A request to the US government to treat the Guantanamo Bay prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Convention has been made by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs.
A motion to that effect was passed yesterday in preference to an alternative motion from the Labour spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins, calling for prisoner-of-war status for this group of prisoners and urging that the Geneva Convention be applied to all prisoners taken in Afghanistan. Mr Higgins requested a roll-call vote and the successful motion, originally from the chairman Mr Des O'Malley, was passed by nine to one.
The text welcomed the US decisions to give the Red Cross "full access" to the Guantanamo prisoners and requested they be "treated with full respect for their human rights in accordance with the principles of Customary International Law, including the Geneva Conventions".
Mr Jim O'Keeffe (Fine Gael)said the prisoners should get proper treatment even though they were "dangerous desperadoes".
Senator Michael Lanigan (Fianna Fáil) said Mr O'Keeffe should withdraw the description as they had not even been tried for or charged with anything. A further motion from the chairman, urging the EU to enter into "a more serious and continuous involvement in the Middle East situation", was passed without dissent.
Mr Ben Briscoe (Fianna Fáil) said he had returned from Israel a few weeks ago and most people he met there had "no doubt that Arafat is behind these killings".
Mr O'Malley rejected the suggestion that President Arafat was in a position to control the situation. "If he is removed, who is going to replace him?" With the exception of the Foreign Minister, Mr Peres, the main part of the Israeli government was "extremely confrontational". If other countries in the region became involved in the conflict, Israel's difficulties would become even more serious than at present.
Mr Briscoe: "So you're saying, 'Surrender', is that right?"
Mr O'Malley: "I can see why the Israelis sometimes create difficulties for themselves."
Mr Alan Shatter (Fine Gael) said the chairman's remark was "entirely inappropriate" because Mr Briscoe was an Irish citizen and a member of Dáil Eireann.
Withdrawing the comment, Mr O'Malley said if that construction was put on it, it was not intended.
Mr O'Malley said regular visits to the Middle East by European dignitaries were not enough. The EU should be using its "economic, political and diplomatic" muscle.
The committee had a brief discussion with the Malaysian Foreign Minister, Mr Syed Hamid Albar, who is on a two-day official visit. Senator David Norris (Independent) raised what he said were "inspired" charges of sodomy against the former deputy prime minister, Mr Anwar Ibrahim. The Foreign Minister replied that, in Malaysia, sodomy was not acceptable and you could not be a leader if you were found to have committed such an offence.