Human Rights Commissioners appointments criticised

The Secretary of State has appointed of four new Human Rights Commissioners.

The new Commissioners, appointed by the Northern Ireland Office, are Lady Christine Eames, outgoing world President of the Mothers Union; Dr Chris McGimpsey, Ulster Unionist councillor; Kevin McLaughlin, member of the Civic Forum and Patrick Yu Director of the Council for Ethnic Minorities.

They were appointed following an open competition for the positions which last three years. They join a team of eight Commissioners and the Chief Commissioner, Prof Brice Dickson.

The Secretary of State said: “I am delighted to be appointing four such able candidates to the Commission. There was a significant interest in the advertisement and I was pleased to have such a strong pool from which to select the new Commissioners.”

Northern Ireland Human Rights Chief Commissioner, Brice Dickson has also welcomed the appointments. He said: “The new Commissioners join the Commission at a particularly interesting time. We are consulting publicly on our proposals for a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland and will shortly begin drafting our final advice to the Secretary of State. Our relationship with the Republic of Ireland’s Human Rights Commission is developing within the Joint Committee which has just recently been created. We are looking forward to working with our new colleagues on the protection and promotion of the human rights of everyone in Northern Ireland.”

However the appointments have been greeted with scepticism from some political parties. Sinn Féin Human Rights Spokesman Pat McNamee has claimed the appointment of Stormont minister Michael McGimpsey’s brother was “politically motivated.”

The SDLP’s spokesman Alex Attwood said: “There are initial issues of concern because the makeup of this commission appears to be noticeably different from the makeup of the previous Commission. The nomination of an elected politician is something that particular consideration and explanation from the Northern Ireland Office.”

Meanwhile Lord Ken Maginnis the former Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh South Tyrone, has said he is considering applying for a judicial review of the decision following his failure to get selected after interview.

He said in a BBC Radio Ulster interview on Thursday November 22 the fact he was “excluded” by the secretary of state "indicates that he is determined to have a nationalist bias within the commission". (AMcE)