Belfast and Beyond

"We were not there to act like an army unit, we were there to act like a terror group." That's the chilling admission from a former member of the Military Reaction Force, a shadowy undercover unit of the British Army which operated in...

The deniers, amnesiacs, refuseniks and blockers have been out in force of late. Anne Cadwallader’s book, Lethal Allies , documenting collusion in over one hundred loyalist killings was received with predictable, knee-jerk denials among...

Kamalesh Sharma, the secretary-general of the Commonwealth - and Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast - is under fire after being accused of withholding crucial legal advice that could have prevented Sri Lanka from hosting the...

As Richard Haass, the one-time American peace envoy to Northern Ireland, gets ready to make a return visit - this time like a lone US cavalry man coming to rescue our politicians from themselves – one of the big three issues his Talks...

Whether ultimately found innocent or guilty, Dungannon woman Michaella McCollum Connolly and Scot, Melissa Reid , face the prospect of a lengthy stay in Peru’s overcrowded and under-resourced prison system. In fact there are twice as...

Do you remember where you were when you heard about Omagh? I do. My future wife and I were down South on holiday. When the news came on the car radio – and with every bulletin, it became worse – we could hardly believe our ears. Hadn’t...

Speech delivered by Amnesty's Patrick Corrigan on Saturday from the platform in front of Belfast City Hall as part of the March for a Fairer World, marking the G8 summit, to be held in Northern Ireland this week: "We are here today in...

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and gave his famous " I have a dream " speech. Today, fifty years on, in tribute to the great civil rights leader, the US marks Martin Luther...

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...

Attacks on olive trees has become part of the modus operandi of the aggressive settler communities in the West Bank. In July alone (see this UNOCHA report for more information), the small town of Burin south of Nablus had their olive...

My teammate Eva and Iwalked up the family home stairs to get a better view of the nearby settlementof Itamar from the flat rooftop. Along with the clothes drying in the intensemorning sun and the view that stretched across olive trees...

Last Tuesday (July 12th) the Yanoun team weremeeting with the local families in the community. We sat under the tree infront of Yassers house and discussed the problems of living with the settlers,as relayed in my previous blog . Fauzi...

(This piece is a part II of this blog ) The organisation I am here with, EAPPI has been the sole constant international presence here since 2003. Since our arrival, attacks on the village are down by 90%. In the absence of physical...

There are currently 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the WestBank (EAPPI, Unjust Settlement ). Theyare all illegal under international humanitarian law (IHL), which, in Article49 (6) of the Geneva Convention states that the occupying...

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...