Dr Catherine O’Rourke is Senior Lecturer in Human Rights and International Law at Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute and School of Law. She co-authored the submission requesting the CEDAW Committee to conduct an inquiry into access to abortion in Northern Ireland with Jude Cross (Alliance for Choice), Ann Marie Gray (NIWEP) and the Audrey Simpson…Continue reading UK found to be in ‘grave and systematic’ violation of women’s human rights due to restrictive abortion laws in Northern Ireland Guest Post by Dr Catherine O’Rourke
Category: Gender & Sex
The Return of the Bill of Rights? Guest Post by Professor Colin Harvey and Dr Anne Smith
The Northern Ireland Bill of Rights appears to have made a comeback. A process that involved much collective effort seemed to have ended in the vague language of paragraph 69 of the Stormont House Agreement (SHA). With no one prepared to take responsibility for its advancement, hope had faded; like much else relating to rights…Continue reading The Return of the Bill of Rights? Guest Post by Professor Colin Harvey and Dr Anne Smith
Implementing the ‘Petition of Concern’ – A CAJ Briefing Paper Jan 2018 Guest Post by Daniel Holder, CAJ
Background The Petition of Concern mechanism has never been implemented as the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and Northern Ireland Act (NIA) intend or require. This largely due to the way the Standing Orders of the Assembly have been drafted and applied; The Petition of Concern is linked to safeguards in the GFA relating to equality…Continue reading Implementing the ‘Petition of Concern’ – A CAJ Briefing Paper Jan 2018 Guest Post by Daniel Holder, CAJ
#MeToo – Where is the Line? A guest post by Elaine Crory, HollaBack!
For the past few months it’s been unavoidable. Everyone knows what the hashtag #metoo is concerned with and mainstream news shows and talk shows have been tackling, with varying degrees of success, the problem of sexual assault and consent. Hollywood first, then entertainment generally, it even spread to Westminster. For those of us who have…Continue reading #MeToo – Where is the Line? A guest post by Elaine Crory, HollaBack!
Manifesto Watch: 2016 NI Assembly Election
We are pleased to welcome this guest post from Jason McKeown, Communications Assistant with the Human Rights Consortium. With the 2016 Assembly Elections almost upon us, the Human Rights Consortium takes a look at the manifestos of the various political parties who have put themselves forward for election. This resource will…Continue reading Manifesto Watch: 2016 NI Assembly Election
Human Rights and Making Change: Looking Backwards and Moving Forwards from the Northern Ireland High Court Decision on Abortion
We are pleased to welcome this guest post from Dr Catherine O’Rourke. Catherine is Senior Lecturer in Human Rights and International Law at Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute. She is currently also co-coordinator of the Gender Stream of the DFID-funded Political Settlements Research Programme, where she is investigating how international law norms for gender equality influence domestic…Continue reading Human Rights and Making Change: Looking Backwards and Moving Forwards from the Northern Ireland High Court Decision on Abortion
Developing Gender Principles for Dealing with the Legacy of the Past
We are delighted to welcome this guest post. Dr Catherine O’Rourke is Senior Lecturer in Human Rights and International Law at Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute (TJI). Philipp Schulz is a PhD student at the TJI. Initiatives to deal with the past in Britain and Ireland have been characterised by the absence of any official…Continue reading Developing Gender Principles for Dealing with the Legacy of the Past
Human Rights and Northern Ireland’s Abortion Law: Understanding the High Court Decision
We are delighted to welcome this guest post from Dr Kathryn McNeilly, Lecturer in Law at QUB. Kathryn can be reached on k.mcneilly@qub.ac.uk. On Monday the Northern Ireland High Court declared Northern Ireland’s prohibition of abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and in cases of sexual crime, up to the date when the foetus…Continue reading Human Rights and Northern Ireland’s Abortion Law: Understanding the High Court Decision
Independence, Inadmissibility and Information Verification in the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval Proposals- Guest post by Professor Louise Mallinder
On 23 September 2015, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) published a policy paper outlining the measures to be included in the Northern Ireland (Stormont House Agreement) Bill that will be presented to Parliament on 12 October 2015. This Bill will legislate for a number of commitments made by the UK government in the Stormont House…Continue reading Independence, Inadmissibility and Information Verification in the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval Proposals- Guest post by Professor Louise Mallinder
Why I asked to be arrested for breaking Northern Ireland’s abortion laws
Just over two years ago, I wrote here about the one hundred people who had signed an open letter in an act of civil disobedience in protest at the situation for women needing an abortion in Northern Ireland. Although I am pro-choice, I didn’t sign that letter as my second son was not quite a year old and…Continue reading Why I asked to be arrested for breaking Northern Ireland’s abortion laws
Celebrating marriage equality and challenging the post-Ashers discourse
Northern Ireland is now duly surrounded by marriage equality, and is the last bastion of marriage inequality anywhere on these islands. In England and Wales the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 and Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 legislated for same sex marriage and commenced last year. The moving and resounding vote for marriage…Continue reading Celebrating marriage equality and challenging the post-Ashers discourse
Why is the debate on dealing with the past in Northern gender blind?
We are delighted to welcome this guest post by Andreé Murphy of Relatives for Justice. Andreé can be reached at andree@relativesforjustice.com. This was originally posted on the Eamonn Mallie blog at http://eamonnmallie.com/2015/05/why-is-the-debate-on-dealing-with-the-past-in-northern-gender-blind-by-andree-murphy/. This is an argument for a concerted effort to make gender a specific and identifiable matter of concern within the Stormont House Agreement.…Continue reading Why is the debate on dealing with the past in Northern gender blind?