Belfast and Beyond

I'm finding it increasing difficult to write about how relations with the police in Northern Ireland should improve with a helicopter hovering loudly above my neighborhood. Is it the loud noise that's making it difficult to concentrate...

The MacDermott Lecture 2010 is one of the key annual legal events at Queen's University Belfast. This year, it will be delivered by Lady Brenda Hale, Justice of the UK's Supreme Court on the theme “Equality”. The lecture takes place on...

I've received notification of a few forthcoming (non-Amnesty) events in Belfast related to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which could well be of interest to AI supporters. First up is this afternoon at 4pm in Queen's University...

Prof Colin Harvey, a member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and Head of the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast (and Amnesty member!), gave a comprehensive speech in London this week on the proposed Northern...

The Democratic Unionist Party have voted to agree a deal with Sinn Fein over the devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Northern Ireland. Another epic Northern Irish impasse has been surmounted and much of the...

Paige Jennings, who used to be an Amnesty researcher on Haiti and a former UN human rights observer there, recently blogged here about the situation post-earthquake. She'll be giving further reflections in person next week in a seminar...

Published today in the Belfast Telegraph : -------------------------------------------------------- Colin Harvey is dead right in his assertion that – whatever the outcome of the discussions over the devolution of policing and justice...

With permission, I'm reproducing the excellent opinion piece in today's Belfast Telegraph by Prof Colin Harvey, Amnesty member and Commissioner on the NI Human Rights Commission. This is a cut down and reworked version of a feature...

Paige Wilhite Jennings, who used to be a researcher on Haiti for Amnesty and a former UN human rights observer there, contacted me this week. She is now settled in Northern Ireland, but the tragic events in Haiti moved her to write...

On Belfast and Beyond we're fans of veteran Northern Ireland journalist Brian (Barney) Rowan. Journalistically speaking, he knows where the bodies are buried and literally speaking, he knows many of the the combatants – on all sides -...

Nearly twenty years ago, I worked as a security guard in New York (don’t laugh!) I had no Taser, but was side-armed instead with a powerful torch and a walkie-talkie to call colleagues in case of emergency. One of those colleagues was...

In the wake of the attempt to blow up an airliner as it landed in Detroit , the world's attention is once again on the airports, and, more specifically, airport security. Some perhaps faced the prospect of flying home from winter...

The last decade has been scarred by terrorism and a 'war on terror' which has left hundreds of thousands of civilians dead, thousands locked up without trial and hundreds tortured in prisons around the world. The next decade must be...

War is over, if you want it. Or so John and Yoko told us. Sadly, there are some in Northern Ireland who appear to want it to continue. Last night a man suffered terrible gunshot wounds in an attack in west Belfast, apparently carried...

My essay topic for my Human Rights 1 class in my master's course is how the law on derogations balances human rights and security when it comes to terrorism in international human rights law. Working on it, I find myself increasingly...

This blog has previously visited the issue of the vast extent of child abuse perpetrated and covered up by representatives of the Catholic Church in Ireland. More of the truth – of widespread rape of children and a subsequent blanket...

What does 'freedom of expression' really mean? Does it mean, as held by the European Court of Human Rights, that while a person is guaranteed the freedom to say whatever they like, without discrimination, they are not entitled to a...

I hope to get along to the Slugger Awards tomorrow evening in Belfast. This is the (second) annual gathering of Northern Ireland's political bloggers, politicians, campaigners and journalists to celebrate the sometimes uneasy coming...

I know that many of you will have heard of the infamous School of the Americas , the US military training camp located in Fort Benning, Georgia, which specialises in training officers from Latin American countries. Since its creation...

It's nearing the end of Remembrance Day. I'm going to take the opportunity to remember some people who are normally forgotten: the refuseniks, the conscientious objectors, those who refuse to fight and kill. These are the people, as...