A disagreement has arisen in the North over where to house women inmates who are being moved out of the top-security Maghaberry prison complex in Co Antrim.
The Northern Ireland Prison Service has decided to relocate the prisoners at the Hydebank young offenders' centre near Belfast.
But the North's Human Rights Commission has opposed the move, which it says would mean the women were detained close to the male unit at the site.
There they would have to share visiting and health care facilities with men.
It says it has grave concerns about the decision. The Commission said that academic research showed that women's experiences in prison were significantly different from those of men.
Chief commissioner Brice Dickson says the facilities at Hydebank do not meet international standards which expect regimes for women to be distinctive and discrete.
In a statement, the Prison Service said it carried out full public consultation, and the Commission did not submit its views when the move was first suggested.
