Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 January 2017
59. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on representations that he has made to international bodies regarding the persecution of the Rohingya population in Myanmar; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3056/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraIreland has been active in raising concerns regarding the treatment of the Rohingya community in Myanmar/Burma at a multilateral level over recent years. In 2016, Ireland supported the EU-led resolution on the situation of human rights in Myanmar/Burma at the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in March 2016. This resolution conveyed the HRC’s serious concerns over human rights violations in the country, including the situation in Rakhine State and particularly with respect to religious and ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya minority. Ireland also raised this issue in a statement at the 32nd session of the HRC in June 2016 and during the review of Myanmar’s human rights record at the HRC’s Universal Periodic Review in November 2015.
Ireland has also supported the inclusion of this issue in the EU’s contacts with the Government of Myanmar, including in the most recent EU-Myanmar Human Rights Dialogue which took place on 22 November 2016.
I am particularly concerned about the recent outbreak of violence in Rakhine State, which began in the wake of attacks on police posts in October 2016. I support the concerns expressed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in December 2016, in which the Commissioner called for access by independent monitors and an independent investigation of allegations of human rights violations by the security forces in their response to these attacks. Ireland has also actively called for the restoration of access for humanitarian aid to the region.
My Department will continue to raise these concerns in our contacts with international bodies, in the context of our membership of the EU and the UN, as well as in our bilateral contacts with the Government of Myanmar.
