The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's principal priority over the next three years will be the drawing up of a bill of rights, the organisation has announced.
In its strategic plan for 2003-2006 published yesterday, the commission said its three other main goals would be identifying and addressing human rights violations, promoting awareness and understanding of human rights and increasing its own effectiveness.
The chief commissioner, Prof Brice Dickson, said: "The commission will be giving top priority to its work on a bill of rights for Northern Ireland.
"In that context, we welcome the reference in the Joint Declaration of April 30th, 2003, to our proposal that a round table be established for all the political parties in Northern Ireland and for representatives of civil society here.
"We plan to produce an interim position paper on the bill of rights in the autumn," he said.
"We are looking forward to continuing to serve all the people of Northern Ireland as effectively and efficiently as we can."
The commission said it would be specifically prioritising five rights which are contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.
They are the right to life; the right not to be tortured or subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the right to a fair hearing; the right not to be discriminated against; and the right to education.
The commission said it would also concentrate on building people's awareness of human rights from an early age. It planned to provide training, information and comments to those expected to deliver human rights to at-risk groups.
The commission was set up four years ago as a result of the Belfast Agreement. This is its second strategic plan.