activist said yesterday.

Canon James Francis made the call for more staff for the Human Rights Commission last night -- the eve of Human Rights Day.

Canon Francis, chairman of the HRC, pointed out that the 13th annual report of the Commission showed record numbers coming forward to complain their rights had been trampled on.

And he said two areas which needed urgent attention were the rights of gays and age discrimination.

He said: "When we first started, we were regarded as a paper tiger -- people had no faith in the Commission.'' But Canon Francis said when the HRC forced through changes in human rights legislation, people started to take the organisation seriously.

And he added: "More people are coming forward and believing we can be of assistance to them -- but one of the things we need is more staff now that more complaints are coming forward.'' Of the 93 complaints handled by the HRC team in 1995 -- the latest figures available -- issues affecting women in jobs made up the majority of cases.

A total of 50 cases involved complaints relating to pregnancy, sex, sexual harassment and marital status.

Racial discrimination complaints made up the biggest single category, 15 complaints, after pregnancy-related complaints, where 19 complaints were logged, although some were dismissed in both categories.

HRC executive officer Major Kenneth Dill said: "Most complaints are from women and they complain of being discriminated against.'' Major Dill explained that women objected to getting the axe after taking maternity leave.

And he said: "Under the human rights legislation, it's unlawful to terminate employment once a woman has a child.'' But he admitted many employers find a replacement for a woman off having a child and are reluctant to change back because of the time and expense of training replacements.

Race discrimination and racial incitement together totalled 18 cases -- and Canon Francis admitted discrimination was difficult to prove.

He said: "The Commission relies very heavily on the balance of probablities.'' He explained that when attitude, job profile and other factors were eliminated as explanations, "there have been cases where the Commission has come to the conclusion that the person was discriminated against on race.'' But Canon Francis said: "We are certainly more open talking about it -- at one point it was even taboo to discuss it.'' He said other groups were designed to tackle racism, but more on an individual level, while the HRC was set up to rise above individual likes and dislikes and deal with an entire system.

But despite the rise in complaints, Canon Francis insisted he had a bright outlook for the future.

He said: "I am an eternal optimist, and I would have to say things are better. Better in that we have more laws and more effective laws, better in that people are now coming forward and claiming that their rights have been violated.'' And he added employers were now more sensitive and employing more human relations staff to deal with problems before they erupted into the public domain.

But he said more legislation and additions to the Human Rights Act 1981 were needed.

Canon Francis added: "I hope as we put new pieces of legislation in place we can change people's behaviour -- people say you can't legislate someone's heart.

"We don't want to -- we want laws so people have to start behaving more justly to their neighbour and treating them more favourably.'' He added legislation to halt age discrimination and predjudice against gays was needed.

Canon Francis said complaints from gay men and women that they were being discriminated against had increased -- especially since the decriminalisation of gay sex in 1994.

But he admitted the HRC could offer no legal redress for senior citizens or gays at present because they had no jurisdiction.

Canon Francis said: "Since human rights is a dynamic process, legislation which protects the aged and senior citizens of this Island and legislation which gives people greater protection in terms of their sexual preference is needed.''