Building a Human Rights Culture in a Political Democracy: The role of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
by Colin Harvey
The Commission has been involved in a large number of other activities. It has submitted comments to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and to the Council of Europe's Committee on Social Rights and organised a series of "Training for Trainers" seminars in additional to education seminars on human right issues. Members of the Commission have attended a large number of national and international events.
The Commission has the potential to be much more effective in the protection of human rights than SACHR. A problem that will arise relates to resources. The Commission has a broad remit, yet it has limited resources.15 Its ambitions may be curbed by lack of resources. It is therefore fortunate that the Commission must report to the Secretary of State within two years on recommendations for improving inter alia its effectiveness.16 There will be other matters to address, but one suspects that the issue of resources will figure prominently in this report.
The Commission published a draft Strategic Plan for consultation in September 1999.17 The Plan set out inter alia the Commission's core values, its resources and grounds for choosing possible options and its working methods. The core values listed are: independence; fairness; openness; accessibility; accountability; participation; and equality.18 The possible options included: a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland; the promotion of a human rights culture; and reference to specific areas such as victims' rights and criminal justice and policing.19 The section on working methods set out its proposed position on: approaches from individuals and groups; forming strategic alliances; international work; and the exercise of its statutory functions.20 The Commission, for example, emphasises the importance of international work and thus it has representations to international committees which monitor the UK's adherence to international human rights treaties.
The functions and powers of the Commission are not as extensive as one would have hoped. The resources are clearly inadequate and the power of investigation is a limited one. Nevertheless the Commission has the potential to take a lead on issues of human rights protection in Northern Ireland.
1 Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity para. 5.
2 Ibid.
3 Professor Christine Bell, Margaret Ann-Dinsmore, Tom Donnelly, Rev Harold Good, Francis McGuiness, Professor Tom Hadden, Angela Hegarty, Patricia Kelly, Inez McCormack. The Commission has a staff of twelve people in addition to this and the Chief Executive is Paddy Sloan.
4 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 69(1).
5 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 69(3).
6 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 69(3)(a) and (b).
7 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 69(4). For the purposes of this section of the Act "human rights" includes Convention rights. In other words, when assessing effectiveness and giving advice the Commission is not confined to the European Convention on Human Rights. This presents its own problems given the proliferation of human rights standards in the last fifty years.
8 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 69(5)(a).
9 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 69(5)(b).
10 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 70(2).
11 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 70(3).
12 McKerr and others v UK, App. No. 28883/95, 4 April 2000.
13 See Paris Principles 1993 "Methods of Operation": "Within the framework of its operation, the national institution shall: ...(b) Hear any person and obtain any information and any documents necessary for assessing situations falling within its competence..."
14 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 69(8).
15 It has an annual budget of £750, 000.
16 Northern Ireland Act 1998 s. 69(2)(a).
17 Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Draft Strategic Plan 1999-2002 (issued for consultation on 30th September 1999).
18 Ibid. pp. 9-10.
19 Ibid. pp. 15-30.
20 Ibid. pp. 31-49. |
