Publications

NIHRC response: Parallel Report to the Advisory Committee on the Fifth Monitoring Report of the United Kingdom

The Advisory Committee for the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has commenced its Fifth monitoring cycle to evaluate how the treaty is being implemented in the UK and NI.

The Commission has submitted this shadow report ahead of the Advisory Committee delegation visit to UK and NI.

Date produced March 2022.

Below is a summary of the recommendations.

You can also download the full document through the links provided.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission recommends:

1.6. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party what steps are taken to ensure it can comprehensively report on the obligations of the UK Government and the NI Executive regarding the application of the Framework Convention in NI.

1.10. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the State Party provides adequate and secure funding to enable the NIHRC to fulfil its statutory functions in line with its role as an A status institution.

1.11. The Advisory Committee may further wish to recommend that the State Party conducts an independent review of the NIHRC.

2.14. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State party how it intends to work towards developing a consensus among the political parties on a Bill of Rights and meet its obligation emerging from the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement to implement a Bill of Rights for NI.

3.6 The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party what steps are being taken to recognise Ulster Scots as a national minority under the Framework Convention and when this is likely to occur.

3.13. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the State Party urgently takes effective steps to ensure that ethnic monitoring be consistently integrated into the practices of all relevant departments and agencies.

3.16. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the State Party ensures its review of workforce monitoring specifically measures progress made in achieving the original purpose of the legislation and the basis for continuing with and/or extending this practice to cover ethnic origin and nationality.

3.21. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the State Party expedite the removal of the exemption for teachers under the Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998.

4.6. The Advisory Committee may wish to strengthen their recommendation and to again ask the State party what steps it will take to simplify, strengthen, and harmonise equality legislation in NI within a Single Equality Act.

4.12. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State party:

• What steps it will take to introduce legal protection against multiple and intersectional discrimination; and
• Seek a progress update on the reform of the Race Relations (NI) Order 1997.

4.19. The Advisory Committee may want to ask the State Party:

• how it intends to ensure that any checks to verify identity and nationality on people travelling to the UK from Ireland are fully in compliant with international human rights standards; and
• how it intends to implement effective measures to address the risk of racial profiling, ensuring it is clearly prohibited and that this is effectively communicated, monitored and enforced.

4.28. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend to the State Party that it:

• take immediate action to resolve all outstanding applications under the EU Settlement Scheme and ensure that no-one is left without the ability to prove their right to live and work in NI; and,
• ensure that all eligible vulnerable groups and individuals, who have not yet applied to the EUSS, are supported to regularise their status in an efficient and timely way.

4.35. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party how it will ensure the birthright commitment under the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement 1998 is reflected in nationality and immigration laws.

4.38. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party what steps are being taken to ensure that the electoral rights of EU Citizens in the UK are being upheld and protected.

4.44. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party what steps are being taken to recognise that people living and working across the border are in a particularly vulnerable situation and to ensure that no eligible worker of self-employed person is left unprotected by the frontier worker scheme.

4.49. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party, what consideration is being given on the impact of trauma experienced by a victim of trafficking and modern slavery, the prevention of secondary victimisation and non-prosecution of victims and ensuring the protection of vulnerable children under the Nationality and Borders Bill.

4.54. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party for further information and data about the continued use of 'Operation Gull', particularly in light of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

4.63. The Advisory Committee may wish to seek an update from the State Party as to the planned separate accommodation project at Larne House.

4.72. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party:

• to ensure that social security is accessible, promptly available and guarantees an adequate standard of living;
• to review the cuts in social welfare benefits and, in the interim, ensure a comprehensive mitigation package for NI; and
• to monitor the cumulative impact of social security reforms on ethnic minorities, women and low-income families and families with two or more children.

4.81. The Committee may wish to ask the State party:

• whether it intends to review the restrictions placed on asylum seekers regarding work;
• what it intends to do to further support asylum seekers who face extreme poverty, particularly children, over the course of the pandemic; and,
• to review the conditions of those whose immigration status is based on ‘no recourse to public funds’.

4.87. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State party what plans there are to ensure long term planning and the continuation of the Crisis Fund on a permanent basis in NI.

5.3. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State party for more information on the implementation plan for the Racial Equality Strategy for NI 2015-25.

5.14. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party:

• what appropriate arrangements are being made to ensure NI accommodates a proportional number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and refugees; and
• for a timeline of publishing and implementing a comprehensive Refugee Integration Strategy.

5.22. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State party:

• how it intends to implement the outstanding recommendations from the NIHRC’s investigation – including amending the Housing (NI) Order 2003 to enable the NI Housing Executive to provide nomadic housing structures; providing specific policies to tackle homelessness; monitoring the use of Housing Benefit and ensure that public authorities are accessible to Traveller communities; and
• to ensure there are long-term strategies that guarantee that these recommendations are adhered to.

5.28. The Advisory Committee may wish to call upon the State Party to repeal the Unauthorised Encampments (NI) Order 2005.

5.37. The Advisory Committee may want to recommend to the State Party collect and publish disaggregated equality data to assess, monitor and allow for evaluation of Department actions to address housing inequalities in NI.

5.43. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party:

• what action has been taken to effectively eradicate the paramilitary and sectarian intimidation that is leading families to be forced from their homes; and
• for an update on alternative strategies that can provide effective mitigation measures for when this intimidation leads to families being forced from their homes.

5.53. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party what steps are being taken to identify and minimise procedural barriers to accessing healthcare and provide further guidance to healthcare professionals to ensure that applicants to the EU settlement scheme are not denied access.

6.3. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party for an update of the delivery of the three-year Minority Ethnic Development Fund.

6.13. The Advisory Committee may wish to request further information from the State Party on how the Report of the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition will be progressed in the absence of political consensus over a number of critical issues in NI.

7.4. The Advisory Committee may want to ask the State Party what measures are being taken to progress the commitments of the Together: Building a United Community Strategy, in particular, to define and strengthen the ‘good relations’ duty.

8.9. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State about its progress in promptly and effectively plans to implement the recommendations of the Independent Hate Crime Review Team.

8.22. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party about its progress in promptly and effectively implementing the recommendations of the Independent Hate Crime Review relating to sectarianism.

8.23. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the State Party seeks formal advice from the NIHRC in respect of its legacy proposals.

9.10. The Advisory Committee may wish to seek assurances from the State Party that the necessary support is in place to guarantee the timely development and full implementation of the Irish Language Strategy.

9.15. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the primary roles of the Irish Language Commissioner and the Ulster Scots/ Ulster British Commissioner are amended to include both a duty to ‘enhance and develop’ and to ‘promote and protect’.

9.16. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the Irish Language Commissioner and the Ulster Scots/Ulster British Commissioner are both provided with an advisory role in respect of European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the Framework Convention on National Minorities and the culture provisions in UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

9.20. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the UK government, the Northern Ireland Office and the NI Executive take steps to expedite the enactment of the three draft Amendment Bills.

9.29. The Advisory Committee may wish to seek assurances from the State Party that the necessary support is in place to guarantee the timely development and full implementation of the Ulster Scots Language, Heritage and Culture Strategy.

9.34. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the Ulster Scots Commissioner’s awareness-raising function should be enhanced to include promoting Ulster Scots within wider society.

9.35. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend that the Ulster Scots Language, Heritage and Culture Strategy clarifies the scope of any duty placed on the Department of Education in relation to Ulster Scots and recommends that any duty is extended to the full mandate of the Commissioner, not only language.

10.5 The Advisory Committee may wish to reaffirm its previous recommendation and ask the State Party:

• what measures are being taken to overcome the politicisation of language issues in NI; and
• how it will fulfil its obligations to promote the use of minority languages in street names and other topographical indicators in the absence of political consensus in NI.

11.15. The Advisory Committee may wish to ask the State Party:

• what action has been taken to develop and deliver training to promote cultural awareness within NI schools, and ensure that history lessons are representative of the school population as standard;
• what targeted strategies and measures are being taken forward to address the educational inequalities among Traveller and Roma children to ensure that tangible outcomes are delivered;
• for a timeline regarding publication and implementation of the revised Supporting Newcomer Pupils Policy; and,
• whether it intends to establish a Roma Thematic Group as indicated in the Racial Equality Strategy 2015-2025.

11.21. The Advisory Committee may wish to recommend the enactment of the Integrated Education Bill, as introduced, and the duty to actively promote an integrated education system in NI.

11.26. The Advisory Committee may wish to seek assurances from the State Party that long-term secure funding for shared education is guaranteed in NI.

12.4 The Advisory Committee may wish to seek assurances from the State Party that effective steps are being taken to build capacity for Irish language teaching and Irish-medium education.

13.6. The Advisory Committee may wish to reaffirm the importance of the representation of ethnic minorities in the public sector and law enforcement and seek further information about specific measures being taken to address under-representation.