Ivana Bacik
Question:60. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on his engagement with Iranian women's groups in respect of human rights in that country. [37069/23]
View answerTuesday, 25 July 2023
Questions (60)
Written answers
The Department of Foreign Affairs, both at HQ and through our Missions in Geneva, New York and Brussels, regularly engage with a variety of groups advocating for human rights and human rights defenders in Iran, including those with a particular focus on women and girls.
We have repeatedly raised our concerns about human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls, directly with the Iranian government, including with the Foreign Minister, who I spoke with most recently in May 2023. Senior officials from my Department raised human rights, and specifically the status of women, during political consultations in Tehran also in May 2023 and our Ambassador to Iran (based in Ankara) and our Chargé d'Affaires in Tehran discuss human rights issues on a regular basis with the Iranian authorities.
In 2022, Ireland again co-sponsored the annual Canadian-led resolution on Iran at the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, which addresses a broad range of human rights issues.
Ireland also co-sponsored the convening of a special session of the Human Rights Council on 24 November 2022, which voted to create a fact-finding mission to investigate and report on the human rights situation in Iran, especially with respect to women and children.
We consistently call on the Iranian authorities to cooperate fully with the mandates of the fact-finding mission and the UN Special Rapporteur, including allowing them to visit Iran and conduct relevant meetings, most recently on 5 July in our national statement to the Human Rights Council.
We have consistently called on Iran to immediately impose a moratorium on the death penalty, consider alternative sentencing, and revoke death sentences imposed on protestors.
Ireland has supported the addition of a number of individuals and entities linked to human rights violations to the EU’s Iran human rights sanctions regime. Restrictive measures now apply to over 223 individuals and more than 37 entities in Iran. These include asset freezes, EU travel bans, and a ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be used for internal repression.
I commend the courage of the Iranian women and men who continue to exercise their fundamental rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.