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Ritchie: Bill of Rights unfinished business of peace process

SDLP Leader Margaret Ritchie has said a separate Bill of Rights was an integral element of the peace process and the British government must not be allowed to renege on its explicit commitment.

Thu 16th September

She said: “Attempts are being made by the British Government to prevent the introduction of a separate Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland and this undermines some of the fundamental protections of the Good Friday Agreement. This is unfinished business from the peace process and it must be completed. We cannot allow anyone to cherry-pick the Agreement, to pocket their gains and block the wider change agenda.

 

“The Coalition is currently advocating a new “British” Bill of Rights, in which we have been offered a couple of sub-sections. The SDLP believe this suggested approach is fundamentally flawed and divisive. We reject it and will strongly oppose it.

 

“We have campaigned over many years for a separate Bill of Rights for the North that would further consolidate the peace process. The British government is putting at risk what has been achieved thus far and endangering the guarantees that we already have. We are therefore calling on the British government to abandon its irresponsible agenda before any further damage is done. 

 

“The Human Rights Commission submitted its final advice on a Bill of Rights at the end of 2008. The NIO response was rightly greeted with disappointment and dismay among those with a real concern for the human rights of all in this society. We fought hard to support the concept of a new, more effective human rights body in the Good Friday Agreement. In our view, the current Commission is the direct target of a concerted and politically-inspired attack aimed primarily at undermining the change agenda in the North. It is being abused precisely because of positions it has taken in defence of the human rights of all here. This is all part of a wider and ideologically driven political assault from London.

 

“The current British government has set its face against the change agenda that we have advanced over the last 40 years here. This society desperately needs a strong Bill of Rights, now more than ever.  We call on all those who have worked for this change agenda to join us in rejecting the British government’s approach..  We invite them to join us in the struggle to secure a strong and inclusive Bill of Rights for the North.”

Margaret Ritchie

Margaret Ritchie MP, Westminster

Email m.ritchie@sdlp.ie
Tel 028 4461 2882

Press Office

Tel 028 90 52 1837

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