Sir, - Drumcree and the elections to the Northern Assembly have overshadowed one of the most innovative provisions in the Good Friday Agreement - the proposal to set up Human Rights Commissions North and South.
Decisions about the powers and remit of the Northern Ireland Commission will be taken very shortly for inclusion in a bill to go through Westminster by the end of July. Those decisions will also determine the shape of the Southern Commission which is to have equivalent powers.
Human Rights Commissions have been around since the 1970s when they were set up in Australia and Canada. In this decade, the UN has made promoting such Commissions a key element in its human rights strategy and has drawn up the Paris Principles as a guide to how they should operate. One of the best models is the Commission established recently in South Africa.
The Paris Principles stress that Commissions should be completely independent, adequately financed and have the power to vet legislation, to hold their own inquiries and to publicise their findings and recommendations.
A Human Rights Commission in Northern Ireland could play a major role by convincing both communities that there is a body to which they can take their grievances, which is impartial and applies international human rights standards. But to succeed the Commission must be genuinely independent and have power to launch its own inquiries into disputed matters and publish the results. And ideally it should have some outside personnel with a proven track record in the human rights field.
It is essential that the forthcoming British parliamentary bill provides that the Northern Human Rights Commission follows best international practice as set out in the Paris Principles and in the experience of successful Commissions like those in Australia, Canada and South Africa. Alternatively, the precise remit of the Commission could be left open to allow for a period of public consultation with an input from the UN and the Australians, Canadians and South Africans.
That would also allow time for public consultation here in the Republic where the new Commission can also perform an important role but will be a lot more effective if it is set up with informed public support. Here too we could benefit from an input by the UN where Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, takes a particular interest in the establishment of national Commissions. - Yours, etc., Michael Farrell,
Co-Chairperson,
Irish Council for Civil Liberties,
Exchequer Street,
Dublin 2.