FAILING to tackle child sexual exploitation and preventing access to abortion are among ways the north is falling behind the rest of Ireland and the UK in key human rights provisions, a new report has found.
The NI Human Rights Commission findings are contained in its annual statement, which is being launched today at Stormont by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Lord Duncan of Springbank.
Issues requiring "immediate action" have been highlighted in the document, which comes as the Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival gets underway with a series of events across the region.
Speaking ahead of the report's launch, Chief Commissioner of the NI Human Rights Commission Les Allamby said: "This is the second annual statement published against the backdrop of the absence of devolved government in Northern Ireland.
"The outstanding issues are profound; including the need to reform the law on access to termination of pregnancy; deal effectively with the past including outstanding investigations and legacy inquests; tackle child sexual exploitation; address the issues of children going missing from care; and the continued absence of a strategy to reduce poverty, despite this being declared unlawful in the High Court three years ago.
"The stark implications are laid bare; with more issues marked red denoting potential and ongoing violations of human rights needing immediate remedy than at any time since the annual statement was first published in 2012.
"This throws into sharp relief the need to restore the NI Executive and NI Assembly as soon as practicable."
The report follows a recent claim by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission that women in the north who become homeless are dying 40 years early.
