Northern Ireland

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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ICESCR – Civil Society Shadow report

25 October 2022

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) commits signatory states to uphold a range of rights within their jurisdiction, including the right to an adequate standard of living, the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, work, social security, education and cultural life. As a signatory of ICESCR the United Kingdom is reviewed by […]

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Hands off our Human Rights Act

13 March 2022

The Human Rights Consortium has submitted its response to the Ministry of Justice consultation on replacing the Human Rights Act. The submission (available to download below) is heavily critical of proposals by the UK Government to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA) and replace it with weaker standards. The Consortium outlines that the proposals would be a […]

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UK must now deliver NI Bill of Rights following majority Assembly support

14 February 2022

Following the publication of the report by the Ad-Hoc Committee on a Bill of Rights at the NI Assembly, the Human Rights Consortium, a coalition of over 165 community and voluntary organisations from Northern Ireland, has said that Westminster now urgently needs to legislate for this long outstanding commitment from the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. The report […]

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TCA and Rights – HRC Briefing Paper

15 March 2021

After a very protracted process the EU and UK finally agreed to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) on Christmas Eve 2020. The TCA document itself runs to over 1,200 pages and contains many important elements that relate to the future UK approach to human rights. To distil some of these elements the Consortium has […]

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Human Rights implications of Brexit

12 October 2016

We have submitted evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights in Westminster. The Joint Committee is conducting an inquiry into the human rights implications of Brexit and issued a call for evidence. Our submission looks at some key areas which the Committee should explore in more detail: The particular importance of human rights frameworks […]

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Press Release- Brexit Legal Action about Safeguarding Rights and Peace Process

05 October 2016

The Human Rights Consortium is one of the current applicants in a Northern Ireland based Judicial Review of the Brexit process. The Consortium have outlined that the case, which is being heard in the Belfast High Court at present, is focussed on upholding existing human rights protections and the elements of the Northern Ireland peace […]

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Universal Periodic Review Shadow Report Launched

21 September 2016

The Human Rights Consortium has launched its Shadow Report in advance of the Third Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Kingdom in May 2017. The Universal Periodic Review is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations, where each member state is examined by other member states for […]

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The EU Referendum and Human Rights

08 June 2016

Human rights issues have largely been ignored in the debates around the EU referendum. With just two weeks to go until we get to decide to stay or go, we need to focus on human rights . The core human rights instrument in the UK is the Human Rights Act. Its origins in the European […]

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