An Amnesty International delegation examining the human rights situation in Northern Ireland has urged political leaders, police representatives and government officials to make human rights protection a universal rather than a sectarian issue, reports Clare Murphy, in Belfast.
The delegation yesterday held separate hour-long meetings with the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, and the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan.
"We are making the same point to everyone we meet. It is pivotal that human rights is embedded in society in Northern Ireland because it is at the heart of the peace process and the peace agreement," said a delegation spokesman, Mr Richard Reoch.
The delegation has welcomed the reviews into Northern Ireland's police and criminal justice system now under way, as well as the Saville inquiry into the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre which begins in September.