evidence: Northern Ireland also maintains a separate police force, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The PSNI reports to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, a nondepartmental public body composed of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and independent members of the community. Northern Ireland’s minister of justice appoints the board. [...] The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, sponsored by the Northern Ireland Office, and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, sponsored by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, monitored human rights in that province. These entities were adequately funded and considered effective. [...] Offenses linked to victims’ religion increased by 43 percent from 2013-14 to 3,254. In Scotland there were 581 charges with a religious aggravation in 2015-16, a 3-percent increase compared with the previous year. The PSNI recorded 18 hate crimes motivated by religion from July 2015 to June 2016, a decrease of 13 crimes from the previous year. During the same period, the PSNI recorded 874 sectarian crimes in Northern Ireland, a decrease of 207. The number of sectarian incidents was 1,208, a decrease of 340 incidents.