Ms Adrienne Reilly:

I thank the Chairman and members for listening to us today. Much of our contribution reflects the earlier contribution of our colleagues in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. As a large membership organisation, we speak from experience. I work for the Committee on the Administration of Justice and I am also on the board of the Human Rights Consortium. I propose to take stock of the current position and the reason it is more urgent than ever to move on a bill of rights for Northern Ireland.

The Good Friday Agreement was signed 15 years ago in Belfast and while much has changed in relation to the political institutions and devolution of policing and justice, a great deal remains the same. Many issues were highly contested in the roll-out of the peace process, whereas a process of implementing a bill of rights is a much simpler task. As I noted, certain matters remain as they were prior to the signing of the Agreement. A comprehensive framework to deal with the abuse of rights at a government level is absent and there is a lack of accountability mechanisms or a framework for the protection of basic rights. These elements are absent.

In the past six months there have been a number of outbreaks of serious public disorder. In July and September last year there was disorder about parades and more recently there has been disorder which appears, on the face of it, to be about flags. Those of us working on the ground know that many other socioeconomic and human rights issues have compounded these events. For those seeking a way to resolve the current issue, it is worth recalling that a legal framework based on the equality of treatment duty on public authorities was intended to be included in a bill of rights for Northern Ireland. In the words of the Good Friday Agreement, bill of rights would provide additional rights to "reflect the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland" and "reflect the principles of mutual respect for the identity and ethos of both communities". In short, the bill of rights was meant to provide a fairness framework within which issues involving a conflict of rights could be addressed. I refer, for example, to flags and cultural identity, as well as many of the other issues that are causing serious unrest and, as I stated, being compounded by the situation with regard to socioeconomic issues. These issues could have been addressed in a bill of rights and the introduction of a bill of rights should be regarded as an important safeguard for everybody in Northern Ireland.

The Human Rights Consortium has always found its strength in the issues that unite rather than divide communities. As Ms Patricia McKeown of the ICTU noted, housing, poverty, unemployment, education and other socioeconomic issues have brought communities together in their discussions on a ill of rights. People want minimum standards and protections on these issues; it is as simple as that. A bill of rights would do what many bills of rights and constitutional settlements have done across the world, namely, increase ownership and a shared sense of community cohesion in a divided society. The consortium believes it would be seriously remiss of us to allow the 15th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement to pass without fulfilling the provisions of the Agreement which have not been implemented, notably the introduction of a bill of rights. The Agreement provided for a bill of rights to address the issues I highlighted within a human rights framework. The danger in continuing to leave these matters unaddressed is that, as we have seen, problems begin to fester, communities do not believe they have gained from the peace process and marginalised communities become more polarised. Mr. Mark Durkan, MP, has noted that we have been without a bill of rights for 15 years and that, therefore, it is okay. It is not okay because, as we have seen in the flag protests, there is unravelling taking place owing to the failure to fulfil the commitment to introduce a bill of rights.