Sir, - Almost a year ago, the Irish Government, during its presidency of the Council of Europe, organised a conference in Dublin Castle entitled the "Protection of Human Rights in the 21st Century". M Pierre-Henri Imbert, the Director General of Human Rights in the Council of Europe, reminded us in his opening speech of the importance of the issue of human rights within the EU: "Since the founding of the Council of Europe in 1949, human rights have been among the core concerns of the organization and at the heart of its action". During the conference, Council of Europe officials gave very distressing reports of their recent visit to Chechnya and proposed possible sanctions to demonstrate the EU's condemnation of Russia's brutal policies there.
One year on, there are disturbing media reports of the Irish Government's involvement in the training of a group of officers from Russia's notorious internal security force, the FSB, which has been accused by human rights groups of horrific human rights abuses in Chechnya.
Much publicity has been given here to the reprimand by EU Finance Ministers of the Irish Government's financial policies. Should we not equally be publicly censured by the EU body charged with the protection of human rights , the Council of Europe, regarding our assistance to those allegedly involved in the brutal oppression of the Chechen people? - Yours, etc.,
Valerie Hughes, Rathmines, Dublin 6.