News

Human Rights Consortium says government should abandon cruel Rwanda policy

23 April 2024

The Human Rights Consortium has expressed profound concern as the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act passed its final stages in Parliament. This Act breaches the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement through attacks on the European Convention on Human Rights and disregard shown to the rights protections afforded by the Windsor Framework, contradicting the UK’s established […]

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Strengthening Civil Society Impact on Westminster in the Years Ahead – Cardiff Conference

19 April 2024

In March, over 90 civil society leaders from across the United Kingdom convened in Cardiff for the third 4 Nations Civil Society Conference. Organised by the Welsh Consortium for Voluntary Action (WCVA) and Wales Governance Centre in partnership with the Civil Society Alliance (CSA) and the Human Rights Consortiums in Northern Ireland and Scotland, the conference […]

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Human Rights Consortium Reacts to High Court Judgment on the Legacy Act

29 February 2024

The Human Rights Consortium, a coalition of 160 NGOs dedicated to a rights based society, welcomes the significant ruling yesterday in the High Court that the immunity provisions of the Legacy Act breach the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Article 2 of the Windsor Framework. This ruling underscores the ongoing importance of Article […]

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Statement on the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly

05 February 2024

The Human Rights Consortium has welcomed the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly and has called for the Executive to place the progression of human rights in Northern Ireland as a core priority of its work. The two-year absence of the Assembly has compounded existing challenges and inequalities faced by people in Northern Ireland. The […]

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Rwanda Bill: An Attack on Fundamental Rights

08 December 2023

The UK government this week introduced the ‘Safety of Rwanda Bill’ to limit the use of human rights laws to challenge their attempts to automatically remove asylum seekers to Rwanda. The Human Rights Consortium has criticized the introduction of the Bill as a violation of basic human rights guarantees of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the […]

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A Celebration of Maggie McBride – NIHRF 2023

06 December 2023

We at the Consortium formally dedicate the 2023 Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival in memory of our good friend and colleague Maggie McBride and send our best wishes and love to all her friends and family. Maggie McBride was the Administrator at the Human Rights Consortium for over 16 years, from 2006 until her sudden […]

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The Windsor Framework: the Good, the Bad and the Untested

29 September 2023

The Windsor Framework, and the Protocol that came before it, were developed and negotiated between the EU and the UK to manage the new regulatory framework in Northern Ireland resulting from the UK’s exit from the EU, while maintaining the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement commitments to cross-border cooperation and to maintaining the Common Travel Area between […]

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Header image featuring a test paper and pencil. Text reads: "Windsor Framework, The Good, the Band and the Untested"

NIHRC FUNDING WELCOME BUT GOVT ATTITUDES TO HUMAN RIGHTS NEED TO CHANGE

19 September 2023

The Human Rights Consortium has welcomed the publication of the report by the Independent Review of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission which has highlighted the serious underfunding of the Commission and highlighted the need to provide a sufficient base line budget for its work. Kevin Hanratty, Director of the Human Rights Consortium a civil […]

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Human Rights and the Illegal Bill on Migration – Watch It Back

03 July 2023

On Friday the 23rd of June, to round off a week of events held across civil society for Refugee Week 2023, the Human Rights Consortium held an event on the so-called Illegal Migration Bill – which we’ve dubbed the Illegal Bill on Migration – alongside our colleagues in the Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS) Project […]

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Lessons from Scotland and Wales: Incorporating international human rights standards in Northern Ireland

03 July 2023

Lessons from Scotland and Wales:   Incorporating international human rights standards in Northern Ireland  The Human Rights Consortium recently held an online conference which brought together academics and civil society representatives to explore the advances made in Scotland and Wales to incorporate international human rights treaties and standards into domestic law and what the lessons could […]

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