Ulster human rights commissioners quit

Two founder members of Northern Ireland's Human Rights Commission resigned yesterday, expressing concerns at the body's failures.

Inez McCormack, regional secretary of the Unison union in the province, and Professor Christine Bell, professor of public international law at the University of Ulster, wrote to the Northern Ireland Secretary, John Reid, tendering their resignations with immediate effect.

They both expressed their long-standing concerns at the failure of the Commission effectively to promote and protect human rights as mandated by the Good Friday Agreement.

The Commission was set up in 1999, a year after the signing of the Agreement, with the aim of ensuring that the human rights of everyone were fully and firmly protected in law, policy and practice. Both women had been due to serve until March 2004.

Ms McCormack said that when the Commission was established it was obvious to her that it was not provided with appropriate powers or resources. However, she said, she had felt it could still achieve clear objectives in promoting and protecting human rights.

"I have now been concerned for some considerable time that what I see as a lack of direction in the strategies, policies and practices of the Commission, means that it cannot," she said.