It seems almost bizarre today to think that until 20 years ago, Bermuda did not have a specific law enshrining and protecting human rights.

Until then, the Island had a Constitution which laid out basic rights and had had bodies charged with preventing racial discrimination and tasked with promoting better human relations.

But there was no legislation in place which actually laid out what rights people were entitled to and how violations of those rights could be investigated and sanctioned.

When the Act was first introduced and debated, it, perhaps predictably, was criticised for not going far enough and for going too far.

Some of the criticisms were well founded. There have been few

ground-breaking decisions emanating from the Commission over the years, and times it has had difficulty bringing successful prosecutions.

There have been times when the Commission has believed that a person's human rights have been breached but the Commission has been unable top proceed due to lack of evidence. This will have been frustrating, but it also demonstrates that due process has been followed.

At the same time, the Act has acted as a guardian of people's rights. To be sure, there will have been many occasions when a breach of human rights has not occurred because of awareness of the legislation and the powers of the Human Rights Commission.

It is impossible to know how often this has occurred, but those quiet victories count for something. Bermuda is a more tolerant place and a place which is more respectful of people's rights than it was and the Act is a major reason why.

There is more work to be done. As Human Affairs Minister Randy Horton said yesterday, human rights are always evolving.

Only recently did the Commission get the right to investigate suspected breaches without a complaint, an important responsibility when people may be afraid to make a complaint on their own.

Equally, the Act does not yet give protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual preference.

Because of Bermuda's history of racial discrimination and intolerance, human rights have sometimes been seen mainly in that light. As the same time that discrimination on the basis of gender, religious beliefs or a physical or mental disability have not always received the same attention.

This is not surprising, but it is to be hoped as time goes on that Bermuda will consider all acts of discrimination to be equally reprehensible.Now, as Bermuda enters its third decade of human rights, there will be more debates on what constitutes a human right and how it should be protected.

It may be that the greatest challenge of the future will be determining where one right begins and another ends and to what extent they impinge upon each other. Striking the balance between defending true rights and standing up to the sometimes tyrannical demands of political correctness will also become more and more important.

That is a formidable challenge for the guardians of human rights and it will be vital that they can meet it by relying on their integrity, independence and common sense.