Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 January 2022
19. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to an issue reported in a newspaper (details supplied) that indicated there is an exchange between the United Nations Human Rights Council and Chinese diplomats of information on Uighur dissidents as revealed by a person. [60078/21]
View answerMy Department is aware of the issues raised by the individual concerned. The former Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva met with the individual concerned on 2nd March 2016. The current Ambassador met with the individual concerned on 29 July 2019 and again on 16 September 2021.
Ireland has raised the issue of the release of the names of NGO delegates to UN Member States and received assurances directly from the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) that, while there had been a historical practice whereby the names of participants were occasionally confirmed to States in limited circumstances, this practice has since ceased.
Ireland is a strong advocate, at the UN and globally, on the protection of civil society space and the prevention of reprisals against Human Rights Defenders which engage with Human Rights bodies at the UN.
In common with other European Union Member States, Ireland has raised our concerns with China regarding the situation in Xinjiang on a number of occasions, both bilaterally and in multilateral fora.
On 21 October 2021, Ireland joined a cross-regional statement on Human Rights in China at the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, which calls on China to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
We have also raised our concerns bilaterally with the Chinese authorities at senior official level and I discussed the issue with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during our meeting on 30 May. In that discussion, I outlined Ireland and the EU's position on the treatment of Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang. I emphasised the importance of allowing unrestricted access to the region to independent observers in order to make an objective assessment of the situation, particularly through the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
