The incoming SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, has pledged to work for a "new nationalism", without flag-waving, triumphalism or sectarianism.
In his first major speech since his election as SDLP leader was assured, Mr Durkan said last night that the issue of human rights was "the very heartbeat of this party". The SDLP wanted to develop "a new human rights culture".
He also called on those whose votes would determine whether Mr David Trimble was re-elected First Minister this week to "reflect carefully".
He noted that decisions on the future of the agreement "now rest in the hands of a few of those least committed to it . . . It is not enough to reject what is on offer, they must also present their alternative. Yet the nay-sayers have not done so. Because they have none."
Speaking at the Trinity College Dublin Students' Union last night, he called on the Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, not to weaken the forthcoming Bill of Rights in Northern Ireland.
He noted that the Republic's Human Rights Commission would have more powers than its Northern counterpart.
"It can carry out effective investigations into human rights abuses and can intervene in the courts in defence of human rights," he said.
"The Northern commission must be given the same powers as a matter of urgency. Only then will the commissions be able to work together to protect the human rights of all across Ireland."
Mr Durkan said that the right to fair policing should be matched by respect for the right to join the police; the right to trial by jury by an end to backstreet justice; and the battle against sectarianism in the North by the battle against racism in the Republic.
He maintained that his party was delivering on a new North/South agenda, which included the development of strong North/South bodies regenerating the economy in the North; garda∅ working in the Police Service of Northern Ireland; and the administrations North and South being held to the same human rights standards.
These issues were part of his party's "ever-expanding North/South agenda, designed over time to deliver our goal, the true unity of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter".
While the SDLP would work for unity, "we can see beyond majorities and minorities - we recognise that we will always require agreed structures of government involving the two great traditions of this island".