Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Quote of the day

Jeff Dudgeon in the News Letter on the future of the NIHRC and the/a Bill of Rights:
The onus is now on a new type of commission to be appointed, and for appropriate people to apply, and be chosen on criteria that no longer require industry endorsement.

Parity of esteem in membership must be the watch word, neither must the liberal, Labour and secular constituency be overlooked.

In the future, as the coalition promises, there may be a bill of rights and responsibilities for the whole of the UK. If it is to have any Northern Ireland-specific rights they need to be considered by the new commission.

It must first consult and seek ideas. Its concentration otherwise should be on localised issues, some which may indeed be unpopular.
Perhaps the human rights of police officers, as Matt Baggott said last week.

"Too often" he said "what we do is seen through a one-dimensional view of human rights. Those officers deserve to be protected".

And remember it is in England, which foots the Commission's bill, where rights are vastly more in jeopardy than over-regulated Northern Ireland

1 comment:

Dan from Kilrea said...

The Mc Williams Commission has delivered absolutely nothing. It has, above all killed off whatever chance there might have been six years ago of a Bill Of Rights. The whole commission should be collapsed into some new structure that merges half a dozen of the existing commissions /commissioners into one. Monica has delighted us for long enough, time to go