Building
a Human Rights Culture in a Political Democracy: The role of the Northern
Ireland Human Rights Commission
by Colin Harvey
Conclusion
It is too early to reach any conclusions about the work of the Human Rights
Commission. This essay raises some issues about the role of the Commission
in promoting progressive political values in Northern Ireland. I have argued
that the creation of the Commission moves us away from a court-centred approach
to rights protection. I have deliberately been provocative in my comments
on the role of the judiciary, and in the thoughts presented on rights-talk.
It seems to me that a critical perspective is needed now more than ever.
This is largely because everyone is at least trying to "talk-the-talk" in
Northern Ireland. In this it is easy to lose sight of the reasons why we
engage in human rights discourse in the first place. My suggestion is that
not all uses of rights discourse enrich political democracy and that in
some cases it can impoverish the language of political dialogue. On some
occasions it has a hegemonic status and thus a detrimental impact on other
important political values. This is not an argument against human rights
(quite the reverse). The political struggle to create a just political democracy
cannot be confined to rights discourse alone. The Human Rights Commission
thus has a role to play in renewing and enriching rights discourse in Northern
Ireland and taking decisive action when the language of rights is patently
being abused.
1 Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity para. 9.
2 See Constitutional Review Group Report of the Constitutional Review Group
(Dublin, Stationary Office, 1996). See also the work of the All-Party Oireachtas
Committee on the Constitution. It has thus far published four progress reports
including: the President (3rd progress report); and the Courts and the Judiciary
(4th progress report).
3 Supra n. 46
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid. para. 9.
7 Ibid. para. 10.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 See Colin Harvey "Right to Seek and Enjoy Asylum is a Human Right" The
Irish Times, 25 March 2000.
11 See CAJ Making a Bill of Rights Stick: Options for Implementation in
Northern Ireland (September 1997); CAJ Making Rights Count (October 1990).
The CAJ has also published its own Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.
12 See CAJ (1997) ibid. pp. 14-16.
13 The Commission produced a series of pamphlets on rights that are not
adequately protected by the European Convention. |
