Overview

Human rights are central to Ireland’s foreign policy. We champion the vital role of the United Nations in the promotion and protection of human rights.

The Permanent Representative of Ireland to the UN, Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, will Chair the Commission on the Status of Women in 2018 and 2019. The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it was established in 1946.

Ireland works closely with our EU partners at the UN in New York and negotiates on behalf of the EU on a number of sensitive resolutions during the UNGA Third Committee and other meetings.

We regard the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as crucial to the functioning of the United Nations – and we are in the top ten of financial contributors to the Office on a per capita basis.

The Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN actively engages in efforts to strengthen the UN’s ability to monitor and encourage national implementation of human rights obligations. We continue to play a prominent role, including with civil society and more broadly across the UN, in initiatives which aim to reinforce the system of UN human rights treaty bodies which monitor implementation by states of a variety of human rights obligations.

The Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN hosts regular events at the UN to highlight our national priorities in the area of human rights.