JUSTICE & HUMAN RIGHTS

Spokesperson: Stephen Farry

Last updated: 1 May 2004

Alliance is fully committed to the highest standards of justice and the rule of law. We believe that there is a fundamental relationship between democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. The Agreement has not been the source of the law and order problems in Northern Ireland. These problems have persisted and developed despite the Agreement. Alliance believes that the platform of the Agreement provides the best means for asserting the primacy of the rule of law, democracy, and a Bill of Rights.

Our vision of policing in Northern Ireland is of a single, integrated, professional police service that is representative of, responsive to, and carrying the confidence of the entire community. Alliance gives its full support to the Police Service of Northern Ireland in upholding the rule of law. A key element of this new beginning must be an increasingly community-based approach, which will re-enforce the needs of the community.

Action is required at a number of levels:

• The creation and maintenance of the required structures, and the provision of necessary resources
• The proper enforcement of existing laws, and the application of new legislation
• The creation and the maintenance of a culture of lawfulness

MANIFESTO PLEDGES (2003 NI Assembly)

Structures and Resources

• Demand that the Government abolish the use of 50:50 recruitment quotas. We would replace this with a fairer form of affirmative action. The quota system is restricting overall recruitment. Alliance supports the objectives of greater representation in the police from all under-represented sections of society. Alliance supports target and affirmative action for Catholic and female recruitment, and proactive steps to attract persons from ethnic minorities, as well as gays and lesbians, into the police service.
• Oppose the premature phasing out of the Full-Time Reserve. Alliance will also push for the recruitment of the new Part-Time Reserve. We believe that the restriction on part-time reserve officers only serving in their own immediate area be lifted.
• Propose that the Government should reassess its strategy and resources for the protection of witnesses.
• Lobby for the introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders in Northern Ireland, in order to give the police and public authorities the powers to obtain court orders restricting the behaviour or movements of those that engage in persistent and serious loutish behaviour. These measures should be based upon the relevant elements of the Crime and Disorder Act (1998).
• Better regulate restorative justice schemes, to deal with low-level crime and anti-social behaviour, provided that they meet certain minimum conditions. Any community-based schemes should only accept referrals from the police, criminal justice or other statutory agencies. Any referrals that come from ‘community sources’ should be re-directed for screening by the Police Service, at the rank of Inspector.
• Encourage the British and Irish Governments to develop a ‘hot pursuit’ protocol. This would enable the PSNI and Garda to cross over into each other’s jurisdictions when in pursuit of suspects. Such an instrument could be based on the terms of the EU’s Schenegen Agreement, and would be an important tool in the fight against terrorism.
• Push for the seizure of criminal assets. We welcome the establishment of the Organised Crime Taskforce and the Assets Recovery Agency. We believe this programme will seriously frustrate the operation of all organised crime and paramilitaries.
• Work for the phased devolution of policing and criminal justice responsibilities, and the creation of a Northern Ireland Department of Justice.

Enforcement and Revision of the Criminal Law

• Lobby for a review into the procedures regarding decisions on prosecutions and the length of sentences for offences, such as public order and violence towards the emergency services. While it may not always be possible for the police to intervene at the time in public order incidents, Alliance believes that greater use should be made of video evidence for follow-up action.
• Urge the Government to consider creating specific offences of engaging in paramilitary-style attacks. This would equate to an extension of the existing offence of Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH).
• Lobby the police to adopt a more pro-active policy of intervening when paramilitary flags and other emblems are being erected, and to take prosecutions under the Terrorism Act (2000).
• Advocate the creation of specific offences concerning the erection of flags or other emblems, and the painting of murals associated with proscribed organisations.

A Culture of Lawfulness

• Lead a culture of lawfulness. The dominant thinking in society needs to be sympathetic and consistent with the rule of law. We must have a zero-tolerance of paramilitarism and organised crime in Northern Ireland. Alliance wants schools and civic organisations to work together to promote a culture of lawfulness. Curricula can be developed to focus on teaching the value of the rule of law, and resulting consequences for individuals and wider society.

Human Rights

As a longstanding supporter of human rights, Alliance believes that Northern Ireland should have the best set of human rights protections possible. These could, in turn, be a model for other parts of these islands and Europe. Alliance welcomes the passage of the Human Rights Act, and supports efforts of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) to draft a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.

• Lobby the NIHRC to proceed on the basis of drafting international conventions, and properly reflect pluralism and diversity within its work.
• Lobby for the enforcement of the Human Rights Act, and any subsequent Northern Ireland Bill of Rights to be mainstreamed through the existing court system. Alliance will therefore reject the creation of a special human rights/constitutional court. Our supported approach will ensure that human rights are a material consideration at all levels of the judicial system.
• Lobby the NIHRC to draw up a Charter of Freedom from Sectarianism. This will emphasise the rights of people to live in mixed areas, to attend mixed schools, and to be supported in these choices by the state.
• Establish an integration policy for asylum seekers in Northern Ireland. We would abolish the current practice of placing such persons in detention.

Victims

Alliance will work to help our society move beyond a ‘hierarchy of victims’, in order to ensure that those who have suffered throughout the community are supported in an inclusive way. We recognise the tensions in acknowledging all victims in our society, thus commit ourselves to strategies that strive to unite our community (see separate Alliance policy paper, Building a United Community).

• Support both statutory and community projects that help victims build a shared sense of healing and recovery. We aim to remove communal bias in any such work.
• Lobby for the creation of a public forum to allow victims (self-defined) to tell their stories, which would be placed on an official record.

POLICY PAPERS

Justice and the Rule of Law (PDF) or view as a webpage (HTML)

CONSULTATION RESPONSES