Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 September 2014
206. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which assistance continues to be made available to persons (details supplied) in respect of their son who was killed by security forces in Bolivia; if the family will receive support during their current investigative trip to that country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35068/14]
View answerThe Irish Government has fully supported the named family’s call for an independent international investigation into the killing of their son since his death in 2009. The Government has raised this issue regularly with the Bolivian authorities and also with the EU and with the UN, both with the UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions and at the Human Rights Council.
Officials from my Department are in ongoing contact with the family to provide consular support and to keep them informed of our contacts in relation to the death of their son. I met with the family on 27 August, and subsequently raised this case with both the EU Special Representative, Catherine Ashton, and the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. Officials in my Department have been assisting the family with preparations for the visit to Bolivia as part of our ongoing engagement on this case. The Embassy of Ireland in Buenos Aires, which is accredited to Bolivia, has requested meetings with various Bolivian officials on behalf of the family, and an official from the Embassy will accompany them in Bolivia to provide consular support on the ground during the visit.
