I move:
That Dáil Éireann takes note of the commencement on 10 December 1997 of United Nations Human Rights Year which will culminate on 10 December 1998, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and reaffirms its support for the principles set out in the Declaration.
Earlier in my term of office, I said that a fitting way to mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would be to hold a Dáil debate such as this so that Members could express their views on our approach to human rights issues. It is a formidable exercise to measure our policies against the 1948 call of the UN General Assembly to set the provisions of the declaration as "a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations". Human rights are the birthright of all human beings. The protection and promotion of these rights is the first responsibility of every Government.
Ireland has a progressive and consistent human rights policy, building on the achievements of successive Governments over the years, and one which is firmly rooted in the principles of the Universal Declaration. As Minister of State with special responsibility for human rights, it is my primary responsibility to ensure that awareness and vindication of human rights issues permeates the whole of our foreign policy. This is essential because of the moral imperative to uphold fundamental values and also because it enables us to make a practical and effective contribution to peace and justice throughout the world. A world of gross inequality, of massive economic and social deprivation in some regions, and of competition to secure the bare necessities of life would not be a world in which the rule of law and the fostering of democratic values thrive. What we must do is integrate all the major strands of our foreign policy. To be serious about advancing the cause of human rights we must also be effective in many other areas, including conflict prevention and crisis management, peacekeeping, asylum issues, humanitarian assistance, development co-operation, economic reconstruction and the protection of Irish citizens' interest. The credo of human rights principles must be implemented.
I stress this because I believe the advancement of human rights as a moral obligation cannot be fulfilled merely by making routine statements in those international human rights fora. These important bodies play a key role, but a meaningful human rights policy cannot exist in isolation or on paper: it must be related to all the other policies which we are pursuing, including our domestic polices.
Against this background, I would like to state four key objective of our human rights policy, central to our efforts not only in this 50th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration but in every year. They are to make human rights a reality worldwide; to prevent human rights violations at home and abroad; to build a global partnership for human rights; and to make human rights, along with peace, democracy and development, the guiding principles of the 21st century.
Our policies must make a difference at home and abroad. We pursue these objectives on two levels. As a member state of the European Union, we seek to agree common positions on a broad range of thematic and country-specific issues. The EU, when it speaks with one voice, carries a considerable amount of weight with world opinion. The other level is bilateral, and we maximise our impact through our current membership of the UN Commission on Human Rights.
In responding to the many humanitarian crises which confront the international community, there is an absolute need for the integrated approach, to which I referred earlier. An illustration of this is the war and resultant famine in Sudan. I have witnessed at first hand the combined effects of oppression, civil war and drought in that country. The results have been truly horrendous in terms of human suffering for the people of Sudan. Both I and the Minister, Deputy Andrews, in our respective visits, have pursued the concerns of the Irish people about human rights and humanitarian issues in that country. As well as raising these concerns with EU partners at ministerial level, we have pursued them directly with the Sudanese Government, rebel representatives and international aid agencies on the ground. We have consulted with other international donors and with neighbouring states who are seeking to broker a peaceful settlement within the regional framework of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD.
Irish aid to Sudan — almost £1.65 million in emergency assistance so far this year — represents our response to the humanitarian crisis there. Our support for the peace efforts being made by a group of Sudan's neighbours, in the framework of IGAD, represents our political contribution to a settlement of the underlying conflict. It is now accepted by all involved in Sudan that the peace process itself needs to be made more robust and enhanced.
Underlying our efforts in Sudan, as well as in the Great Lakes region and other African countries is the critical realisation that humanitarian efforts on behalf of the Irish people must be matched by concerted efforts in conflict resolution and democratic transition in the countries concerned. Our role in Sudan is not only humanitarian: it is helping to foster an enduring peace.
All too often it can be frustrating for a small, neutral country like Ireland to try to make an impact on global human rights. Our role can be one of rhetoric, motions and diplomacy rather than direct action. However, in one area — development and emergency humanitarian assistance — we truly move from rhetoric to real action on human rights. Human rights are not just about civil and political rights, though these provide the cornerstones. The right to development is in itself a human right. Perhaps there is no greater and more practical example of how Ireland vindicates human rights globally than via our development efforts. Through our development co-operation we value the dignity of each human being. We are building the capacity of people in developing countries to have a better life in a world hopefully enhanced by justice and peace.
Development co-operation policy, therefore, is no longer just a matter of aid transfers. It is about ways of strengthening democracy and good governance, promoting greater and fairer trade and offering developing countries a reasonable chance to participate in the global economy. It is about preventing conflicts as much as providing a strong humanitarian response when they do occur. It is about long-term investment in development.
War, poverty, disease, debt and illiteracy still face the people of sub-Saharan Africa where 220 million people subsist on one dollar a day. This state of affairs brutally denies human rights. We have a moral responsibility in the developed world to respond in terms of quantity and quality of aid. For our part, we take this responsibility very seriously.
Since 1992 our aid budget has risen from £40 million to £137 million in 1998. This represents an honourable and substantial commitment to the goal of development co-operation. I am delighted to say that we have secured agreement to an increase of 66 per cent, or more than £62.2 million, over the next three years for that part of the budget that covers poverty-related programmes, democratisation, emergencies and NGO activities. The total amount in discretionary spending will be £400 million over three years. This will place Irish aid on a firm trajectory towards our commitment to reaching 0.45 per cent of GNP, on the way to achieving the overall UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP.
Last week in the Seanad I announced that we have achieved a significant breakthrough on the issue of funding the aid budget of my Department. I would like to make a number of points about this issue, which will be useful in outlining the main features and implications of this breakthrough.
First, by securing an agreement on multi-annual funding for the discretionary spending elements of the aid budget, I have arrested the potential slide from the upward trajectory toward reaching our GNP targets. Deputies will be aware of the nature of the difficulty which had arisen and were aware, as I have been for some time, of the need to liberate the aid budget from the annual adversarial Estimates process and from competing domestic spending demands. Deputies on all sides recognised the challenge and Deputy Gay Mitchell suggested that we introduce legislation to give statutory underpinning to our development aid targets. This was a good idea and a worthy suggestion, but what has been achieved by introducing multi-annual budgeting reflects this suggestion and has the merit of taking effect immediately.
Second, the increase in the budget for the next three years for the discretionary direct aid part of my budget alone will be greater than the entire aid budget was in 1992. Ireland currently ranks twelfth in the table of donor generosity out a total of 21 countries It has been estimated that the aid increases secured will mean that we will move from twelfth place to eighth place by the year 2001.
Third, by increasing the discretionary spending element of the aid budget over the next three years by 66 per cent, the target of reaching 0.45 per cent of GNP is firmly within sight. Far from this target being abandoned, we have put the target within reach. The increases agreed are quite separate and additional to the other ODA subheads, multilateral and debt relief packages.
