Northern peace process an example to others, UN hears
THE Northern peace process and the Criminal Assets Bureau will be used as examples for wider conflicts and in the international fight against crime, Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore told a meeting of the UN Security Council yesterday.
Ireland currently holds the chairmanship of the Organisation for Security Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a group with 56 participating states in Europe and Asia, and the largest regional organisation of its kind under the UN.
The Government plans to hold a conference in Dublin in April which will focus on the North as a case study.
"We... believe we can encourage those engaged in negotiations elsewhere to persevere in their efforts by showing that it has been possible to create and build peace in Northern Ireland," Mr Gilmore told the UN.
Later this month Dublin will host the first official talks on the dispute in the former Soviet republic of Moldova over the region of Transnistria.
"We will focus in particular on measures to counter corruption, money-laundering and terrorist financing.
"We will also consider the issue of confiscation of the proceeds of criminal activity. In this regard, we intend to highlight the work of Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau as a model," Mr Gilmore said.
He said Ireland also intends to prioritise the issue of internet freedom during its chairmanship.
"We will work to ensure that existing OSCE commitments in relation to freedom of expression and freedom of the media apply to all forms and means of their exercise," he added.
- Brendan Keenan
Irish Independent
