Amnesty Ireland has voiced serious concern about the failure of Government to raise human rights issues during its trade mission to the Middle East.
The group is to write to the Taoiseach, Tainiste and the Minister for Jobs to ask if it is now part of our Foreign policy to allow trade issues to trump the governments human rights commitments.
They have also sent a copy of a report published last November which details serious abuses of the rights of migrant workers in Qatar including evidence of forced labour to Enda Kenny.
Some workers interviewed by Amnesty International were living in fear of losing everything; threatened with penalty fines, deportation or loss of income if they did not show up to work even though they were not being paid.
Many workers reported poor health and safety standards at work, including some who said they were not issued with helmets on sites. A representative of Doha’s main hospital stated earlier this year that more than 1,000 people were admitted to the trauma unit in 2012 having fallen from height at work. Ten per cent were disabled as a result and the mortality rate was “significant”.
Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said:
“It is of grave concern to us that the Taoiseach and Minister Bruton who have led this mission seem to believe that it would be inappropriate for them to raise human rights issues as part of Ireland’s normal bilateral trade engagements with other states.
