NI Human Rights Commission to get new chief

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is to get a new Chief Commissioner, it was announced today.

In a statement to Parliament, Minister of State, John Spellar said the Government would begin a new process to recruit a new Chief Commissioner, to replace outgoing Professor Brice Dickson and maintain a full complement of Commissioners.

The Minister said: "We have listened to the criticism of the Human Rights Commission. We have also listened to the other side, those who see the Commission doing the best job it can in difficult circumstances. We have thought carefully about the issues and how to address them.

"We in Government want it to succeed and are committed to helping it to do so. It is in all our interests that we have a strong, independent and self-confident Commission, which draws support from all parts of the community. It is from this position that we are approaching the coming year.

"This does not mean that the current Commission is winding down. Far from it. They have a great deal still to achieve."

Sinn Féin's Bairbre de Brún gave a cautious welcome to the announcement. She said: "In our discussions with the British and Irish governments we put to them a package of proposals and measures for reconstructing the Commission. We will judge today’s announcement in light of our proposals, and whether it has the potential to return the Commission to the vision set out for it in the Good Friday Agreement.

"The reality, as Gerry Adams said in his Ard Fheis speech in February, is that the Human Rights Commission has been in a mess for some considerable time and the Chief Commissioner had to go."

The successor to Prof. Dickson will not become Chief Commissioner until the end of his term.

The remainder of the incoming Commissioners will take office on 28 February 2005, at which point those who have served two terms will leave.

(MB)