HUMAN RIGHTS AT THE HEART OF THE RUC

RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan has pledged continuing commitment to the importance of human rights as a core philosophy in the development of policing in Northern Ireland.

Speaking at the launch of his annual report for 2000 to 2001, Sir Ronnie said a central task of the new policing service would be the protection of human rights. He revealed that an Assistant Chief Constable had already been appointed to lead in this area and who would also be responsible for progressing human rights recommendations in the Patten Report.

Areas currently being researched included the drafting of a programme of action to ensure that all police activities are compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Chief Constable said that his force had examined a wide range of operational policies to ensure these were compliant with the Human Rights Act 1998. In addition to this, an extensive human rights training programme had been undertaken which applied to all police officers.

However, Sir Ronnie said this would only be the beginning of a programme of ongoing training which would be rolled out in the coming years.

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