The persistent growth of the human rights culture is one of the profound menaces to the effective functioning of our society. So what could be more natural for a dim-wit to suggest that "Human rights experts" should be drafted-in to bolster the ranks of civil servants in any new Department of Justice here in Northern Ireland!! "The SDLP's Alex Attwood made his proposal at a Stormont committee...

One of the things that is most execrable about Canada's so-called human rights commissions is that they trade on the words "human rights". And, like counterfeit money devaluing real money, their counterfeit human rights, like the "human right" not to be offended, devalue the term that once was reserved for real rights like freedom of religion, the equality of men and women before the law...

Patrick Corrigan, (Amnesty Blogs: Belfast and Beyond): Today is international Human Rights Day and, ten years after the Multi-Party (Belfast/Good Friday) Agreement, we will finally see the advice on the shape and content of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland handed over by the NI Human Rights Commission to the Secretary of State, Paul Goggins. I’ll be in Castle Buildings at Stormont (venu...

I feel that many will not agree that an international agreement written with the express purpose of protecting human rights could possible be responsible for the removal of rights, how could it be that this is possible. Well what exactly are basic human rights; traditionally they are controls on those who ...

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled. That keeping DNA and finger print samples from people with no criminal convictions is a breach of their human rights, It violated their "right to respect for private life" and "prohibition of discrimination" safeguarded by the Human Rights Convention, to which the UK is a signatory So where dose this leave the government ID card scheme?

I see that a 17 year old youth has been charged with the brutal murder of Constable Carroll here in Northern Ireland. Let us hope this leads to a conviction and that the other members of the republican gang concerned  are also charged and convicted. The shame is that we lack capital punishment for this sort of crime, right? However I notice that  both IRA leader Gerry Adams and Human Rig...

SCOTLAND has an excellent human rights culture - except where it matters. It can boast the Scottish Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS)

MPs are calling for a British Bill of Rights, which would go further than existing human rights law. The cross-party Joint Committee on Human Rights wants to include greater protections for vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. Currently, our main protection in law comes from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) - an international treaty - and the UK's own Human Rights...

Damian O'Loan (Paris): Northern Ireland's Human Rights Commission has delivered its report advising the Labour government on the content of a NI Bill of Rights. Acting on recommendations from a cross-party and civic society Forum, It has done well to reduce an unfocussed report into this clear document. It is important for a few reasons: The Conservatives have pledged to repeal the Human R...

The Guardian has the story: The European court of human rights in Strasbourg said that keeping innocent people’s DNA records on a criminal register breached article eight of the Human Rights Convention, covering the right to respect for private and family life. Keeping DNA material from those who were “entitled to the presumption of innocence” as they