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 [...]

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 [...]

Willowbank Community Resource Centre and Equality 2000 teamed up on 8th 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]