Foreign Affairs | Action being taken to combat human rights abuses

To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the top ten most serious worldwide locations of human rights abuses at present; the action being taken at international level to combat the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

REPLY


I thank the Deputy for his question and am pleased to refer him to my previous responses to closely related parliamentary questions number [4176/22] dated the 27^th January 2022 and number [15001/22] dated the 22nd March 2022.

The human rights situation in any particular country is unique in its character, scale and complexity, and a universally agreed global ranking does not exist. Both at this session, and at all PQ sessions, I will be very pleased to provide further detail where requested in relation to individual countries of specific concern.

Through our bilateral, EU and multilateral engagement, Ireland continues to strongly advocate for the promotion and protect human rights as a key foreign policy priority.

At the current 50th session of the Human Rights Council, Ireland continues to express our concern on human rights issues including in relation to Afghanistan, Belarus, China (Xinjiang), Ethiopia, Eritrea, Myanmar, occupied Palestinian territories, and in light of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.