Sir, - Alison O'Connor reports that the Minister for Foreign Affairs "welcomes" the Amnesty International audit of Ireland's compliance with international human rights standards (prepared by Sophie Magennis of Human Rights Consultants), but is "disappointed that Amnesty has misrepresented Ireland's skilful handling of Chechnya while holding the Presidency of the Council of Europe" (The Irish Times, May 1st).
The Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe undoubtedly handled the Chechen question "skilfully". However, the problem is - as the audit clearly shows - that it failed to take any effective action against the Russian Federation as the crisis in Chechnya unfolded. It is notable that neither the Minister himself, nor either of the Council of Europe sources whom he invokes in his support (The Secretary General and the Commissioner for Human Rights), attempt to directly refute the detailed critique on this subject set out in Amnesty's audit.
Instead, reference is made to a recent Irish Times article (March 26th) in which the Commissioner for Human Rights made a positive remark about Ireland's "interest" in Chechnya. However, in the very same article, the Commissioner calls for an end to "the environment of impunity" in which violence is taking place in Chechnya. Similarly, in a Department of Foreign Affairs press release issued yesterday evening, the Minister argues that "important commitments were secured from Russia" during Ireland's Presidency "including on the investigation of human rights violations". However, he neglects to mention that - one year later - those commitments have not been honoured.
Obfuscation of this nature is the clearest possible indication of the foreign policy accountability deficit which Amnesty's human rights audit highlights. - Yours, etc.,
Mark Kelly, Co-Director, Human Rights Consultants, Lespignan, France.