of slavery involve a wide spectrum of international organisations, NGOs and Governments. The working group on contemporary forms of slavery, an inter-sessional working group of the sub-commission on the promotion and protection of human rights, is the UN body which has responsibility for the study of all aspects of slavery. At its 25th session in June 2000 in Geneva, it devoted priority attention to the question of bonded labour and debt bondage.
Ireland has provided financial assistance to the UN voluntary trust fund on contemporary forms of slavery, which was established by the UN general assembly in 1991 with the purpose of assisting NGOs dealing with contemporary forms of slavery to participate in the deliberations of the working group on contemporary forms of slavery and to provide assistance to individual victims of contemporary forms of slavery.
Resolutions at the UN which address aspects of contemporary forms of slavery have been co-sponsored by Ireland. For instance, at the recently concluded session of the third committee, Ireland co-sponsored a resolution on ‘Traffic in women and girls', which,inter alia, reaffirmed that trafficking in women and girls, a contemporary form of slavery, is a serious violation of human rights. Trafficking in human beings is, of course, also a serious crime and as such the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has responsibility for aspects of the issue. At a domestic level, Ireland has recently taken concrete steps to address the issue of trafficking with the enactment of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act, 2000, which creates for the first time the criminal offence of trafficking.
The protection and promotion of the human rights of all human beings is the first responsibility of every government. Contemporary forms of slavery, a most fundamental abuse of human rights, are being addressed in different fora and the Government is committed to supporting efforts to eliminate all forms of slavery.