Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 November 2012
66. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which the international community continues to monitor the situation regarding alleged human rights abuses in Iran; the progress that has been made to date on such issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50467/12]
View answer68. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which the international community continues to monitor the persecution of academics in Iran; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50469/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 68 together.
The human rights situation in Iran is profoundly disturbing, and the period since the Presidential election of 2009 has been characterised by an intensification of human rights abuses on many fronts. Although it is difficult to gain reliable statistics and information on human rights abuses in Iran, there are a number of reputable and thorough sources and reports, such as the reports of the UN Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, through which governments can monitor the human rights situation in Iran. It is clear from these sources that the deterioration of the human rights situation in Iran continues to be a grave concern.
The Iranian authorities continue to deny civil and political rights in Iran, including in relation to freedom of expression and assembly, arbitrary arrest, and torture and other cruel treatment in detention. This highly targeted repression has been particularly stringent against not only academics but also members of Iran’s religious and ethnic minorities, political activists, journalists and bloggers, human rights defenders and members of the legal profession in Iran who represent clients detained by the authorities. These actions are in clear violation of Iran's international obligations under the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, of which Iran is a signatory. I would also condemn the ongoing detention under house arrest of the two leading opposition politicians, Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who contested the 2009 presidential election against President Ahmadinejad.
Ireland will co-sponsor a General Assembly resolution, due to be voted on later this month, expressing the international community’s deep concern at the human rights situation in Iran, and calling upon the Government of Iran to take a number of specific and urgent steps to improve the situation, including ending the harassment, intimidation and persecution of among others students and academics. The Resolution also calls upon the Government of Iran to provide unfettered access for the Special Rapporteur to carry out his mandate. On March 22 this year, Ireland co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council’s Resolution on Iran, which welcomed the report and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran and expressed serious concern at the developments noted in that report, as well as the lack of access permitted to the Special Rapporteur.
The EU has also repeatedly raised human rights issues in contacts with the Iranian authorities and adopted a travel ban and asset freeze against those responsible for grave human rights violations in April last year, further extended to additional persons last October. This sends an important political signal to those in the judicial system and elsewhere in the Iranian regime who perpetrate human rights abuses. I fully support the strong Conclusions on human rights in Iran issued by the Foreign Affairs Council in October last year. Ireland will continue to be active at EU level in pressing for stronger EU action in relation to the human rights situation in Iran.
At a bilateral level, my Department engages in ongoing dialogue with the Iranian Ambassador and his Embassy on these issues. My officials regularly hold meetings with the Ambassador to convey our grave concerns at the human rights situation in Iran. Ireland will continue to raise human rights in Iran, bilaterally and at the EU and UN, at all appropriate occasions.
