Public sector duties
17. In our report, we concluded that we were persuaded
that imposing a "positive" or "general" public
sector duty to promote human rights would be an effective way
of advancing a culture of respect for human rights and of ensuring
greater focus by public authorities on their positive obligations
to protect human rights. It would also—
… provide a firm statutory foundation for the
framework within which the new commission would operate, giving
it a very clear role in the articulation of guidance for the implementation
of the duty. Requiring public authorities to assess all of their
functions and policies for relevance to human rights and equality,
and in the light of that assessment to draw up a strategy for
placing human rights and equality at the heart of policy making,
decision making and service delivery, would be an effective way
of achieving the mainstreaming of human rights and equality which
will be one of the commission's principal purposes.[18]
We note that the Government's White paper does
not deal with the introduction of a public sector duty relating
to human rights, and we recommend that the Bill does so.
18. We are pleased to note the undertaking in the
White Paper to introduce public sector duties, similar to that
in the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, in relation to equality
of opportunity for disabled people and between men and women.[19]
However, we see no reason why similar duties should not be introduced
in the new Bill covering all the strands of prohibited discrimination.
Obviously there will need to be adjustments for particular strands
such as sexual orientation and religious discrimination where
issues of personal privacy will arise but subject to that, there
is a need for equal protection for all.
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