By Ben Archibald from NICVA
Published on 12 Dec 2006
Human Rights Minister, David Hanson MP today announced that a first meeting of the Bill of Rights Forum will take place on 18 December.
Establishment of the Forum, and the timeframe for it to convene its inaugural meeting was announced following discussions at St Andrews.
Gratitude
Publishing a response to a consultation paper on the Forum, David Hanson (pictured) said:
"l am very grateful to all those who contributed to the consultation and who have further added to the momentum to enable the inaugural meeting of the Bill of Rights Forum to take place in December 2006, in keeping with the arrangements announced in St Andrews."
Remit of the Forum
The Minister emphasised that the Forum's work will inform the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in fulfilling its statutory duty to provide advice to the Secretary of State on the scope for defining, in Westminster legislation, rights supplementary to those in the European Convention on Human Rights reflecting the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland.
The Forum will be composed of 14 political representatives selected on d'Hondt principles (according to strength at Assembly Elections), and 14 from other sectors.
Copies of the consultation response paper, 'A Forum on a Bill of Rights' can be obtained at www.nio.gov.uk
The Government's response to the consultation is available here.
- 2 from trade Unions
- 2 from employers
- 2 from churches
- 1 from the Human Rights sector
- 7 from the voluntary and community sector.
The voluntary and community sector faction will as far as possible represent:
- Children and young people
- People with disabilities
- Ethnic minorities
- Older People
- People of different sexual orientations
- Women
- The sector as a whole.
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