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Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

But if that information is not released it could inhibit the commission in its investigation. It should be allowed to compel the release of documents created before 1 August, just as it can compel the release of documents created after 1 August. The clause also creates a notable anomaly in relation to the protection of human rights in Northern Ireland compared with other UK jurisdictions. In Great Britain, the existing equality bodies already have powers to compel evidence, and the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights will acquire similar powers under the Equality Act 2006. The Scottish Commission for Human Rights Act 2006 contains not only evidence powers, but a right of entry to places of detention, without any time restriction. Thus in England, Scotland and Wales the sister bodies of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission have, and will have, powers that have no arbitrary time limit. In the Republic of Ireland also, the Irish Human Rights Commission, established in parallel with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission as a result of the Belfast agreement, has extensive powers to compel evidence, with no such time limit. The Belfast agreement, and the corresponding treaty, committed the two Governments to maintaining an equal level of protection of human rights in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Government have suggested that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission should focus on the future, and that it might be too busy to look into events of the past. However, such decisions are best made by the commission itself. The commission is guided by the United Nations Paris principles, and it should have the power to determine for itself how best to direct its energy and its resources. The criterion should be the weighing up of the human rights importance of a particular matter, not an arbitrary time limit. The commission might well decide that a flagrant breach of human rights in the past is just as deserving of its time and resources as a possibly less serious breach in the future.