Agreement on policing is a key element in solving the conflict in Northern Ireland, according to Mr Kieran McEvoy, chairman of the North's human rights group, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ).
Speaking at the opening of the group's two-day conference in Belfast, which featured presentations from international experts on human rights and policing, he said that if the issue of policing was not tackled correctly it had the potential to seriously undermine the peace process.
Mr McEvoy said the CAJ had criticised the RUC on many occasions "when we think it is deserved, particularly when they are in breach of international human rights standards". However, he believed the peace process had increased the openness of the police to "constructive criticism".
Attending yesterday's session were Mr Peter Smith and Dr Maurice Hayes, members of the Patten Commission on Policing established under the Belfast Agreement. Dr Hayes told the 150-strong crowd of the commission's work to date.
Commission members were still in "listening mode", he said, although the writing of the final report of recommendation on the future of policing in Northern Ireland would commence shortly.
Mr Ralph Crawshaw, a former chief superintendent in the Essex police force, now a consultant with the Council of Europe and the International Red Cross, stressed the centrality of human rights protection to policing.
From his experience of investigating violations of human rights in Africa, Asia and the Middle East he said: "The common factor in all these areas is that bad policing actually fuels the conflict".
Mr Crawshaw believed retraining could be effectively used to change the profile of a force. "It is possible, they are doing it in South Africa," he said.
The Assistant Commissioner of the South African police force, Ms Zelda Holtzman, will address the conference this morning. Commenting at yesterday's opening session she said that many of the questions currently being raised in relation to policing in Northern Ireland had been faced in her country.
A founder member of the Stephen Lawrence campaign told delegates that the seminar was timely in the wake of this week's publication of the Macpherson report on the "brutal and savage" murder of the London teenager.
Mr Lee Jasper, director of the 1990 Trust, a human rights group which tackles issues affecting African, Asian and Caribbean communities living in Britain and Europe, said he believed the London Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Condon, should resign for his handling of the case. The force should also be disbanded in its current format.