Equality Commission seeks to broaden Protocol rights to align with Republic - TUV accuse body of 'prioritising nationalist goals'

The TUV has told the News Letter that the actions of the Equality Commission in seeking to align Northern Ireland equality standards to those of the Republic “begs huge questions”.

However, the body says its statutory role is to give recommendations to government to “strengthen equality protections and promote equality” here.

The Equality Commission (ECNI) want the interpretation of what falls under the Windsor Framework widened to ensure an all-Ireland equivalence of rights – by following more EU directives than the six listed in the deal.

Since the Protocol came into effect, its job has been to advise Stormont and the UK government whether legislation is compatible with Article 2 of the Windsor Framework – and monitor how it is being implemented.

However, the TUV’s Dan Boucher said the body “was established in the context of the Belfast Agreement which recognises the territorial integrity of the UK, unless and until a border poll, and on the basis of a remit to uphold parity of esteem between unionists and nationalists within that constitutional setting.

“Their attempts to align NI and ROI beyond the confines of Article 2 (1) of the Protocol clearly involve their straying from an equality brief within the UK to prioritising nationalist constitutional goals. If the Commission is to enjoy the confidence of unionism and nationalism, it must respect its brief as a the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland within the UK”.

Geraldine McGahey, Chief Commissioner at ECNI earlier this month said she is “impatient for change” on Article 2 rights – and rubbished a claim made in the Tory-DUP Safeguarding the Union deal about the remit of the Windsor Framework.

“It’s clearly not the case, as set out in the UK government’s command paper on Safeguarding the Union that the Windsor Framework applies only in respect of the trade in goods, and that the vast majority of public policy is entirely untouched by it”, she said.

Under the Windsor Framework, Northern Ireland law must “keep pace” with six EU directives which cover non-discrimination on the grounds of sex and race in employment and social security.

In a recent report on Article 2 of the Windsor Framework, in conjunction with the NI Human Rights Commission, the Equality Commission demanded that the UK Government and NI Executive should “ensure North-South equivalence of rights, by aligning with changes to EU equality and human rights law, even where not required to under the Windsor Framework”.

The publicly funded statutory body also said that EU laws “should be considered minimum requirements, and we would encourage government to adopt an approach when implementing EU law into NI law that goes beyond these minimum standards”.

But the Equality Commission wants the EU’s influence to extend beyond that to ensure an all Ireland approach. They want the EU Parental Leave Directive, the EU Pregnant Workers Directive and other safeguards for part-time and agency workers to be considered within the scope of the Windsor Framework – which they are not.

They also say they “recognise that long term North-South equivalence of protection for equality and human rights is important” as it “can help facilitate the enjoyment of certain rights on a cross-border basis, in keeping with the North-South rights dimension of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement”.

The News Letter asked the ECNI how its demands for an all Ireland rights framework, with scant mention of similar within the United Kingdom, are in line with its remit. A spokesperson said ECNI “has a statutory remit to keep Northern Ireland’s equality legislation under review. The Commission has highlighted gaps in our equality laws as compared to those in Great Britain over many years. We continue to recommend a Single Equality Bill for Northern Ireland similar to that of Great Britain to move all our equality laws forward at once, whilst meeting international standards.

“In addition, in relation Article 2 of the Windsor Framework, together with Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, we exercise part of our mandate with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. This is specifically in relation to those aspects of oversight of, and reporting on, rights and equalities issues falling within the scope of Windsor Framework Article 2 which have an island of Ireland dimension”.

The commission said that by calling for stronger equality laws, they are seeking to promote and strengthen equality for everyone in Northern Ireland.

Asked whether it is appropriate for ECNI to ask the government to go beyond the political agreement reached between the EU and the UK, a spokesperson said it “is an independent body with a statutory remit in relation to the promotion of equality in Northern Ireland. As part of this work, we make recommendations to government to strengthen equality protections and promote equality in Northern Ireland. These recommendations may include calling on the UK Government to voluntarily go beyond its obligations in the EU/UK Withdrawal Agreement for the benefit of everyone in Northern Ireland.

“For example we have previously called on the UK government to improve our laws where they would strengthen rights and align with international human rights standards and best practice. Ultimately any reform of our equality laws is a decision for the NI Assembly as equality is a devolved matter”.