Ireland

2015: Attended the state consultations on the SSD in Geneva – led by Norway + 2015: Present at the First International Conference on the SSD in Oslo.

February 2017: Asked for reference to Irish Defence Act to be removed from HRW collection of law, policy and doctrine.

March 2017: Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools. September 2017 UNSC: GCPEA sent a letter to the ambassador in New York asking to raise the issue on attacks and military use, draw attention to the Declaration and the Guidelines during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict.

February 2018: GCPEA met with the Mission of Ireland in Geneva to discuss increased engagement with Declaration.
July 2018: Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).

September 2018: Gisela reached out to Ambassador Flynn in NY to encourage that Minister Cannon adds in his talking points to highlight Ireland’s endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration at the Political Champions of Education in Conflict on 26 September. She also proposed to meet with Ambassador Byrne Nason or with the expert on the WPS agenda to encourage Ireland to highlight, in their statement to the Council, the importance of protecting access to education for women and girls living in conflict.

October 2018: UN WPS advocacy in New York: Gisela met with the Deputy Permanent Representative, humanitarian expert, and political advisor. Education will be prioritised in Ireland’s new development policy, and was a key theme in their UNGA statement. The Deputy Prime Minister had announced at Global Citizen, a UNGA-related festival for young people the previous weekend, that Ireland would spend €.25 billion on global education over the next five years. Ireland is also very interested in women’s participation in peace processes. They agreed that education is essential for conflict prevention and empowerment of women. They welcomed the gender recommendations and would look at including a reference to the issues in their statement at the open debate. I noted that Ireland had been among the first endorsing states, but had not been very vocal in their support, and strongly encouraged them to highlight their endorsement in their statement to the Council. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister and gender recommendations sent by email.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

March 2020: During the Interactive Dialogue: Commission of inquiry on Syria, Ireland condemned attacks on hospitals and schools.

June 2021: Zama, Beverly and Katherine met with Alexandra Trant (WPS, YPS, HR) and Caoimhe Chonchuir (WPF and CAAC) at the Irish mission. Zama highlighted the link between explosive weapons in and around schools as an area of interest to explore ahead of the explosive weapons conference in September. Irish representatives said they have been focused on Sahel – noted Mali conclusions in WG and Niger exercising leadership on this agenda. Zama provided background information on GCPEA’s engagement with Latvia and Lithuania and asked the representatives to continue to engage with them bilaterally on this issue. We also shared that we were currently targeting AU countries in advance of the Nigeria conference. The representatives commended GCPEA’s great work in terms of advocacy and awareness raising seeing the progresses achieved in only six years. They said to keep in touch bilaterally if we needed their support on a particular issue as Ireland strongly supports this agenda.

October 2021: cosponsored UNSRC2601.

March 2022: Ukraine humanitarian briefing to UNSC 7 March: Ireland highlighted attacks on children’s hospital and schools. EWIPA and impact of attacks on critical infrastructure also framed in the impact on children.

July 2022: At the UNSC CAAC debate : “Attacks on schools and hospitals destroy another lifeline for children, and we must work to implement resolution 2601 (2021).”. “Fifthly, we must advocate children’s rights at every opportunity. We call on States to endorse the Paris Principles, the Vancouver Principles and the Safe Schools Declaration”

November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.