Amnesty International described Ireland’s delay in ratifying the European Convention on Human Rights as "pathetic" at the unveiling of its annual report today.
Mr Séan Love, the organisation’s Irish director, said the "tardiness in incorporating the European Convention is matched somewhat by the tardiness in getting our own human rights commission up and running or getting an independent Garda complaints procedure running.
Amnesty favours a complaints commission that is clearly independent, Mr Love said. "I think the model that has been promoted and worked most effectively outside is the ombudsman approach, as clearly Northern Ireland has demonstrated, but we’re not specifically saying it has to be an ombudsman".
But he praised the Government for its recent ratification of the Convention Against Torture and the incorporation of the International Criminal Court.
In its report, Amnesty drew attention to the treatment of people suffering from mental illness while in detention - in particular, the "lack of explicitly stated criteria for the imposition of solitary confinement".
The report also said there was concern among relatives of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings that the British government had failed to disclose the full evidence to the Independent Commission of Inquiry, which is investigating the bombings.