Happy Human Rights Day!

Given we are beginning the session of reflection of the passing of the Government of Ireland Act 1920, here's a thread on attempts to legislate for a Bill of Rights in NI in the historic Stormont Parliament.

The debate of a Bill of Rights for NI is a historic one, which featured throughout the campaign for civil rights in NI– the debate actually predates the mobilisation of the civil rights movement – as a means of addressing the rights issues prevailing in NI.

The history of the Bill of Rights in NI is tortuous. Human rights has always been a difficult political issue, as evidenced by its legislative history: there were various attempts by different individuals at both Stormont and Westminster to introduce a draft Bill. All failed.

The various Bills presented locally and nationally were not fully-fledged Bills of Rights but rather anti-discrimination Bills, BUT they marked the beginning of human rights discourse in NI politics and aimed to ensure constitutional protection of rights standards.

It's interesting to note attempts for legislative reform to enshrine rights protections in NI law came in response to detailed investigation into the alleged rights violations by the state collated by various groups, namely the @ConnollyAssoc +the Campaign for Social Justice.

E.g. from Feb 1962, Connolly Association supplemented its monthly exposures of alleged misgovernment in NI by organising its own fact-finding investigation into allegations of rights violations of the minority population as a consequence of deliberate policy undertaken by state.

The results of these investigations undertaken by the CA published in April 1962 highlighted scale of gerrymandering the direct and deliberate consequence of which, it was held, was unfair allocation of housing to ensure the Unionist majority on councils, particularly Derry City

Whilst gathering case studies to highlight alleged rights violations by the state and disseminating the information via literature primarily directed at Westminster politicians, the CSJ aimed to seek recourse in the form of legislative reform to address rights grievances.

The culmination of the CSJ's lobbying efforts and the 'Connolly Association's fact-finding missions (with the latter recognising the materials produced by the CSJ assisted in reinforcing their own work) resulted in a conference held in London by the NCCL on 13 March 1965.

This conference was significant as later in the year, the CA suggested the establishment of a support group to raise awareness of rights violations within the Labour Party; this in conjunction w/the intensive lobbying of Labour Party backbenchers led to the formation of the CDU.

Later, influenced by the CSJ's literature, one of the CDU’s aims was to press for legislative reform from Westminster via the extension of the Race Relations Bill to NI, so amended to consider the unique rights issues arising in the region by including religious discrimination.

But! Before we have a look at attempts to legislate from Westminster, there were efforts within the Stormont Parliament. These efforts aimed to provide a general solution to the rights issues in NI, recognising the necessity for constitutional protection of rights standards.

First up, we have the effort of Eddie McAteer MP, then Leader of the Nationalist Party, who in February 1964 introduced a Diminution of Discord Bill at Stormont.