|
|
 |
You are here : Home • About us • Commission members
|
Chief Commissioner - Monica McWilliams
Professor Monica McWilliams was appointed Chief Commissioner for Human Rights in Northern Ireland in September 2005 and appointed for a further four years from September 2008. She is currently on leave from the University of Ulster where she is Professor of Women’s Studies. Previously, she served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2003 and was an elected member of the Multi-Party Peace Negotiations which led to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in 1998. She was a co-founder and leader of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition from 1997-2005.
She has published widely on domestic violence, human security and the role of the political conflict on women’s lives. Her work has been recognised by the John F Kennedy Leadership and Courage Award and the Frank Cousin’s Peace Award. She has received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Lesley College, Massachusetts and Mount Mary College, Milwaukee and is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Michigan.
|
 |
|
Thomas Duncan
Thomas Duncan was Headmaster of the Royal School Armagh between 1988 and 2002 and Deputy Headmaster of Dalriada School, Ballymoney from 1974 until 1988 where he also acted as Head of Science. His main qualifications include MA (NUU) - Education Administration, DASE (NUU) - Education Administration and BSc (QUB) - Chemistry (Honours).
He has fulfilled a number of public roles which include acting as the Chairman of Armagh Together, Armagh Marketing Initiative 1995, Armagh District Scout Council, the Northern Ireland Boarding Schools Partnership and Armagh Rotary Club. He is also Secretary/Treasurer of the Armagh Diocesan Board of Education, Secretary of the Friends of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh and was Executive Officer of the 1608 Royal Schools. His interests include travelling, golf, theatre and sport. He was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for County Armaghj in 2009.
Thomas was appointed as a part-time member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from September 2005 and reappointed for a further three years from September 2008.
|
 |
|
Ann Hope
Ann Hope was Advisory Services Officer with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for 14 years where she had responsibility for gender equality and for progressing work on Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, Single Equality legislation and the proposed Bill of Rights. She also has a background in adult and community education and, prior to working with Congress, worked as a tutor organiser with the Workers' Educational Association where she taught trade union studies and women's studies. An active trade unionist all her working life, Ann has held many positions in the trade union movement at Branch, Regional and National levels and was President of Belfast and District Council of Trade Unions.
She has served on a number of public bodies including the Board of Prison Visitors for Maghaberry Prison, the Health and Safety Agency, the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland, of which she was Deputy Chair, and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. Currently she serves on the Board of the Women's National Commission, the Government's official independent advisory body on women. She was a founder member of Democratic Dialogue and its chair for five years. She was a member of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, serving on its Executive Committee. She is currently a Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute. She holds a Masters in Education, a BA in History and Politics and a Diploma in Trade Union Studies.
Ann was appointed as a part-time member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from September 2005 and reappointed for a further three years from September 2008.
|
 |
|
Colin Harvey
Colin Harvey is Professor of Human Rights Law, Head of the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast. From 2000-2004 he was Professor of Constitutional and Human Rights Law, School of Law, University of Leeds and co-convenor of the Human Rights Research Unit. In 1999, he was a Visiting Professor at the Refugee and Asylum Law Program, Faculty of Law, University of Michigan. He was also a member of the Northern Ireland Higher Education Council from 2002-2006 and a member of the Steering Committee of the UK section of the International Association of Constitutional Law from 2003-2006. In addition, he was Refugee Co-ordinator for Amnesty International (Irish Section) 1998-2000 and a member of the Executive of the Committee on the Administration of Justice 1999-2000.
He is a member of the editorial board of Human Rights Law Review and is the Case Editor for the International Journal of Refugee Law. He has published extensively in academic, and more popular formats, on issues of human rights law and politics. Currently a member of the Advisory Board of the British Institute of Human Rights, he is also the General Editor of Human Rights Law in Perspective published by Hart Publishing. His books include: Seeking Asylum in the UK: Problems and Prospects (2000, Butterworths), Human Rights in the Community: Rights as Agents for Change (ed., 2005, Hart Publishing), Sanctuary in Ireland: Perspectives on Asylum Law and Policy (ed., with Ursula Fraser, 2004, Institute of Public Administration), Human Rights, Equality and Democratic Renewal in Northern Ireland (ed., 2001, Hart Publishing). His articles include: (with JC. Hathaway) ‘Framing Refugee Protection in the New World Disorder’ (2001) Cornell International Law Journal 257, ‘The Right to Seek Asylum in the European Union’ [2004] European Human Rights Law Review 17-36.
Colin was appointed as a part-time member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from September 2005 and reappointed for a further three years from September 2008.
|
 |
|
Alan Henry OBE
Alan Henry was Head of Human Resources at the Royal Mail from 1988 to 2003. He is currently a Commissioner for Civil Service Commission and an Independent Assessor for the Office of Public Appointments. Alan is also an assessor for the National Clinical Assessment Service and a lay assessor for the Office of Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal.
Alan was formerly a lay Department of Education Schools Inspector and a Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
Alan was originally appointed as a part-time member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in September 2005 and reappointed for a further three years from September 2008.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Colm Larkin
Colm Larkin is from Magherafelt, Co Derry. He studied at St Patrick’s College, Armagh, and read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford. From 1974-2004, he was an official of the European Commission. He was Deputy Chef de Cabinet to Commissioner Peter Sutherland and Chef de Cabinet to Commissioner Ray McSharry. He was Director of the Commission Representation in Ireland from 1993-1998.
He was a member of the Delors Task Force which established the European Peace and Reconciliation Programme. From 1998-2001, he was Special Adviser to Seamus Mallon, the Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive. In 2004, he was awarded an MBA by University College Dublin. Since leaving the European Commission, he does some third level teaching and is a consultant on EU affairs with clients in both the public and private sectors. He is a member of the board of the Economic Research Institute of Northern Ireland.
Colm was appointed as a part-time member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from December 2007.
|
|
Eamonn O'Neill
Eamonn O’Neill was a school teacher for 30 years in St Malachy’s High School, Castlewellan and Vice principal for the last ten of those years. An elected councillor to Down Council from 1977 to the present, he has held all the major positions in the council. Eamonn was a long time member of the Northern Ireland Housing Council and is currently a member of the Board of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. He was also a member and past chairman on two occasions of the East Border Region from May 1977 until May 2005. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly and appointed chairman of the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure 1998 to 2003.
He also served as chairman and vice chairman of the Down District Policing Partnership from 2002 to the present and was Northern Ireland chairman and then national chairman of the Association of Public Services Excellence in 2003. In addition, he founded and chaired the local regeneration group Castlewellan Regeneration from 1991 to the present. Eamonn was appointed as a part-time member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from September 2005 and reappointed for a further three years from September 2008.
|
 |
Geraldine Rice MBE
From 1995 until retirement in 2006, Geraldine Rice was a self-employed trainer and consultant to the hospitality industry, and a trainer in food hygiene for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Geraldine was awarded an MBE in the 2007 New Year's Honours List for services to Local Government in Northern Ireland. She was elected as an Alliance Party councillor in 1989 and is still serving in that capacity as Alderman and most recently as Deputy Mayor for Castlereagh Borough Council. Having been a board member of Clanmil Housing Association since 1998 and chair from 2004-2009, she has served as chair of the finance committee and a Director of Clanmil Properties and Clanmil Ireland (both of these positions are voluntary). She has also been a member of the Police Authority for Northern Ireland, the Probation Board for Northern Ireland, the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland and a Non-Executive Director of the Sperrin and Lakeland Trust. Geraldine currently serves as a member of the Castlereagh District Policing Partnership.
Her qualifications include Member of the Institute of Cleaning Science MBICsc, registered trainer with the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Accredited Trainers Certificate Chartered Trust Environmental Health, ECDL Certificate in Computer Skills, OCR Certificate in Counselling Skills and a University of Ulster Certificate in Counselling. She recently undertook a course on leadership at Harvard University.
Geraldine was appointed as a part-time member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from September 2005 and reappointed for a further three years from September 2008. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
