As the four month consultation by the UK government on a Bill of Rights draws to a close, the Human Rights Consortium today delivered 34,000 signatures of support from the general public for a strong Bill of Rights to the offices of the Secretary of State.

The signatures were gathered  via a mail delivery to every home in Northern Ireland,an  online petition and several street signature collecting days. People have indicated their support for a strong Bill of Rights that protects everyone, that protects rights like health, housing and education, and that is effective and enforceable.

Chairperson of the Human Rights Consortium, Fiona McCausland said:

“We put out the call, and the people of Northern Ireland responded in their tens of thousands.  The figures are not about support for our campaign – they are about support for a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.  By replying in such numbers, the people have indicated their clear wish for a strong and inclusive Bill of Rights. ”

Consoritum member Patrick Yu from the NI Council for Ethnic Minorities and Consoritum staff member Lynda Sullivan delivered the thousands of signatures to Hillsborough Castle with the help of a forklift.

Homely Planet Radio this week launched a new series entitled ‘Future Proof’ which in its first programme looks at the Bill of Rights with particular relevance to those from ethnic minority background.

Hosted by Venus McDonnell the programme was recorded at Windmill Integrated Primary School and features children from the surrounding Dungannon area as well as representatives from community organisation Belong, the Human Rights Consoritum and the NIHRC.

You can listen to the full programme here: Homely Planet – Future Proof

Read It, Sign It and Send It - Willowbank students and staff discuss the New Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland

Willowbank Community Resource Centre and Equality 2000 teamed up on 8^th February to call for a strong and inclusive Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland to make it a fair, peaceful and safe place to live. 

At the meeting the two groups, who provide services for people with disabilities and work to promote disability equality in action, formulated their response to the Government consultation.  Having made previous submissions on the issue the group’s focus at this meeting was to update members on recent developments, in particular the NI Human Rights Commission’s advice to the Secretary of State, and the NIO’s response in the form of the current consultation.  

Following discussions about the latest developemnts members decided upon the expansions which would be made to their previous submission to ensure that the rights of people with disabilities are included in the Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.

Secretary of State, Shaun woodward has announced a four week extension to the consultation period, now due to finish on March 31st. 

The extension has been welcomed by Consortium members and is viewed as an opportunity to encourage even greater public participation. So far thousands of mailers have been returned supporting the inclusion of socio-economic protections and the Consoritum will be using the extension to advance the debate amongst politicians, the media and the public.

Remeber to add your support at www.BillOfRightsNI.org if you haven’t already done so.

Members of the Amnesty QUB and Youth groups, Consortium staff, and members took to the streets of Belfast on Saturday 20th February to collect more signatures for the ‘Make our Bill of Rights Strong’ campaign.

Weather conditions were more than chilly but the volunteers braved the elements and collected an impressive 300 signatures from shoppers and passers-by.

Following the collection, Lynda Sullivan from the Consoritum had this to say, “It was freezing cold out here to day but the members and Amnesty volunteers have been in high spirits and have been great at collecting the signatures. We have had a lot of interest from the public wanting further information which has been a great encouragement. I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped out.”

Programme Director of Amnesty International Northern Ireland, Patrick Corrigan, put forward the case for a strong Bill of Rights  on the Politics Show on Sunday 21st February.

Patrick faced tough questioning from presenter Jim Fitzpatrick but argued favourably for the need for a Northern Ireland specific Bill of Rights. Speaking on the show Patrick said,

“…arguably what we don’t have here in huge quantities is accountability, we have a system at Stormont where there is little opposition. A Bill of Rights for NI would give you a degree of transparency and accountability around decision making that would help people have their human rights.”

To watch the full clip from the politics show interview please click here:  http://bbc.co.uk/i/r0y63/?t=51m46s

Helen and Alana lent their support to the event

On 29th January the NI Anti-Poverty Network held an information session at Unison buildings, Belfast. The event brought many voices togther to discuss the positive impact a Bill of Rights could have on those affected by poverty in Northern Ireland.

The event discussed how the NIO document completely failed to address poverty related issues such as homelessness, unemployment, access to education and fuel poverty.  At the event particpants heard from Dr Hakeem Yusuf from Queens University and lecturer Goretti Horgan from University of Ulster.

Statistics were presented showing how Northern Ireland has suffered with regard to social and economic standards due to the conflict and the region has seen consistently

high levels of poverty as a result.

On Tuesday 9th February the Women’s ad hoc Policy Group held a seminar in Belfast to discuss a possible response to the consultation from the women’s sector.

The seminar heard from NIHRC Chief Commissioner Monica McWilliams, Laura McMahon from NI Women’s Aid Federation and Magaret Ward from the Womens Resource and Development Agency. The seminar recapped on the involvement of the women’s sector in the Bill of Rights process to date and explored how the sector could move forward in the debate.  

Feedback at the event suggested great disappointment in the NIO consultation document as the extent of the women’s sector involvement in the process so far was in no way reflected in the proposals. The group will be putting their submission forward shortly documenting again the gender specific rights and also the general socio-economic protections they would like to see in the final Bill.

Derry Traveller Women currently participating in a ‘Training for Trainers’ program completed their ‘Read it: Sign it: Send It’ leaflets to support a strong Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. All petitions were forwarded to Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, last week.

The ‘Training for Trainers’ program is sponsored by the Western Area Traveller Inclusion Project and Derry Traveller Support Group.

Spokesperson Winnie Crumlish stated:

“It is important for Traveller women to articulate their support for the Bill of Rights, as it will ensure the recognition and protection of Traveller culture, identity and protection against discrimination”

Artist Caragh O'Donnell adds the finishing touches

On Thursday 28th January the Community Arts Forum (CAF) hosted a creative consultation session on the Bill of Rights.

The workshop took place at CAF offices in Belfast and attracted participants from many different groups within the arts sector.

Working with artists Caragh O’Donnell and Ryan O’Reilly, participants of the session decided to create an egg-timer shaped sculpture to illustrate that time is running out on securing an adequate Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. Each participant then created small sculptures to hang from the main frame to show the differenet issues they would like to see protected by a Bill of Rights.

Photos from the event can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/communityartsforum