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Persons on the run relevant human rights principles

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has a statutory duty, imposed by section 69(3)(b) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, to advise the Secretary of State of legislative and other measures which ought to be taken to protect human rights on such occasions as the Commission thinks appropriate. It is in the exercise of that duty that the present paper has been prepared.

The principal stimulus for this paper has been the knowledge that the agreement between the British and Irish governments, reached at Weston Park on 1 August 2001, states that “there is an issue to be addressed, with the completion of the early release scheme, about supporters of organisations now on cease-fire against whom there are outstanding prosecutions, and in some cases extradition proceedings, for offences committed before 10 April 1998.”

The paper seeks to set out what the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission sees as the main human rights principles relevant to the addressing of this issue.

persons-on-the-run-relevant-human-rights-principles-january-2003.pdf