A Northern Ireland government-led investigation into clerical child abuse may fail because of a lack of powers to make witnesses come forward and seize internal church files, Amnesty International has warned.The power-sharing executive at Stormont has promised an inquiry into the abuse of children in church-run homes and by members of the Catholic clergy.
One of the worst abusers was the late Fr Brendan Smyth who committed many of his crimes against children in the 1970s and 1980s in Northern Ireland.
But in its annual global report on human rights, Amnesty highlighted problems with the terms of the inquiry's reference.
"In September, the Northern Ireland executive announced proposals for the establishment of an inquiry to investigate institutional child abuse. There could, however, be a delay in providing the inquiry with a statutory basis, which might initially leave it without the necessary powers to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents."
The human rights organisation also criticised the British government's decision to renege on past promises to the family of Pat Finucane to establish a full public inquiry into the solicitor's murder.
Amnesty noted that human rights organisations believe this decision would mean not allow for a fully impartial and thorough investigation into the controversial killing in 1989.
The Finucane family and human rights groups have claimed there was widespread collusion between the security forces and almost all of the Ulster Defence Association unit involved in the murder.