SDLP welcomes NI draft rights bill

SDLP is to present response to proposed bill

The nationalist SDLP has said Northern Ireland's proposed bill of rights should not be seen as a threat by any section of the community.

The party's justice spokesman Alex Attwood said the bill being proposed by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission offers "an opportunity for all and a threat to none".

He was speaking before a meeting between a party delegation and commission officials on Thursday at which the SDLP is to present its response to the proposed bill.

Alex Attwood: "The bill will ensure rights for all"

Mr Attwood said: "Human rights protection for all citizens and each community is essential for a stable and successful society.

"Those of all political backgrounds should embrace the proposed bill of rights and avail of it as a means to ensure justice, equality and rights for all."

The SDLP's Patricia Lewsley said her party was proposing a "maximum approach" to rights enforcement and protection, covering a range of individual, community, political, social economic and cultural rights.

An expansive, extensive bill of rights can provide the guarantee that the future will be different from the past

Patricia Lewsley

She added: "A maximum approach to rights protection and enforcement can create maximum confidence that human rights will be guaranteed.

"A central feature of our political conflict has been the denial of rights - from those who took life by terror, and those who disadvantaged people and communities and those to who denied due process and fair trials. All of this has characterised the division of the past.

"An expansive, extensive bill of rights can provide the guarantee that the future will be different from the past."

The SDLP's north Belfast assembly member Alban Maginness said that the bill of rights would be important both to the people of Northern Ireland and as an example to others.

When the proposed bill was put out for public consultation earlier this year, Chief Commissioner Professor Brice Dickson said the commission intended to reach out particularly to marginalised groups of society, like the homeless and those living on the poverty line.