Lethal weapons should not be used on children in except where there is an imminent and established threat to life, a draft Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland will suggest.
The proposal, which children's rights campaigners are expected to criticise, is contained in a draft which will be handed over to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in Belfast tomorrow.
The first Bill of Rights ever to be produced in the UK has been put together by Northern Ireland's main political parties along with members of the community, human rights and voluntary sectors, the churches, business and trade unions.
It covers equality, right to life, freedom from torture and degrading treatment, slavery and forced labour, the right to privacy and family life, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, education, health, employment, a fair judicial system and also rights for children, women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and victims of the Troubles.
However members of the Forum will not endorse all its clauses and will clearly mark out in the report for Chief Human Rights Commissioner Monica McWilliams the measures they support and oppose.
Australian human rights expert Chris Sidoti, who chaired the Forum during its year-long deliberations, said the proposed Bill would consist of clauses which attracted the highest level of support and would serve as a template for the commission's proposals to Government.
"It's been a 12 month process, so the positions in our paper are not top-of-the-head reactions. It's been very well thought out and we've seen views move very much over the course of the past year. Positions have been developed on the basis of compromise, he said.
There has been agreement on significant issues but "there's still a long way to go in the process," he added.
The issue of lethal and less-lethal weapons has been particularly controversial because nine children were killed during the Troubles by plastic bullets.
Representatives of the children's sector are expected to express unease about a clause permitting the use of weapons on children in certain circumstances.
Throughout negotiations, unionist parties on the forum have consistently questioned the need for many clauses, claiming they were already covered by British or European legislation and in some cases were beyond the forum's remit.
It is understood the report will show the DUP, Ulster Unionists and Alliance Party dissented from other members of the forum on the section covering culture, language and identity.
Sinn Fein delegate Martina Anderson said was pleaded unionists engaged in the discussions but was disappointed they dissented on many clauses.
"Hopefully the document which the Forum is producing will now enable the Human Rights Commission to engage civic society in a debate on what should be in a Bill of Rights," she said.