West Tyrone Sinn Fein Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Bill Of Rights motion to come before Omagh District Council.

Published: 18 February, 2010

A motion will come before the Omagh District Council in the coming weeks which will call for 'the introduction of a robust, enforceable Bill of Rights that will provide right-based protection for all the people of the North of Ireland'.

Currently the British government is having a consultation on a proposed bill of rights. However according to Sinn Féin council group leader, Martin McColgan the British are ignoring advice from many in the human rights sector:

"It would seem that the consultation has chosen to blatantly ignore the advice from both the Bill of Rights Forum and the Human Rights Commission that social and economic rights and protections must be central to any Bill of Rights for the North"

"This is absolutely crucial because structural socio-economic discriminations and inequalities were contributing factors to the conflict here, not least on issues such as employment and housing.

"Sinn Féin is determined to ensure that we get a strong and effective Bill which contains socio-economic protections and equality at its core. Any deviance from this would be an insult to the people of the north."

"It must be remembered that the bill of rights is an outstanding issue remaining from the Good Friday agreement signed nearly 12 years ago.

"It is high time that we have a bill of rights and one which has equality as its cornerstone.