Legal source(s)

• None

Human rights capacity support

Functions

• Aims to promote and protect the values, interests and economic well-being of Ireland and its people on the international stage.
• Promotes Ireland as a destination for business, investment, tourism and education, enhances its economic reputation overseas and showcases its unique cultural heritage.

Specific mandates

Structured cooperation with partners at national level

• Interacts extensively with EU and international human rights bodies, including a range of UN human rights treaty bodies focusing on equality, integration and international protection. Ireland’s European Union and International Unit coordinates these interactions.
• Established a Committee on Human Rights in 1997 to provide a framework for the regular exchange of views between the DFA and representatives of non-governmental organisations, as well as civil society more generally.

Structured cooperation with partners at international and EU level

• Coordinates Irish reporting on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights through its Human Rights Unit. The Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality coordinate the Irish responses to other treaties.