The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission yesterday presented its report to the Government, with suggestions on how a Bill should be drafted.

Speaking at the handover to Minister of State Paul Goggins, chief commissioner Prof Monica McWilliams said: "We are recommending that the contents of a Bill of Rights reflect the safeguards and protections of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement."
The Government must now consult on a Bill based on the views of the commission and of the public.

The commission said it provided independent advice in compliance with international human rights standards. It has made a number of recommendations, such as: the right to equality and prohibition of discrimination; freedom from violence, exploitation and harassment; the rights of victims; the right to identity and culture; language rights; and rights to liberty and fair trial.

Unionists argue the report is green in agenda and features language and other protections which would dilute Britishness. They also believe it does not make a distinction between victims of violence and terrorists who were victims.

They maintain it enshrines the current enforced form of government, which is supposed to be under review, and that it proposes a plethora of socio-economic rights which, they insist, must remain in the domain of government.

The Tories said the commission had gone "off the rails" and the Alliance Party claimed the recommendations would entrench sectarian divisions by protecting the rights of the communities individually.

Two unionist members of the commission – the UUP's Daphne Trimble and Jonathan Craig of the DUP – did not attend yesterday's presentation.

DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the party rejected the use of a Bill of Rights "as a Trojan horse for the political prejudices of some of the forum members" – a reference to nationalists and republicans.

UUP deputy leader Danny Kennedy said the commission's proposals would be judged on two tests: "Firstly, do they take power away from democratically-elected representatives and give them to unelected judges? Secondly, would they be acceptable elsewhere in the United Kingdom?"

TUV leader Jim Allister said: "I reject the principle of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. Her Majesty's Government is currently pursuing a Bill of Rights for the UK as a whole. Northern Ireland should not be excluded from this process and treated as a place apart."

Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson challenged unionists to "explain to their electorate why they reject key rights for the people they represent".

SDLP leader Mark Durkan called for a "meaningful" Bill which was "articulate across key social, economic and environmental standards".

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, the Committee on the Administration of Justice, children's rights groups and Amnesty International all said they backed a Bill.