Where Art meets Activism
January 21, 2026
Reflections on the 2025 Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival
“For me, the real impact of the NIHRF is how it bridges academic thought, public debate and lived experience. It shows how learning, creative activism and diverse voices can intersect in meaningful and powerful ways.” – Maya Thakker
From the 7th – 13th December 2025, Belfast and beyond came alive with panel discussion, art based activism, creativity and debate as the Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival (NIHRF) brought a year of human rights issues into sharp focus. This year’s festival was a powerful blend of culture and activism, bringing together people from across the human rights sector and transforming public spaces into human rights platforms.
A selection of events in the 2025 NIHRF Programme
A week of Action and Reflection
Centered around International Human Rights Day, the NIHRF offered a week of conversation exploring both the most pressing human rights challenges in Northern Ireland and many wider global challenges and injustices.
This year’s program featured an impressive range of thought-provoking panels and discussions bringing to light some of the most pressing human rights issues.
At the start of the week the Hume Foundation and Ulster University hosted a guest lecture from the renowned human rights Barrister Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, whose work over the past 25 years has seen her leading on many of the most significant human rights cases in the UK, Europe and internationally.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission also launched its annual Human Rights Statement with a keynote address by Lord Anderson of Ipswich KBE KC, a barrister and cross-bench peer. The annual statement benchmarks the state of human rights issues in Northern Ireland and judging from the fact that all the issues raised in the report this year are either flagged as amber or red in the Commission’s own traffic light categorisation of progress, there remains much more work to do to make Northern Ireland a human rights compliant society.
As asylum and the right to flee danger continue to spark urgent conversations around migration policy and solidarity within public and political debates, the Law Centre’s NI Migration Justice Team delivered an informative public session that helped explain the UK asylum process, the rights and entitlements of individuals seeking asylum and why safeguarding those rights are more important than ever.
Human Rights in the Age of AI looked forward into a rapidly changing digital world, exploring how technology intersects with equality and freedom. With a panel examining the impact of AI on governance, gender and post conflict societies.
The audience listens to ‘Human Rights Across Contexts and Shared Understandings from Pakistan and Northern Ireland’ – 8 December 2025
Art as memory and resistance
Art based activism played a central role in this year’s festival, particularly through the screening of My Father’s Diaries by Bosnian Director Ado Hasanovic. Created thirty years after the Srebrenica genocide, the documentary draws on the wartime diaries and home video footage of Hananovic’s father, Bekir, to tell an intimate story of survival.
Through firsthand footage and written reflections, Ado and his mother, Fatima, piece together Bekir journey through the Death Match and the genocide that followed. Known for award-winning shorts such as The Angel of Srebrenica and Let There Be Colour, Hasanović brought his powerful storytelling to his first feature-length documentary, which premiered at Visions du Réel in 2024
Together, these events demonstrated how the NIHRF not only helps highlight ongoing human rights struggles but also anticipates emerging challenges – such as AI, whilst reflecting on past conflicts to help shape a just future for Northern Ireland and beyond.
Participants in the Amnesty International Write for Rights campaign, 13 December 2025
Art, Community and Human Rights.
Beyond the many panels and film screenings, that were on show this year, the NIHRF supported creative spaces to engage the local community in consideration of human rights.
The annual Family Day, hosted this year at the Golden Thread Gallery invited children and families to explore human rights through creative workshops, making complex ideas accessible in fun and engaging ways. Meanwhile, Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign offered meaningful opportunities for the public to engage in human rights advocacy by writing in support of those detained across the world for their own campaigns for justice.
The festival closed on a high with the hilarious Stand Up for Your Rights Comedy Night, where brave volunteers Rachel Hogan (Children’s Law Centre), Ivanka Antova (United Against Racism & NIHRC), Simon Carmichael (The Rainbow Project), Matthew Griffith (Victims Support) and comedian Paul Mone took to the stage, blending humor with reflections on human rights in Northern Ireland, providing a truly laughter filled finale to a powerful week.
Rachel Hogan, Children’s Law Centre at Stand Up for Your Rights, Belfast Barge, 12 December 2025
Overview
Whether you were drawn to independent films, hard hitting panels or creative workshops, the festival is a clear reminder of how important human rights are and how vital it is we continue to provide platforms to engage in public discussion on rights based issues. The festival continues to create that liminal space between art and activism, helping remind us that human rights are lived realities that shape our everyday lives.
“For me, the real impact of the NIHRF is how it bridges academic thought, public debate and lived experience. It shows how learning, creative activism and diverse voices can intersect in meaningful and powerful ways. I also admire how it brings current national and international issues into a public forum, creating space for open discussion and collective reflection.”
For further information on the Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival visit the festival website here.
Maya Thakker
January 2026
Maya Thakker was the Queen’s University Belfast, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics (HAPP) volunteer with the Human Rights Consortium from September to December 2025. During her placement Maya played a leading role in designing, coordinating and running the 2025 Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival program of events.