Bill of Rights need not await final deal, say report authors

THE introduction of a Bill of Rights in Northern Ireland need knot await the negotiation of a final political settlement, two of the authors of a specialist report for the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation said yesterday.

Dr Colm Campbell and Prof Tom Hadden were speaking at the publication of The Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Peace and Reconciliation in Ireland.

The report, by Dr Campbell, Prof Hadden and Prof Kevin Boyle, argues that there is inadequate protection of human rights in the three jurisdictions of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Britain.

The primary defect "is the fact that international human rights norms are not enforceable in national law".

The remedy for this is "to incorporate the substance of those norms into national law as has been done in most other European jurisdictions".

The chairwoman of the forum, Judge Catherine McGuinness, said it would be "desirable" that structures for the protection of human rights be similar in all jurisdictions.

As well as listing some basic principles on human rights, the report also lists some that are of special relevance to reconciliation in Ireland.

These include the need to look at the prevention of abuses during any future states of emergency and the likely involvement of the Irish and British governments, as well as a European dimension, in an effective structure for the protection of human rights.

It says the creation of one or more independent human rights commissions with sufficient powers and resources to monitor and, where necessary, to assist in securing human rights, are also required.

On self determination, the report says it is accepted that to qualify to establish a state, or merge with another state, a population must have a distinctive language, religion or culture, a shared history and experience, a commitment to preserving its separate identity and an association with a specific territory.

The difficulty is that the accepted criteria for the identification of a minority, which does not have a right of self determination, are broadly the same, with the possible exception of a specific territorial association."

International tribunals tend to leave the resolution of disputes over self-determination to the politicians, say the two authors.

"It is possible to protect almost; all the other human rights regardless of how the issue of self determination is sorted out," Prof Hadden said.

The report says there is "a well recognised danger that undue emphasis on communal rights in divided societies may lead to increased segregation and intercommunal conflict".

Though it is a relatively undeveloped area in human rights law, there are conventions which expressly recognise the positive values of pluralism.

"The right of individuals not to be treated as members of a defined community against their will is less clearly expressed in major conventions," says the report.

Formally, recognised rights in this area include the right of individuals and communities to education in mutual tolerance and the right not to be treated as members of a distinct community against their will.

The report can be bought from the Government Publications Office for £8.