Ireland, 2012

The primary mission of the

United Nations is to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which... has brought untold sorrow

to mankind”. Those are the words of the Charter of the

United Nations: the legacy of our predecessors. Our

history tells us that conflict grows in the spaces where

human rights are denied; that, where deprivation,

inequality and injustice erode human dignity and

potential, conflict is the consequence; that war follows

hunger, and hunger follows war. That is why the Charter

expresses in simple and clear terms our commitment

to fundamental human rights. It reaffirms our “faith

in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the

equal rights of men and women and of nations large

and small”.

Words can at times become too familiar, so familiar

that their force and impact fade with time. We who

gather here each year must remind ourselves what we

stand for, reflect honestly on what we have achieved and

what we have not achieved, and rededicate ourselves to

the ideals set out in our Charter. We must make those

lofty words relevant again to the peoples for whom we

speak here.

The struggle for human rights is being fought every

day in every region of the world. There are too many

forgotten places and forgotten causes. We must not turn

away from the dark corners where the media spotlight

does not shine or from which the media spotlight has

long departed. We must speak here for the five-year-

old child, without a family, struggling to survive in a

refugee camp; for the hungry mother cradling a dying

infant at a feeding station; for those who cannot speak

publicly in their own lands and who look to us here

for the vindication of their basic rights; for those who

believe in the words of our Charter and expect us to act

on them.

What is happening in Syria is an affront to

humanity. Syrian children, Syrian women and Syrian

men, young and old, are being slaughtered by their own

Government. A national army — the army of a sovereign

State and Member of this Organization — is shelling its

own people as they queue for bread, and is launching

airstrikes on its own cities. We find compelling evidence

of wholesale massacres in towns such as Houla, and

we see Syrian children trying to make sense of their

shattered lives in refugee camps in neighbouring

countries. The violence is indiscriminate, and on an

appalling scale. And it is not confined to one side.

The people of Syria deserve the full support of

the international community for the efforts to bring about an end to their suffering and to achieve an early

political transition. Ireland backs the Joint Special

Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab

Nations, Lakhdar Brahimi, in his difficult task. The

priority must be to achieve an immediate ceasefire and

to get a political process under way that will facilitate

the transition.

What is needed, above all, is a strong Security

Council resolution that will authorize targeted sanctions.

It must include a comprehensive arms embargo against

all those who are responsible for violating the human

rights of the Syrian people. That is what the Syrian

people want from us, and what they have a right to

expect.

There must also be full accountability for human

rights abuses. To prevent further atrocities now and to

save lives now, we must make it clear now that atrocities

will not go unpunished. That is why Ireland supports

the call by the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights and by Switzerland and others for the

Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the

International Criminal Court. We are working to build

up strong cross-regional support for such a referral.

If the events in the Arab world over the past two

years have taught us anything, it is that leaders who deny

legitimate demands for greater political and economic

freedom and who instead resort to waging war on their

own people will inevitably lose the right to rule. The

systematic denial of human rights and suppression of

democratic liberties has fuelled a profound desire for

change. In Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and

elsewhere, Ireland has supported the will of the people,

peacefully expressed, to bring about long-overdue

democratic reforms.

As world attention focuses on Syria, peace and

justice remain elusive elsewhere in the Middle East.

The need for a lasting resolution of the Arab-Israeli

conflict is as urgent as ever. Yet a depressing stalemate

persists, with no progress towards a comprehensive

settlement. Ireland has said on many occasions that

the establishment of a Palestinian State, within borders

based on those of 1967, is long overdue. We have made

clear our hope that Palestine will be formally admitted

to the United Nations as a full Member. While that hope

remains to be fulfilled, we welcome the announcement

by President Abbas of his plans to consult with the

membership of the General Assembly on a resolution

that, as an interim step towards the achievement of that goal, would accord Palestine non-member State

observer status. Ireland will be proud to support a

fair and balanced resolution to that end, and we look

forward to the forthcoming consultations.

We know of course that such steps will not alter

the situation on the ground. Israel must stop expanding

settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,

which only impede the prospect of achieving Israel’s

own stated desire for a Palestinian State. The peace

and security of the people of Israel, to which they are

entitled, gain nothing from denying the basic rights of

the people of Gaza, who are subjected to an unjust and

counterproductive blockade.

There is no alternative to serious negotiations

between the two sides aimed at a comprehensive

settlement. I would like to see President Abbas and

Prime Minister Netanyahu commit themselves to

achieving a comprehensive peace agreement within

a specified timescale. That will not be easy and will

require painful compromises on both sides. But if both

leaders are willing to embark on that path they will

have the unstinting support of the entire international

community, including Ireland.

Peace and security are inextricably linked to

development. And development is at the heart of

Ireland’s foreign policy. We have maintained our

official development assistance above 0.5 per cent of

gross national product — an important achievement

in the face of major economic difficulties — and we

remain committed to reaching the United Nations target

of 0.7 per cent as soon as we possibly can.

Ireland’s aid programme represents a genuine

investment by the Irish people in the world we share

with the people of developing countries. We focus in

particular on the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. We

have prioritized investments in education, in health, in

good governance, and in the lives and rights of girls

and women and of persons living with HIV and AIDS.

We have seen remarkable economic progress made in

African countries as a result of such investments. But

great inequalities still persist.

It is in all our interests as global citizens to stay

the course in relation to the Millennium Development

Goals and to continue to work together for a sustainable

and just world in which States operate on the basis of

the rights of all people to participate in and contribute

to society and inclusive economies.

Against that background, the reality of hunger

persists in our world. The scandal is that we have the

tools to tackle that suffering and that terrible waste of

human potential. How can people realize their rights

and potential if they cannot meet their most basic needs

for existence?

No country knows that better than Somalia. Once,

Somalia was at the centre of the world’s attention. But

the media spotlight moved on, and the people of Somalia

have faced a long struggle to emerge from war, famine

and instability. Today, more than two million Somalis

still need our help. On the last Sunday of July 2012,

I visited Mogadishu. Amidst the grinding poverty and

the misery of insecurity, I saw genuine signs of hope

and opportunity. Schools, homes, shops and businesses

are being rebuilt and reopened, and people are returning

from exile. Increased international engagement has

been essential. Real progress is also being achieved

in Somalia’s transition to democracy, with impressive

engagement by Somali traditional and political leaders.

We must support them.

I pledge today that Ireland will not turn away from

Somalia or from humanitarian emergencies elsewhere

in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and across the globe.

We will work with our partners to highlight forgotten

crises and the needs of fragile States, as well as to forge

a more coherent and effective international approach

towards humanitarian action and development policy.

Ireland has made the fight against hunger and

undernourishment the key priority of its development

policy. We have delivered on our commitment to direct

20 per cent of our aid budget to that priority. With our

partners, we have worked closely with the Secretary-

General to build and support the Scaling Up Nutrition

movement. But we must do more. Collectively, we must

act now to recognize the systemic linkages between

recurring food price crises, humanitarian emergencies,

chronic undernourishment and the effects of climate

change.

There is nothing that connects us more across

borders, across oceans and across generations than

our mutual dependence on the planet that we share.

Climate change is not something happening in a far-off

land or in a distant future. It is happening now and it is

happening fast. It is not for another generation to solve.

It is for us to take responsibility, to strive to achieve

climate justice, and to act.

A deep attachment to the safeguarding of human

rights has been at the heart of Ireland’s foreign policy

since the foundation of our State. Ireland’s commitment

to the protection and promotion of human rights has

been shaped by our own history. As a small island

nation that has experienced the impact of colonialism,

civil war and conflict, we learned the hard way that

human rights can never be taken for granted.

From the earliest days of our United Nations

membership, we pioneered the promotion of nuclear

disarmament and non-proliferation. We also paid close

attention to decolonization and the struggle against

apartheid. Today, we make substantial contributions

to United Nations development agencies and funds and

are active participants in United Nations peacekeeping

operations. Thousands of Irishmen and Irishwomen

have served in United Nations peacekeeping forces,

and our people are intensely proud of that contribution

to the ideals of the United Nations.

Ireland also plays an active role in the work being

done in the United Nations framework to protect and

promote human rights. We are proud that our former

President, Mary Robinson, served with distinction as

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

from 1997 to 2002. When the Human Rights Council

was first established in 2006, Ireland declared that it

would seek election to that body in 2012. That is the

first occasion on which we have sought election to the

Council.

We are committed to a robust and effective Human

Rights Council. We want to see a principled Council

that provides real leadership in that critical area. We

also value and support the full participation of small

States in the work of the Council. The Universal

Periodic Review process has opened up an important

space for national dialogue on human rights. Ireland

engaged constructively and self-critically in its own

review. We are also firmly committed to a strengthened

United Nations treaty monitoring body system and have

actively contributed to efforts to reinforce that system.

Threats to human rights worldwide are proliferating

steadily, whether from widespread poverty and hunger,

repressive systems of governance, religious intolerance,

gender-based violence or other sources. If Ireland is

elected to the Human Rights Council in November,

we will serve the cause of international human rights

protection as an active and committed member of the

Council.

The United Nations was founded on the principle

that diplomatic engagement and dialogue between

nations are essential to peace and human development.

Attacks on diplomatic missions, such as we saw

recently in Benghazi, are attacks on that principle.

They are never acceptable and must be condemned by

the international community.

Ireland is currently chairing the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). That has

enabled us to make a contribution to the search for

agreement across the full range of the OSCE’s activities.

We have drawn on our own experience in building

peace in Northern Ireland to contribute to the work of

the OSCE, which seeks to find peaceful settlements to

protracted conflicts. I am hopeful that by the end of our

term in office we will have been able to make progress

in some key areas, including in the so-called human

dimension of the OSCE and on some conflict issues.

We have used our chairmanship to prioritize

Internet freedom, reflecting the increasing importance

of the Internet as a platform for the exercise of human

rights and fundamental freedoms. A major conference

in Dublin last June focused on how human rights

and fundamental freedoms do not change with new

technologies, but extend seamlessly into the digital

age. We look forward to assuming the presidency of the

European Union Council of Ministers in the first half

of next year. We will bring to that role the same energy

and commitment that we have devoted to discharging

our OSCE responsibilities.

A distinguished Irish politician and lawyer of the

late eighteenth century, John Philpot Curran, once

remarked that “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance”.

If we are to live up to the aspirations of the Charter of

the United Nations, we must also assume the burden of

eternal vigilance. The daily challenges to human rights

are painfully obvious. Our response must be clear and

unrelenting. In the words of the Vienna Declaration and

Programme of Action, the promotion and protection

of human rights is “the first responsibility” of

Governments. We cannot and must not shy from that

responsibility.