WELCOME
Welcome to this site devoted to the Bill of Rights in Northern Ireland (BORINI).
In this site, hosted by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, you will find a wide range of material produced by the Commission and other organisations on the proposed Bill including two consultation documents and the range of responses made by hundreds of individuals and organisations across Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is required by statute to advise the UK government on the scope for defining a Bill of Rights supplementary to those in the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement 1998 states that the Bill should reflect the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland, drawing as appropriate on international instruments and experience.
The establishment of the Bill of Rights Forum by the UK government in December 2006 was a very welcome development and on 31 March 2008, the Commission received the Forum's recommendations on the contents of a proposed Bill.
On 10 December 2008, the Commission presented its advice to the Government on the possible content of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.
To help formulate this advice a methodology
was agreed, to which Commissioners paid due regard. This was informed by
the experience and work of the Commission since its inception, recent
submissions, the Final Report of the Bill of Rights Forum and further discussions, including legal advice.
More information on the Bill of Rights project can be found on the Commission's website. Hopefully you will find this resource of interest as we attempt to bring together and diseminate the wide range of material that has been developed on this important work
Watch this space for future developments and remember to please give us your feedback. We would love to hear your views on how we can improve this website.