Patrick Corrigan

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...

Is it only States which have a responsibility to uphold human rights? What about companies – especially these days when some multinationals have annual turnovers larger than the Gross Domestic Product of some countries? That's the...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

This is the last installment in the review ( link to the complete series ) of Martin O'Brien's speech on 'Human rights and the Agreement: how far have we come? ', the 2009 Stephen Livingstone memorial lecture.Comments welcome on this...

Continuing the review ( link to the complete series ) of Martin O'Brien's speech on 'Human rights and the Agreement: how far have we come? ', the 2009 Stephen Livingstone memorial lecture. ---------------------------------------------...