Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 October 2018
19. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the oppression faced by the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan (details supplied); and if he will he raise these attacks and the continued persecution of the Ahmadiyya community with his Pakistani counterpart. [40112/18]
View answerUnder Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
I am aware of the oppression faced by Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan, and I very strongly condemn the violence that the community faces. Ireland strongly condemns all forms of persecution on the basis of religion or belief, irrespective of where they occur and who the victims are.
Freedom of religious expression is a cornerstone of any functioning democracy and those rights must be guaranteed. Acts of violence and discrimination based on religion or belief, committed in the name of religion or national security, whether by individuals, by groups or by states, must be challenged.
Our commitment to promoting freedom of religion and belief is reaffirmed in the Global Island: Ireland’s Foreign Policy for a Changing World, published in January 2015 and more recently in the Programme for Partnership Government. We work to advance this commitment at the EU, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN General Assembly and through our bilateral contacts. I wish to stress that the promotion and protection of human rights is an integral part of Ireland’s foreign policy. Ireland works closely with Human Rights Defenders to protect them and the work they do and to promote the value of civil society space.
At the UN General Assembly we regularly support initiatives to protect against acts of persecution based on religion or belief, raising our concern for the continued discrimination, intimidation and systematic harassment of members of Muslim, Christian and Baha’i communities, as well as those belonging to non-traditional religious or belief movements.
Ireland works within and alongside the EU to address the persecution of religious minorities. During our Presidency of the European Council in 2013, Ireland played a key role in the development of the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief, which provide a framework for the promotion of this right in the EU’s external human rights policy. In 2015, Ireland also pressed for the inclusion of a reference to the promotion of this right in the EU Action Plan for Human Rights and Democracy 2015-2019, which ensures that the EU will continue to engage on the issue of the promotion of freedom of religion and belief.
Officials from my Department, including in the Irish Embassy in Ankara, which is also accredited to Pakistan, will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Pakistan, in close cooperation with the EU. If the Deputy is aware of any organisations representing the Ahmadiyya community in Ireland, I would ask him to encourage that organisation to make contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade directly. Officials in my Department would be happy to meet with such a group in order to discuss their situation in more detail.
