The United Nations is right to be concerned about implications for the North of the British government's plans to scrap the Human Rights Act, Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson has said.
Speaking after the publication of a report by a United Nations Committee, Ms Anderson said the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had expressed its concern and opposition to the planned scrapping of the Human Rights Act by the British Government.
She added: “The Human Rights Act gives effect to the European Convention on Human Rights, gives people direct access to the European Court of Human Rights and underpins the Good Friday Agreement.
“The Tories are on an ideological crusade to remove it.
“Another important conclusion of the committee was their declared support for a Bill of Rights specifically for the north.
“This Bill of Rights was to supplement the Human Rights Act and enhance human rights provision in the north of Ireland.
“Its introduction was agreed in the Good Friday Agreement yet the British Government has not made any progress on this matter at all.”
Ms Anderson concluded: “Given that we now face a British Government with human rights safeguards firmly in their crosshairs, it is now essential we both protect the Human Rights Act and move towards the introduction of a Bill of Rights for people in the north of Ireland.”
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