Ulster's human rights watchdog has said it is "extremely disappointed" with the government's failure to offer it support.

In its annual report, published on Thursday, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission took ministers to task for failing to fill vacant positions within the organisation.

There was also criticism of the failure to respond to previous calls for the commission to be given more powers.

Presenting the report to parliament, Northern Ireland Office minister John Spellar offered a brief statement: "This comprehensive report shows the work that the commission has been engaged in over the past year."

The chief commissioner, Professor Brice Dickson, highlighted a range of areas where the commission had concerns about the protection of human rights.

He said that the British government "should do more to fully investigate allegations of collusion and to ensure that law enforcement agencies do not assist the activities of terrorist organisations".

"The government should also reform the inquest system and respond to recommendations increasing the powers of the commission.

"We also believe that paramilitary violence should be more widely condemned across the community and local politicians should re-energise their efforts to develop a comprehensive bill of rights."

Members

And in a foreword to the report, Professor Dickson called for a range of other actions from the government.

"The commission spent a significant amount of time during the past year urging the British government to appoint new members to the commission to replace those who, for a variety of reasons, have resigned or 'withdrawn' from the body during the past two years," he said.

"The refusal to fill the vacancies has reduced the expertise, the resources and the authority of the commission, rendering it less effective than it might otherwise have been."

He added that ministers had also "failed to defend publicly the independence and expertise of the commission when we have been under unfair attack from politically motivated quarters, including from the government of Ireland".

"Perhaps worst of all, more than three years after we submitted a report - as required by law - making a case for increased powers for the commission, the British government has still not definitively responded to our recommendations," Professor Dickson said.

"The commission, in short, has been extremely disappointed at the way in which the government has treated the commission as a 'political' institution, rather than as a completely independent body whose sole concern is the promotion and protection of human rights."

Other concerns

The human rights watchdog also highlighted a range of other concerns, including "extremely disturbing" findings of collusion between members of the security forces and paramilitary organisations.

"There is nothing which more seriously undermines the rule of law than the active involvement by law enforcement bodies in the activities of terrorist and/or criminal organisations," warned the report.

Blaming "most serious and systematic violations of human rights" on terrorist organisations, there was also a warning that "there appears to be a growing acceptance that so-called 'punishment attacks' are a fact of life".

"There is some evidence, moreover, that paramilitary organisations have been partly responsible for the rise in racially motivated attacks in Northern Ireland over the past 12 months. These incidents, too, are to be deeply deplored."

The commission also said it was  "disappointed" that the government has not yet put in place a system for preventing and investigating deaths which is fully compliant with international standards.

Reform of the inquest system in Northern Ireland "is long overdue", added the commission.

While there were no deaths in police custody in Northern Ireland during the past year, there was also unease that CS spray is being made available to the police "even though to us its safety has not been proved beyond doubt".