The Advocacy Gap: Anti-Carceral, but not Abolitionist, Human Rights Advocacy in Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, custody and remand populations in prison have climbed to their highest in almost 9 years; police use of force increased by 21% between 2023 and 2024; almost...
Reconciliation and the Northern Ireland Legacy Act: A Human Rights Perspective – Part 2
The first part of this blog drew on academic literature and international case law to examine the key components of a human rights centred concept of reconciliation. Here, we argue...
Reconciliation and the Northern Ireland Legacy Act: A Human Rights Perspective – Part 1
In February 2024, the High Court in Belfast declared in Dillon and others that fundamental aspects of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 are unlawful and should...
‘A Victory for Underpaid Workers’: Chief Constable of Northern Ireland v Agnew
The recent Agnew case deals with a technical but practically very important point: if a worker is underpaid by their employer when they take annual leave, how far back in...
New Abortion Legislation in Northern Ireland
Abortion became decriminalised in Northern Ireland on 21st October 2019, with regulations setting out abortion access becoming effective on 31st March 2020. These regulations allow for abortion on request up...
Advancing a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland
In times of crisis, the protection of human rights is fundamental. Covid-19 presents unprecedented challenges for any government. However, for a government in a post-conflict setting, such as Northern Ireland,...
Abortion In Northern Ireland – We Have Decriminilisation What Comes Next?
After decades of campaigning, parliamentary debates, court cases, national and international inquiries abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in October 2019 by the UK government. In doing so it became...
The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulation 2020
On 31 March 2020, The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 came into force. This is a landmark for the protection of reproductive rights in Northern Ireland. This blog provides a...
A Breakthrough for Language Rights in Northern Ireland
Following the collapse of the power-sharing coalition led by the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government for a little over three years....
Landmark Judgment for Women’s Rights
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom concluded on the 7th June 2018 that Northern Ireland’s laws on termination of pregnancy are incompatible with human rights. More specifically, in situations...
The UK Supreme Court Decision on Abortion in Northern Ireland: A Pyrrhic Defeat?
In the wake of the Irish referendum vote to end the country’s ban on abortion via the repeal of the eighth amendment of the Irish constitution, the spotlight has turned...
The View Beyond Brexit: Equality Rights in Northern Ireland After Divorce (with Evelyn Collins)
The EU has played an important role both internationally and domestically in EU member states, in developing and protecting equality rights in the interest of ensuring peace and security. UK...
