Written Answers. - Human Rights Abuses.
Brian O'Shea
Question:
136
Mr. O'Shea
asked the
Minister for Foreign Affairs
if he will make a statement on talks he has had with the Turkish government on the tragic situation of prisoners in Turkey; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[23744/01]
I share the Deputy's concern about the situation in the Turkish prisons. The hunger strikes both inside and outside the prisons have now claimed the lives of some 41 prisoners and their supporters.
The Deputy will be aware of representations already made by the Government in connection with the crisis. On my instructions, the Irish Ambassador to Turkey raised the matter with the Turkish Foreign Minister earlier this year, explaining the importance we attach to a satisfactory resolution. On 25 April, the Government issued a statement expressing its deep regret over the deaths and urged the Turkish authorities to act to avoid further loss of life. I repeated this call in the House on 19 June. In doing so, I also urged the prisoners, as well as their representatives, to participate as a matter of urgency in efforts to reach a solution.
In this respect, I attach great importance to the role of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture, CPT, which has special expertise in this area. The Deputy will be aware that members of the committee have been working with the Turkish Government and with the prisoners in an attempt to resolve the crisis and that they have travelled to Turkey on a number of occasions to visit the F-type prisons involved. The most recent visit took place in September. Two F-type prisons were visited so that the implementation of communal activity programmes, a key element in the dispute, could be examined. The delegation also met the Turkish minister for justice, the minister for the interior, the minister of state responsible for human rights as well as senior government officials. Though a full report on the visit is not expected until early in the new year, preliminary findings have been sent to the Turkish authorities.
The CPT has no fundamental objections to the accommodation provided by the F-type prisons, but has repeatedly emphasised that moves towards smaller living-units for prisoners, of the type found in the new prisons, must be accompanied by measures to ensure that prisoners spend a reasonable part of the day engaged in a programme of communal activities outside their living-units.
I endorse the view of the CPT that a resolution to the crisis will require a process of adaptation, explanation and confidence-building and that this will involve,inter alia, the examination of all complaints of ill-treatment against prisoners at the time the Turkish authorities intervened in the prisons in December last and, where appropriate, the prosecution of state officials.
The Government fully supports the efforts of the CPT to help bring an end to the crisis in co-operation with the Turkish authorities and the prisoners. In this respect, I welcome the fact that a number of prison reforms have now been introduced, including measures to enhance prisoners contacts with the outside world and to establish prison monitoring boards and sentence enforcement judges. The CPT has undertaken to continue to monitor closely the practical implementation of these reforms.
Once again, I urge that every appropriate action be taken as a matter of urgency to bring to an end the crisis in the prisons as well as the tragic loss of life.
Question No. 137 answered with Question No. 117.
