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The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) has criticised “weaknesses” in the Justice and Security (NI) Bill which has its Second Reading tomorrow (13 December 2006) in Parliament.
Commission seeks changes to Justice and Security (NI) Bill
The Commission believes that, while the legislation was intended to enhance its powers, aspects of the bill could impede the protection of human rights in Northern Ireland.
The Commission sought the power to enter prisons and other places of detention, and the power to compel witnesses and the production of evidence. The Bill would only allow the NIHRC to secure access to detention facilities during a formal investigation, and the power to secure evidence or compel witnesses is also limited to such investigations. There are severe limitations on the scope for the Commission to consider any aspect of the work of the security andintelligence services, and the new powers would apply only to events occurring after 1 January 2008.
Chief Commissioner, Monica McWilliams (pictured) stated:
We believe that the access and investigatory powers are so qualified with exclusions, limitations and procedural obligations as to severely limit their utility in protecting human rights.
The ‘national security’ provisions seem to be expressly designed to steer the Commission away from addressing areas where obvious human rights concerns exist, and the proposed time limits on retrospective investigation would make it almost pointless to investigate anything for a long time to come. We hope that the Government will consider amending this bill to allow us to properly carry out our work.
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