Rights targets `yet to be met'

Formidable challenges to the State's stance on human rights remained to be met, the Taoiseach said yesterday, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Remarking that he was speaking as celebrations took place "on every continent on the globe", Mr Ahern said there was a number of measures which yet needed to be taken before the State conformed to best international practice.

The Conventions against Torture and the Elimination of Racial Discrimination were two core human rights conventions which the State had yet to ratify, Mr Ahern said. He was "dismayed" at recent evidence of racism.

The Government was determined to ensure that "racism gains no foothold here".

On the positive side, the Taoiseach said the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform had recently published the Criminal Justice Bill, the provisions of which "will enable us to ratify the Convention Against Torture".

Mr O'Donoghue also intended to publish the Equal Status Bill early in the new year which was aimed at eliminating discrimination in education, the provision of goods and services and the disposal of property, Mr Ahern said.

The Belfast Agreement had advanced the cause of human rights "not only in Ireland but also, as its terms are progressively implemented, in other countries which may find something in the agreement to assist them in the resolution of conflict and related problems".

He said the Government was attempting to set up a "national human rights commission" as envisaged in the agreement. "We are determined to go further than the requirements of the agreement and establish a national institution which will be a model of its kind for Europe," he added.