The Commission is celebrating 10 years of protecting and promoting human rights for the people of Northern Ireland. In the decade since our foundation we have undertaken difficult and challenging work. This issue of the magazine gives a snap shot of the wide range of issues that the Commission engages with on a daily basis.

 

Chief Commissioner, Monica McWilliams, reflects on achievements made to date and the opportunities that lie ahead. As this is the first copy of the magazine published since we provided advice to government on a proposed Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, we are updating readers on the progress made. Louise McNicholl from the Human Rights Consortium suggests where the Bill is now heading and the Commission’s policy worker, Daniel 

Holder, discusses the recommendations for inclusion of economic and social rights.

 

We asked a number of people in public life to reflect upon how human rights impact on their work, including Anna Lo MLA, Sir Hugh Orde, Chief Constable of the PSNI, Mike Ritchie, Director of CAJ and Jeffrey Donaldson MP MLA and Gerry Kelly MLA of OFMdFM.

 

Policy Worker, Rebecca Dudley, explains how we monitor international human rights standards by focusing on the UK’s recent examination under CEDAW, while Colin Harper, Centre on Human Rights for People with Disabilities, explains the new disability convention.

 

As usual, we are extremely grateful for the assistance of all of our contributors and we would be pleased to hear your views on this publication, as well as suggestions for future issues.

NIHRC Review - issue 8, summer 2009 PDF File - 851.29 KB