Professor Christine Bell and Inez McCormack said in their resignation letters they believed the commission was ineffective in protecting and promoting human rights.

Professor Bell said she was disappointed at the lack of powers, and resources the commission had.

We believe it is ineffective and we believe that it damages the potential to build a practice of human rights

Inez McCormack

She said she felt the powers they had were not used to their best advantage.

Inez McCormack said she believed there was no choice but to leave.

"Neither of us has the reputation for giving up, but neither of us has the reputation for being on something just for the sake of it," she said.

"We genuinely have tried to make it work. We believe it is ineffective and we believe that it damages the potential to build a practice of human rights."

Concerns

The organisation's chief commissioner said he was surprised and disappointed by the news, but Professor Brice Dickson did not agree with their analysis.

Inez McCormack: "Damages the potential to build"

He said he hoped the work of the commission would not be damaged by the resignations.

"I think we have done a great deal of very good work and we have been affected up to an extent," he said.

"I and some of my colleagues on the commission would share some of the concerns raised by Christine and Inez about the resources of the commission and the powers of the commission.

"We have fought hard to increase those over the past couple of years."

The Northern Ireland Office said it regretted the move and denied any suggestion it had not responded positively to representations from the commission.

The government said it had every confidence that the commission would continue its vital role in protecting and promoting the rights of all the people of Northern Ireland.

'Public confidence'

Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said the decision raised fundamental doubts about whether the present commission was "the independent human rights advocate it was intended to be under the Good Friday Agreement".

"Evidently there are serious difficulties within the commission which on several occasions Sinn Fein have also raised with the commission and the British government.

"It should therefore be a matter of urgent concern to the two governments that these legitimate grievances are honestly and speedily addressed if public confidence is to be restored."

The chairman of Irish Congress of Trade Unions Statement, Bob Gourley, said it had campaigned for strong equality provisions in the Good Friday Agreement.

"We supported a Human Rights Commission with proper powers to promote a human rights culture in NI as an essential element in building a fair and united society.

"We are very concerned that two highly respected commissioners have resigned."