Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 23 Jan 1997

Vol. 473 No. 5

Written Answers. - Plight of Marsh Arabs.

Bertie Ahern

Ceist:

79 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the representations, if any, which have been made to the Government of Iraq by either Ireland or the EU during Ireland's Presidency of the EU in relation to the situation of the Marsh Arabs. [1881/97]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

The Government is extremely concerned at the plight of the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq, who are under threat because of the draining of the marshes on which their unique lifestyle depends, and the repeated bombardments and incursions by Iraqi forces into the marshes.

Iraq has not complied with the UN sanctions imposed on it following the Gulf War when we closed our Embassy in Baghdad. In common with our EU partners, we have limited contacts with Iraq. However, I wrote to the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Tariq Aziz, on 8 February 1996 to raise a number of concerns to the Irish Government including the plight of the Marsh Arabs. In my letter, I called on Iraq to halt its attacks on the Marsh Arab population and to comply fully with the terms of the 1995 Resolution of the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on the human rights situation on Iraq, which was co-sponsored by Ireland and its EU partners, and which called on Iraq to halt and reverse the draining of the marshes. I regret that Iraq has not given any indication that it intends to implement these measures to protect the Marsh Arab population.

In view of Iraq's continuing failure to respond to the concerns of the international community, all EU member states co-sponsored a further CHR Resolution in April 1996, and called on Iraq to co-operate with UN and other aid agencies to provide humanitarian assistance to the population of southern Iraq. Ireland, as Presidency of the EU, made a firm statement on the plight of the Marsh Arabs at the 51st Session of the United Nations General Assembly on 18 November 1996, condemning Iraq's continuing denial of its population's civil and political rights and expressing the EU's dismay at the plight of the community of the southern marsh areas.