The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has started a public consultation drive to establish what people want to see included in the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights, which is part of the Belfast Agreement.
The Bill will build on the European Convention on Human Rights which will come into effect across the United Kingdom later this year.
The Chief Commissioner of the commission, Prof Brice Dickson, said that while the European Convention emphasised civil and political rights, the special situation in Northern Ireland required the safeguarding of additional rights.
"The Belfast Agreement requires us to develop other rights that will protect the identity and ethos of both communities and the parity of esteem. We also have to develop economic, social and cultural rights to do just that," he said. The Bill would stress people's responsibilities as well as their rights.
"It will be based on the premise that each of us owes rights to each other and that the state has agreed to abide by various international documents on human rights," Prof Dickson said. "Every political party is on record as being in favour of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland and there is overwhelming public support for the idea. The challenge for the commission is the make the idea a reality."
Mr Brian Keenan, who spent five years in captivity in Lebanon, insisted that the pursuit of justice and equality was "as instinctive as the blood in our veins".
He told yesterday's gathering at Belfast City Hall that his experiences as a hostage had instilled in him a burning desire for justice and human rights.
"I cannot stand idly and witness injustice. Not because it happened to me, but because it happens," he added.
The commission will hold a wide range of events across Northern Ireland at which people can present their ideas. It will also set up a Website discussion page.
The Alliance Party's spokeswoman on equality issues, Ms Eileen Bell, welcomed yesterday's event but said the issue of safeguarding both communities' identities had to be handled with care. "We do have a major wish that the statutory requirement for the commission to `reflect the ethos and identity of both communities' is made more inclusive, and that it is sensitive to the dangers of further institutionalising divisions within this society. I am pleased that the commission have recognised these concerns," she said.
Meanwhile, the Committee on the Administration of Justice in Northern Ireland (CAJ) and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) have called on the Government to establish an equivalent body to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in the Republic.
A spokeswoman for the two organisations said that by failing to establish a human rights commission, the Government was not living up to one of the most important commitments in the Belfast Agreement.
"This also means that the Northern Ireland Commission cannot yet establish a cross-Border joint committee to begin work on the promised charter which will protect the fundamental rights of everyone living on the island of Ireland," she said.
The Relatives for Justice group welcomed yesterday's launch, saying the commission needed to pay particular attention to human rights abuses committed during the Troubles.