Over the last six months Northern Ireland has experienced three outbreaks of serious public disorder. In July and September it was over parades. The latest and most prolonged has been, at least on the face of it, over flags. On neither...

About 130 million people voted in the recent US elections. In contrast, just 2,270 delegates to the Chinese Communist Party Congress met to choose the new leadership of the world’s most populous country. While the Chinese leaders met...

We’re winning! That’s not a claim you may hear too often from human rights activists, but in the case of the global struggle against the death penalty, it’s true. The momentum around the world is towards ending executions. The vast...

When David Hockney published his etching In the dull village in 1967, the UK government was busy passing the Sexual Offences Act to (partially) decriminalise homosexuality in England and Wales. It was another fifteen years before...

Readers of my posts over on the Northern Ireland blog Slugger O'Toole will know that I and others there share a particular interest in Haiti . So, I thought it worthwhile to note the regrettable decision by a Haitian court not to...

I first posted this on Slugger O'Toole , on yesterday's 10th anniversary of Guantánamo Bay. Ten years ago today, the first detainees were transferred to the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Since then 779 people have been held...

As local politicos, hacks, twitterati and bloggers prepare for this evening’s Slugger Awards , let’s spare a thought for Chiranuch Premchaiporn , Thailand’s Mick Fealty , currently on trial in Bangkok. Her crime? Not removing comments...

Many in Northern Ireland and much further afield will be deeply saddened to hear news of the the death of Professor Kevin Boyle, who passed away yesterday. Prof. Boyle was one of the UK and Ireland’s leading human rights academics, as...

A great evening in the Europa Hotel. Senator David Norris delivering the Amnesty International Belfast Pride Lecture , followed by Pride Talks Back , when Norris joined local politicians and the Rev David McIlveen of the Free...

Really looking forward to meeting Senator David Norris later. I'm meeting him off the Dublin train this afternoon, in anticipation of the Amnesty International Belfast Pride Lecture later in the Europa Hotel. Senator Norris at the...

Nobel Prize-winning economist Prof Amartya Sen is in Belfast to pick up an honorary degree from Queen's University Belfast. The university was kind enough to extend invitations to me and about 20 other Amnesty members to attend a small...

A version of thie piece appears in today's Belfast Telegraph . It's not currently in the online edition so am posting below instead: One of my friend Mairead Maguire's favourite items of clothing is an old t-shirt. It bears the image...

Depressing news in Belfast this afternoon as a man is shot dead in broad daylight by two masked men on the Shankill Road, while a pipe-bomb explodes outside a Sinn Fein office in Castlewellan. You would think that some people don't...

Peace processes and the role of national human rights institutions – that's the theme of a lecture to be delivered next month by Northern Ireland's Chief Commissioner for Human Rights, Prof Monica McWilliams. The lecture will explore...

Live in or near Belfast and looking for something different to do this Saturday? How about celebrating Africa Day with some authentic African food, music and dancing, courtesy of local charity Camara , colleagues of Amnesty in CADA...

International Day Against Homophobia is on Monday. Changing Attitude Ireland are holding an event in Belfast to mark the occasion this Sunday. It's a service on on the theme "OPEN DOORS" on Sunday 16th May 2010 at 3pm in St. George’s...

In 1786, a meeting was organised by a merchant called Waddell Cunningham just returned to Belfast from New York where he’d made his fortune in trade. The meeting was held in the Assembly rooms (the old Northern Bank building) on...

The QUB Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice Annual Lecture will take place on Thursday 20th May at 5.30pm, in Room 121, Lanyon Building. This year the theme is: “ Re-conceptualising Fair Trial Rights for the 21st Century ”...

This General Election matters for human rights around the world. It's true that no-one’s going to force any of us to vote one way or another, or lock us up for speaking out on behalf of our particular political favourite. But human...

Are rights and religion natural partners with an overlapping worldview, or arch-enemies with conflicting interpretations of how we live with our neighbours near and far. Two-and-a-half years ago, I couldn't spare the two days to attend...