EMERGENCY law has become absorbed into the normal practice of the legal system in Northern Ireland, a human rights lawyer has claimed.
The argument that much of the alienation of large sections of the Northern community from the legal process stems from the effects of the emergency legislation was made as the US Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights published a major new report in Belfast this week.
The report, addressing a series of long-term human rights problems in Northern Ireland, calls for the repeal of emergency legislation despite the ending of the IRA ceasefire.
One of the writers of the report, Prof Fionnuala Ni Aolain, an associate professor at Columbia University and formerly of Queen's University Belfast, argued it was unacceptable that a piece of emergency legislation should, in effect, become permanent.
The report contests the argument that respect for human rights will only come after larger political issues have been resolved. It says: "We believe the opposite to be true. Human rights are not mere side issues to be addressed when constitutional structures have been agreed and negotiated. The denial of human rights has been at the heart of the conflict."
The report suggests that it is only by reasserting the centrality of rights that peace can be achieved. "By addressing longstanding human rights concerns such as the repeal of emergency legislation, the authorities in Northern Ireland can build confidence on both sides," it asserts.
"By taking concrete measures to build an independent legal system, and by strengthening the rule of law, both Protestants and Catholics will see tangible benefits associated with the peace process. By addressing issues such as bore humane and just treatment of detainees, both sides will be able to achieve mutually desired objectives."
It says that the British government, "as the guarantor of international human rights obligations for Northern Ireland", must play the key role in emphasising the importance of rights protections during the peace process.
It is critical of the British government for doing nothing to repeal or modify the legal structure which supports the use of emergency powers while the ceasefires lasted between late .1994 and February 1996.
"During this period, we believe, the UK was in violation of its international human rights obligations, particularly in respect of its derogation from the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," the report says.
"We are also concerned that the independent review of emergency laws initiated during the ceasefire period seemed to envision the perpetual retention of emergency powers by absorbing them into the ordinary law.
In a press statement, the executive director of the Lawyers Committee, Mr Michael Posner, noted that with the ending of the IRA ceasefire and the consequent sporadic violence, some would argue that discussion of repealing emergency laws "is now moot".
He said: "We disagree and see an urgent need to rebuild confidence by restoring basic legal safeguards and dismantling the emergency regime itself."
The report itself adds: "After a summer in which confidence in the rule of law and the impartiality of the forces of law and order has been seriously shaken by the events surrounding the Drumcree march, there is an overwhelming need to rebuild."
The 141-page report, At the Crossroads: Human Rights and Northern Ireland, also examines the role of the North's judiciary in implementing the emergency framework and in facilitating and implementing the transition to the rule of ordinary law.
It asserts that the judiciary "carries part of the burden of distrust and scepticism about law and legality that is the legacy of decades of strife". This, it says, is a burden which will require active participation by the judiciary to overcome.
The Lawyers' Committee, Prof Ni Aolain said, had carried out extensive work in Latin America and had seen that the transition back to a stable, peaceful society ordered by the rule of law could cork.