NI evangelicals concerned over Bill of Rights recommendations

Overly restrictive recommendations made by the Bill of Rights Forum could damage community relations instead of allowing rights and freedoms to flourish, the Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland has warned.

The forum brings together representatives from Northern Ireland's five main political parties as well as churches, trade union and business leaders, and is charged with advising the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on a possible Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. It submitted its recommendations to the commission last week, in spite of a boycott by the DUP and the Catholic Church over the report's failure to include the rights of the unborn child.

The Alliance made a formal submission to the forum last month, recommending that it steers away from overly detailed and restrictive legislation.

Commenting on the final proposals, National Director Stephen Cave, said: "Responsibility towards others, alongside the protection of rights, is critical to a Christian understanding of a free and healthy society.

"But if the emphasis is too strongly on individual rights, there is the potential to fracture rather than reconcile, and we feel this is the danger with this report.

"A focus on shared responsibilities, on the other hand, would have the potential to transform society through hope, imagination and active citizenship."

He added that the lack of consensus evident between members of the forum on the recommendations lends weight to the Alliance's call for the Bill to reflect Northern Ireland's aspirations for the future rather than to be overly prescriptive.

"There are undoubtedly positive proposals within the final report, for example on the issue of human trafficking," he said.

"However, we believe this, along with many other proposals, would be better dealt with in the context of the Northern Ireland Assembly."

Responding to the controversy about rights for the unborn child, Stuart Noble, Parliamentary and Development Officer for CARE in Northern Ireland said: "We are disappointed that the forum felt it appropriate to highlight the right to lawful reproductive health care while at the same time overlooking the rights of the unborn child.

"Along with many others, we have already signalled our strong objection to MPs in Westminster about the threat to change the law on abortion in Northern Ireland by way of an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

"We are equally opposed to attempts to change the law on abortion by way of a Bill of Rights."