Concern at Policing Board rights role vacancy.

A HUMAN rights expert has voiced concern after the Policing Board said it was unable to renew the contract of a key advisor and admitted it can no longer fulfil its statutory obligations. 

Left: Alyson Kilpatrick pictured with PSNI/RUC Chief Constable George Hamilton.

Former human rights adviser Alyson Kilpatrick, pictured above, left her post last month. Appointed in 2012, Ms Kilpatrick regularly provided expert legal opinion to the board and helped produce an annual human rights report. The policing board has a responsibility to monitor the performance of the RUC/PSNI in complying with the Human Rights Act. Human rights oversight is viewed as one of the most important functions on the board. A spokeswoman for the board has claimed it did not have the authority to renew Ms Kilpatrick’s contract.

Colin Harvey, Professor of Human Rights Law at Queens University, said it was a “very worrying development”. “Human rights guarantees remain central to the ongoing process of policing reform. The policing board has a vital role in monitoring the performance of the RUC/PSNI and in holding the chief constable to account.” The academic said a solution needs to be found. “This situation needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency to ensure that the board can continue to discharge its statutory responsibilities,” he said. “This is no time to be undermining the centrality of human rights to the work of the policing service here.”

In February this year senior board figures including chairwoman Anne Connolly were given delegated authority to take decisions across a range of areas following the collapse of the Stormont institutions. Political representatives were not appointed to take their places on the board after the March assembly elections due to the political deadlock, although independent members have continued to meet in privite. Former SDLP policing board member Dolores Kelly said if officials were concerned about being unable to renew Ms Kilpatrick’s contract, they should have written to party leaders and raised it through the media. “Did they ask the Department for Justice for any dispensation? If they did not have delegated authority, did they seek it?”she said.

Former Sinn Féin policing board member Gerry Kelly.

Former Sinn Féin policing board member Gerry Kelly (pictued above) said ” a human rights-based approach to policing is at the core of the Patten recommendations and the setting up of the PSNI”. “The human rights adviser’s contract should have been exstended at this time as it is a crucial component to the effective working of the board,” he said. “The decision not to renew the contract should be reversed.” A spokeswoman for the policing board said: “As previously stated, in the absence of a fully constituted Policing Board, it was not possible to extend the appointment period of the human rights advisor as there was no authority to do so. “As previously advised, in February 2017 the then board approved a limited programme of work (as a temporary measure) that could be progressed by the independent members in the absence of a fully constituted board. “The appointment process to fill the human rights advisor role cannot be initiated until the board is again fully constituted.” “A spokesman for the RUC/PSNI said: “This is a matter for the North of Ireland Policing Board.”

With many thanks to: Connla Young The Irish News for the original story. 

 

Follow these links for more information: https://www.nipolicingboard.org.uk/human-rights

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Oglach Brendan Hughes ( The Dark ) !

If it is all over what was it for? Do we have freedom? Not the type I fought for. Did we get rid of oppression? Not the type I fought against. Did we change fundamental economic and social structures or did we change those who would run the same old ones? Does the working class get anything out of this deal? If so why then is Sinn Fein claiming that the working class in the Falls Road still live in one of the poorest areas in Europe? Did the deal rid us of the rogue employers and greedy financiers who exploit our squalor like cockroaches? Did republicans in the poor communities get anything out of this deal? How can we even begin to discuss this openly if those who think we get nothing can only say so at the risk of being hounded and vilified?
I remember always being impressed by Liam Mellows when he said people get into positions of power and then will do almost anything to hold on to that power because of the privilege power brings them. Why should such power be used to give privilege to rogue employers and others who exploit the poor in our communities? Is it because it brings mutual reward?
How can the use of power be justified if it fails to protect those employed by rogue businesses and instead gives contracts to those businesses? Maybe we were all naive in striving for such principled goals. But I don’t think so. I just think we were right. Rather than being naive we were conned.
The ruling class still rules and the working class still works and the gap between the two is as bad as ever. Not only are the Brits still here but also are poverty, corruption, inequality, censorship and repression. How things change in order to stay the same. Can it really ever be all over when this is all we have to show for our efforts?

Signed and Written By : Óglach Brendan Hughes

 

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