Human Rights - from the NICVA Policy Manifesto
Posted by Feargal O'Kane on Feb 12 2007 under Human rights, Policy Manifesto |
The promotion of human rights can provide the vision of a better society than this, where sectarianism and discrimination are not tolerated, where respect for human rights is regarded as the norm and where the most vulnerable and poorest members receive the highest protection.
The government has ratified most of the international human rights instruments. The European Convention on Human Rights has been incorporated in domestic law by the Human Rights Act. These instruments mean that government departments are duty bearers with a legal obligation to respect, protect, promote and fulfi l the rights contained in these treaties. They also provide standards against which to judge the government’s decision-making and actions.
Almost 70% of people surveyed in Northern Ireland think a Bill of Rights is essential or desirable (65% Protestant and 73% Catholic); with 76% saying either it is essential or desirable to have specific protection of economic and social rights (79% Catholic and 66% Protestant).
Northern Ireland is marred by high poverty levels and also by higher levels of inequality than Great Britain; the gap between rich and poor is increasing with signifi cant numbers of individuals not benefiting from the overall growth in economic prosperity. 530,000 people are economically inactive, health inequalities are increasing, working class children and children from vulnerable groups experience educational inequality and poverty is increasing among single parent families and households containing disabled members. Asylum seekers are often subject to detention and removal, racist and homophobic attacks are on the increase and exploitation of migrant workers is commonplace.
To meet the entitlements and needs of all, especially the poorest and most disadvantaged, government and political parties should:
- Comply with international commitments to ensure core obligations to adequate social and economic rights, such as adequate accessible accommodation, education, health, remuneration and social protection.
- Comply with all international human rights treaties ratified by the UK government, including the concluding observations from the various treaty monitoring bodies.
- Ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights optional protocol to provide a complaints mechanism at the international level and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
- Provide appropriate budgets to support the range of strategies for, inter alia, children and young people, race equality, mental health and New Targeting Social Need, and conduct the budgetary analysis required to provide transparency about resource allocation across policy areas.
- Human rights proof all draft legislation and policies to ensure compliance with the UN international standards and European Social Charter, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Commit to legislating for a Bill of Rights, including socio-economic rights, substantive equality and enforcement provisions. This must include facilitating the Roundtable on the Bill of Rights to encourage agreement between political parties, the voluntary and community sector and other social partners and encouraging all political parties to engage actively in the Bill of Rights process.
- Introduce amended legislation in the next legislative term to ensure among other things that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has the power to enter places of detention and to compel the production of documents.
- Ensure human rights provides an overarching framework by explicit linkages to government obligations under the international human rights instruments, effective participation of the most affected, recourse to remedies and development of agreed human rights indicators to monitor implementation of policies at all levels of government, including community planning.
- Provide and disseminate information and provide awareness-raising and education about human rights to contribute to a human rights culture.
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