The Commission continues its work across Northern Ireland promoting best practice and highlighting gaps in human rights protections. The Commission’s aim is to show the practical value of human rights principles and standards.
In December 2015 we launched our annual statement at Stormont, it provides a yearly analysis of human rights laws and policies. The Commission applies a traffic lights system to progress. A red light has been given to a number of areas including: the lack of progress on dealing with conflict related deaths, the unnecessary remand of children within juvenile justice custodial facilities, the failure to prohibit corporal punishment of children within the family, the failure to increase the age of criminal responsibility from age ten to at least twelve in line with international human rights standards and the failure to introduce an anti-poverty strategy.
More positively, a green light was given to the introduction of domestic violence protection orders, a statutory victim’s charter and legislation to protect victims of human trafficking. The keynote speech at the event was provided by Jon Snow the renowned journalist and Channel Four News Reader, who spoke on the relationship between the media and human rights.
One red light issue listed in the Annual Statement this year was on the status of Northern Irelands Termination of Pregnancy Laws. This Commission initiated legal proceedings against the Department of Justice after lengthy engagement on the Department's non-compliance with their international human rights obligations. The Commission argued that the failure to provide access in Northern Ireland to a termination of pregnancy in circumstances of serious malformation of the foetus, (including fatal foetal abnormality) rape and incest - breached the human rights of women and girls.
In November 2015 the Belfast High Court found in the Commission’s favour ruling that our current law is incompatible with human rights. The High Court granted a Declaration of Incompatibility (DOI) under the Human Rights Act. This was based on the law prohibiting termination of pregnancy in the cases of fatal foetal abnormalities and sexual crime being a violation of women’s right to personal autonomy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to family and private life) (Click here to read an earlier PILA article reporting on the decision).
Any appeal to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland must by lodged by 27th January 2016. The Attorney General has lodged an appeal and we await to hear if the Department of Justice will follow suit. The Commission intends to cross appeal the decision.
In November 2015 we took over Chair of the Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (CFNHRI), a role we will hold until 2017. CFNHRI is an informal and inclusive body of Commonwealth National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. It has 38 members, countries include New Zealand, Canada, Uganda, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Its mandate is to promote networking, sharing of information, experiences and best practices, encouraging countries to establish Paris Principle-compliant NHRIs, and assisting national institutions to fulfil their mandated activities.
As Chair we hope to build on the work of our predecessor, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. With estimates that 140 million girls under the age of 18 will be forced to marry over the next decade, we will pick up the Forums existing work to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage. The Commission will also work with members who are operating in post-conflict societies and with governance including building human rights capacity in governmental organisations. This builds on our work embedding human rights approaches in Ombudsman complaint handling procedures and training within the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
The Human Rights and Business Forum is also going strong. It is a multi-stakeholder platform which allows Government, business, and civil society to engage on business and human rights. Its work is underpinned by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It is an open forum to promote human rights issues in business and to share good practice. The Forum held an event at the Human Rights Consortium’s Festival in early December. Dr Shane Darcy from NUI Galway provided the key note address alongside local businesses and trade unions. Tying in with this, the Commission also recently spoke at the Department of Foreign Affairs consultation event around Ireland’s forthcoming action plan on business and human rights.
In January we hosted the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission as part of our ongoing engagement under the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. We will take forward joint work on strategic themes which have been identified through their respective public engagement.
Over the next few months we will also set our own strategic priorities for the next three years, our ongoing commitment to protect the most vulnerable in society is at the forefront of our minds as we finalise this work.
For information on the Commission’s see www.nihrc.org.