Human Rights Issues.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 April 2006

Tuesday, 25 April 2006

Questions (308, 309)

Finian McGrath

Question:

355 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if there is a secret concentration camp in Shenyang, China and if Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted there. [14904/06]

John Gormley

Question:

362 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the action the Government intends to take regarding the ongoing and continuing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China in view of the latest reports that Falun Gong prisoners there are now being killed for their organs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14491/06]

Written answers

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 355 and 362 together.

I am aware of reports which circulated on this matter and, as I stated in response to a parliamentary question on 29 March, asked my Department to look into the situation as a matter of urgency and to report back to me. The Department has been making inquiries, including within the EU and UN frameworks.

I do not have confirmation of the reliability of the reports at this point. In this regard, I note a statement by a US Department of State spokesman on 14 April that officers and staff from the US Embassy in Beijing and its consulate in Shenyang have visited the area and the specific site mentioned on two separate occasions. The US Department of State spokesman indicated that in these visits its officers were allowed to tour the entire facility and grounds and found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital.

Without prejudice to the final outcome of the above enquiries, Ireland and the EU remain concerned about the situation of Falun Gong practitioners in China and have raised our concerns with the Chinese Government on many occasions.

Human rights issues are a constant and important point of dialogue with the Chinese authorities at both bilateral and European Union level. In our bilateral exchanges, human rights concerns were raised most recently with the Chinese Government during the visit of the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Conor Lenihan, to China for St. Patrick's Day last month. At EU level, the EU-China human rights dialogue is the agreed formal framework through which the EU raises its concerns with China about individual human rights cases, and more general issues such as freedom of expression and the abolition of the death penalty.

At the latest round of the human rights dialogue held in Beijing on 24 October 2005 the EU raised, inter alia, the right to freedom of religion and the need for reform of the administrative detention system, including the associated re-education through labour, RTL, camps. The EU expressed particular concern in this regard for Falun Gong members and stated that reform of the RTL system is an issue of fundamental importance for the EU in the human rights dialogue. A number of Falun Gong practitioners were also included in the EU’s list of individual cases of concern which was submitted to the Chinese authorities during the dialogue. The next round of the dialogue will take place in Vienna in May.