Getting on with it
From: Fortnight April 2000
Chair of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Professor BRICE DICKSON urges the swift implementation of a rights agenda.
There may be difficulties at the moment with some aspects of the Good Friday Agreement but that past of it dealing with rights be progressed regardless.
As a result of the passage of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 there is now a Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and one of its duties is to consult the people and advise the Secretary of State on the scope for creating a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland to supplement the protections guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. On 1 March the Human Rights Commission launched its consultation exercise, which is to continue for the rest of 2000.
Every political party in Northern Ireland , with the exception of the Conservative Party, is in favour of a Bill of Rights. Even those parties which urged a "No" vote in the 1998 referendum are on record as wanting to have a Bill of Rights enacted. Some of the parties have issued discussion papers on the topic and a few have even produced draft Bills of Rights. So the Good Friday Agreement was in this respect simply endorsing what was already part of the consensus.
There is a disagreement, of course, over what exactly should be contained in the Bill of Rights. Different parties have different emphases. Moreover groups and individuals who are not active in party politics have also developed a range of views as to what kind of Bill should be drawn up.
The Human Rights Commission wants to tap into this rich reservoir of interest and enthusiasm for a Bill of Rights.. To that end it will be seeking to run a consultation exercise which is deeper and broader than any previous such exercise in Northern Ireland. It will be organizing conferences and lectures, seminars and workshops, focus groups and public meetings; it will be issuing pamphlets for discussion and inviting views to be submitted via a website (www.nihrc.org); it will be advertising in the papers and on the streets; it will be striving, in particular , to stimulate interest among young people in Northern Ireland and among those who do normally feel that have a voice in how their lives are governed.
A Bill of Rights has the potential to unite all the people of Northern Ireland under the one banner of justice and equality. Being a mere document it will not, needless to say, solve all our problems. But it can be a vital component in the engine of progress. Provided it provisions are fully complied with, and enforceable through the courts if needs be, it could help ensure harmonious and indeed productive relationships between all sections of the community.
Most countries in the world have a Bill of Rights as part of their Constitution . Countries emerging out of conflict have found a Bill of Rights to be an essential ingredient of a peaceful future. In South Africa this is particularly obvious. There the Constitutional Court has helped to unify the country around a common set of values and a shared vision of the future. And because of the Bill of Rights takes no sides politically, its implementation should not give rise to party political squabbling.
Some political activists are suspicious of a Bill of Rights because they
think that it could unduly constrain the elected representatives in their
policy-decisions and law-making. This is particularly so when we remember
that a Bill of Rights could cover a whole range of social and economic rights
as well as the more traditional civil and political rights. Elected politicians
do not always take kindly to being reminded that the European Social Charter,
for example, requires states to ensure fair remuneration for work, to allow
collective bargaining, to remove as far as possible the causes of ill-health,
to maintain a social security system at a satisfactory level, to take steps
to place persons with a disability in employment and to assist migrant workers.
There can be eyebrows raised whenever the rights to shelter, to a fair education
system and to be protected against poverty and social exclusion are mentioned.
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