Commission faces backlash after resignations

There has been a backlash against the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission with two high-profile politicians questioning the body's independence and direction following the resignation of two members yesterday.

Professor Christine Bell and Inez McCormack wrote individually to the Secretary of State John Reid expressing their concerns at the failure of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to effectively promote and protect human rights, as mandated by the Good Friday Agreement.

Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said the resignations raised "fundamental doubts about whether this Commission, as currently constituted, is the independent human rights advocate it was intended to be under the Good Friday Agreement".

He said the reasons given by the individuals for their resignations should "therefore be a matter of urgent concern to the two governments that these legitimate grievances are honestly and speedily addressed if public confidence is to be restored".

Ulster Unionist South Down MLA Dermot Nesbitt said the news was hardly surprising.

He added: “It is not surprising that the Commission has run short of funding after receiving a substantial increase from the Northern Ireland Office in regard to a Bill of Rights. The Commission went to grandiose lengths to do that which it was not prescribed to do in the Belfast Agreement and did not do that which it was supposed to do.

“Its remit was to deal with rights particular to Northern Ireland but it dealt with the whole gambit of rights which obviously cost a lot of money and was simply not justified.

“Let me make it clear, I am all for equality and rights but they must come through proper interpretation, based on international principles and standards.”

The harshest criticisms of the Commission were, however, reserved for the resignation letters of Prof Bell and Ms McCormack.

In her letter of resignation, Christine Bell expressed her disappointment at the ineffectiveness of the Commission in protecting and promoting rights, citing both lack of powers and resources coupled with the lack of a sufficiently strategic approach to using what powers existed.

Inez McCormack, citing concern about ineffectiveness, also expressed particular concern about the Bill of Rights process.

She said: "Political parties and civil society are just the beginning of… the debate on a Bill of Rights. This difficult, serious process needs time and space.

"The Commission, however, in my view, still is pursuing an approach to this debate that risks polarising it and rushing it, thereby closing its potential as a process that can assist in building peace."

This brings to three the number of people who have resigned their posts since the Commission was created in March 1999.

(MB)