MINISTER FOR Justice Alan Shatter has announced details of the proposed Human Rights and Equality Commission, which will have a 12-member board, compared with the 27 people who sat on the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority.
Mr Shatter said yesterday he will consult with the relevant Northern Ireland ministers to reassure them that the proposed body will preserve the equivalence of human rights protection in the two parts of Ireland.
This was part of the Belfast agreement, under which the Irish commission and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission were set up.
He said that the merging of the human rights commission and the Equality Authority into the new body would provide better value for money and a more streamlined structure which would improve its ability to fulfil its obligations in a more effective and co-ordinated manner, delivering savings on board and administration fees, he said.
The essential objective of this body will be to champion human rights, including the right to equality, the Minister said, adding that it would respect the UN Paris Principles on such bodies.
He pointed out that the Comptroller and Auditor General had highlighted the fact that cuts in the funding to the human rights commission was putting its work at risk. “A leaner, more streamlined body will be able more effectively, efficiently and cohesively to champion human rights and to further maintain and further build on international reputation of the present Irish Human Rights Commission,” he said.
The move was greeted cautiously by non-governmental organisations. The Equality and Rights Alliance, a coalition of 170 organisations that campaign for equal rights, said there was no indication of the funding for the new body and combining of the existing budgets would not allow it to fulfil the mandates of the organisations adequately. However the Irish Council for Civil Liberties welcomed the Minister’s stated commitment to the Paris Principles.
Council director Mark Kelly said that “one notable omission in the Minister’s statement is that it does not explicitly mention the new body inheriting the function currently vested in the Equality Authority to assist vulnerable people to bring cases to the Equality Tribunal and/or the courts. We trust that this oversight will be remedied when detailed arrangements are made for the establishment of an enhanced and integrated human rights and equality commission.”
Rachel Mullen, co-ordinator of the alliance said a “cut and paste exercise on two already eviscerated institutions offers limited savings and would be the final death knell to our equality and human rights infrastructure”.