Letter to Practitioner from Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

6 September 2002

On behalf of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Brian Cowen T.D., I wish to thank you for your letter of 20 August.

Mr. Brian Cowen, T.D., Minister for Foreign Affairs, has asked me to inform you that the Irish Government takes the human rights concerns of Falun Gong members in China very seriously. Both the Taoiseach and the Minister have raised the issue on a number of occasions with the Chinese authorities.

This issue has also been raised through European Union channels, notably through the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, which had its latest meeting in Beijing in May. There were frank and open discussions with the Chinese authorities on the Falun Gong, during which the EU reiterated its human rights concerns. The EU will continue to raise these concerns at all appropriate opportunities.

Ireland is also pursuing this issue through the United Nations. At the UN Commission on Human Rights, EU states, including Ireland, supported a resolution which urged all states, inter alia, to ensure that their legal systems provide effective guarantees of freedom when such freedoms are violated. Furthermore, it urged that no-one should be deprived of the right to life of liberty, or subject to torture, arbitrary arrest or detention because of religion or belief. This resolution was co-sponsored by all EU members and adopted without a vote.

Ireland also encourages the continuing efforts of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief to examine incidents and governmental actions in all parts of the world that are incompatible with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, and to recommend remedial measures as appropriate.

Yours sincerely,

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Joseph Hackett
Private Secretary