6. Memorandum from the Children's
Law Centre
We are pleased to respond to the call for evidence
with regard to a Commission for Equality and Human Rights. As
we understand that the remit of the proposed Commission for Equality
and Human Rights will not extend to Northern Ireland, where the
Children's Law Centre operates, our comments are but a few and
are based on our experience of the role of the equality and human
rights bodies here in protecting and promoting children's rights.
In our experience there has been a need for
both the Human Rights and the Equality Commissions in Northern
Ireland. The two bodies have distinct powers and authority and
fulfil different functions and, despite resourcing and other constraints,
both have been operating to maximum capacity. The Northern Ireland
Human Rights Commission plays an important role in ensuring that
all relevant international human rights standards are compiled
in relation to children and young people. The Equality Commission
for Northern Ireland promotes and monitors compliance with various
equality provisions as regards children and young people, including
Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
As you are aware a separate Commissioner's Office
for Children and Young People in Northern Ireland was also established
in 2004. This need for a specialist independent human rights institution
was based on recognition of the particular vulnerability of children
to human rights violations and the problems they encounter in
using the judicial system to protect their rights or seek remedies
for violations of their rights. The Commissioner for Children
and Young People's role is to safeguard and promote the rights
and best interests of children and young people. Clearly there
is a need to ensure that, while the Commissioner's office acts
as a dedicated champion for children's rights, children's rights
issues continue to be mainstreamed across the work of all the
equality and human rights institutions and that all institutions
work closely together towards this end.
One issue we would highlight from our experience
here, and from your own inquiry into the work of the Northern
Ireland Human Rights Commission it is an issue you will be well
aware of, is the need for all independent human rights and/or
equality institutions to be compliant with the UN Paris Principles.
Central among these principles are the need for sufficient powers,
independence from government and adequate funding.
We will follow with interest the progress of
this inquiry and the recommendations from the Joint Committee,
given that there may well be some learning for all jurisdictions
within the UK. However we would add that it may be advisable for
the Committee to explicitly state, given the very different background
to the twin equality and human rights institutions in Northern
Ireland, that its recommendations will not apply to Northern Ireland.
15 March 2004
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