Dr. Anne Smith:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to come before the committee. I will start by outlining some of the findings of the report. One particular finding was that all of the political parties agree that a political vacuum exists in relation to the bill of rights process, but unfortunately there is little or no agreement as to how to progress the bill of rights process. The two main unionist parties believe it is not their responsibility and that it is the responsibility of others to convince them that a bill of rights is needed for Northern Ireland. They are open to persuasion, which is positive. The other parties believe that it is up to them to bring forward the bill of rights process. Others believe it is not their role to do so and that it is actually the role of the British and the Irish Governments as co-guarantors of the agreement. In this context our report is important because it contains proposals as to how the British and the Irish Governments could advance the bill of rights process.

The report speaks of a policy framework under which the British and Irish Governments could get the parties together to start talking about a bill of rights. One of the findings of the report is that while there is agreement about a bill of rights, the language used in the interviews illustrated a diversity of understanding around what actually constitutes a bill of rights. Within the policy framework, there needs to be specific human rights expertise to help the political parties to understand what is meant by a bill of rights and what it does not mean. It is important that people do not have lofty expectations of what a bill of rights can and cannot deliver.

It is important that the British and Irish Governments support and endorse such a process, because there seems to be a divergence of opinion between the Irish and British Governments towards the Good Friday Agreement. The Irish Government has said that the Good Friday Agreement is the foundational architecture underpinning the entire peace process. However, the British Government is putting forward proposals to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British bill of rights, thereby undermining the protection of human rights as outlined in the Good Friday Agreement. Clarification is needed as to how the British Government in particular views the importance of the Good Friday Agreement in the context of the whole peace process in Northern Ireland. We hope to seek further funding in order to progress our idea that the two Governments can help this process.