Ahern backs Robinson on Taliban

The Taoiseach has supported calls by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, for humanitarian standards to be observed in the treatment of captured Taliban fighters held at a US base in Cuba.

Mr Ahern told a human rights conference yesterday he fully supported Mrs Robinson "in her current endeavour". He hoped everyone supported the Geneva Convention, which governs the treatment of prisoners of war, and added: "We certainly do."

Mrs Robinson had earlier repeated her call for the US to bring captured al-Qaeda fighters being detained at the Guantanamo base in Cuba before a court or tribunal.

In her address, Mrs Robinson said the response of many countries to the September 11th attacks had led to a curtailment of human rights and an increase in racial discrimination. She and Mr Ahern were speaking in Dublin Castle at the international launch of Front Line, a new Irish-based international organisation dedicated to protecting human-rights "defenders".

Outlining a series of concerns about the measures introduced to counter terrorism, Mrs Robinson called on Ireland and other countries to raise infringements of human rights at the UN Security Council. She also called on Ireland to ratify the 1990 International Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers.

Pointing out that 17 countries had signed up out of the 20 required to bring the convention into force, she turned to Mr Ahern and asked: "Could Ireland be one of these three countries, Taoiseach?"

Later, Department of Foreign Affairs officials said urgent consideration would be given to the High Commissioner's request that Ireland ratify the convention. Mrs Robinson defended the right of the US and other governments to bring to justice those responsible for the "crime against humanity" represented by the attacks in New York and Washington.

However, she expressed "growing concern" about the restrictions which have been placed on human rights activists since then. There were reports that some governments were using the global push against terrorism to clamp down on legitimate dissent and criticism of state action. There could be no enjoyment of human rights by all where some were excluded by disadvantage, discrimination and prejudice, she said.

"We have to look at the inequality and frustration which can be manipulated by others, even though they do not excuse terrorism. In the current crisis, there may be some who suggest that human rights must take less priority."Experience throughout the world, including the island of Ireland, demonstrates this is wrong thinking."

Mrs Robinson said the aftermath of the September attacks had brought a new type of xenophobia and "racial profiling" directed at people of Arab or south Asian appearance. She paid tribute to the human rights activists in the audience. "You are my eyes and ears, my witnesses on the ground and my inspiration."

The businessman Mr Denis O'Brien, who donated $3 million to help set up Front Line and is chairman of the organisation, said he hoped it would contribute "in a real and concrete way" to the protection of human-rights defenders.

By being an Irish-based organisation, Front Line would be totally independent and impartial, he promised. "We want to build on the reputation of Ireland as a country that takes a real and very active interest in human rights around the world."

Ms Mary Lawlor, director of Front Line, accused governments of "hijacking" the language of human rights.

"They say the right words but are always driven by their own strategic or political interests."