Read the Annual Report via this link.
Introduction by CAJ Director, Daniel Holder: 2025 has been another productive year for CAJ working with a small yet dynamic staff team we have continued to achieve high impact and high-profile work in typically challenging areas across our areas of strategic priority.
Coinciding with a new funding cycle from the Human Rights Fund, CAJ revised and adopted a new three-year strategic plan for 2025-2028. Notwithstanding some additions and significant reframing to reflect present day challenges, our core priorities remain largely consistent with our previous three-year plan:
Our first strategic priority area ‘safeguarding the peace process’ – witnessed continued activity to seek full implementation of the rights-based provisions of the peace agreements. Of particular note was our successful judicial review in early 2025 against the Northern Ireland Executive for failing to adopt the Anti-Poverty Strategy required further to the St. Andrews Agreement. In relation to minoritised language rights, CAJ was heavily involved with representatives of the Irish-speaking community in NI in seeking implementation of peace settlement and treaty-based obligations towards the Irish language, with considerable success in 2025.
CAJ was also involved in work on paramilitary transition and challenging NI-implications of the proscription of Palestine Action under the Terrorism Acts. With environmental groups and PILS, CAJ produced an NI Right to Protest Guide. CAJ also engaged on the issue of Stormont Reform and the GFA-mandated NI Bill of Rights, published a report on the ECHR and GFA and worked with the UK-EU structures to safeguard GFA-rights in the context of Brexit.
Our second strategic priority area ‘combatting impunity’ involved being at the forefront of work to challenge the 2023 Legacy Act which closed viable legacy investigations in Northern Ireland. This involved extensive engagement with civil society, the two governments, Parliamentary Committees and the UN and Council of Europe human rights machinery as well as a strong media presence.
The blueprint for reform produced by CAJ in November 2024, to reform the institution set up by the Legacy Act into a viable entity, was ultimately reflected in significant aspects of a new the UK-Ireland agreement on legacy (the Joint Framework) published
in September 2025. During the year, CAJ also undertook extensive international dissemination and exchange, presenting the findings of the International Expert Panel on State Impunity and the Northern Ireland Conflict in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile, and strengthening our ties to global networks focused on accountability and transitional justice.
Our third strategic priority area relates to human rights compliant ‘policing and justice’ reform. In this area of work, we supported journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney in their landmark case before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) finding unlawful surveillance by the PSNI, and in the subsequent McCullough Review into broader PSNI practice of surveillance of journalists and lawyers, on which CAJ sat on the oversight group. Through the CSO Coalition on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights, CAJ also led a new workstream on comparative practice on the regulation of informants and state agents; we also held a further cross border conference with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties on policing and the far right, delivered workshops at the National Black Police Association conference in London, on NI police reform.
Under our priority of ‘tackling structural racism and protecting migrant rights’, CAJ continued a wide programme of interventions. A central focus was the commissioning and publication of two landmark reports mapping far-right activity online in Northern Ireland and campaigning for a more effective state response. The first report, Far-Right Activity Online in Northern Ireland, which became a reference point for international media coverage, set out a series of case studies including the disorder of summer 2024. The second report, Inciting a Pogrom?, examined the racist violence in Ballymena in June 2025 and featured prominently in a BBC Spotlight documentary, helping to highlight the scale and seriousness of the threat posed by online mobilisation and misinformation.
CAJ also continued our joint project with the North West Migrants Forum, focusing on tackling racist intimidation, application of the hostile environment in Northern Ireland and racial profiling within the UK-Ireland Common Travel Area. Through the Equality Coalition we have also developed a mechanism for collaboration in responding to racist intimidation. CAJ has also continued high level engagements with the PSNI and Ministers, securing a significant policy change in practice of removing materials placed in public space for the purpose of racist and sectarian intimidation from housing.
Our work on ‘promoting equality and tackling prejudice’ focuses on the realisation of socio-economic and environmental rights. Much of this work is taken forward and facilitated by our Equality Coalition network, co-convened by CAJ and UNISON, with over 100 member groups. The Coalition was strengthened by funding from the Barings Foundation for a dedicated coordinator post and the establishment of a Legal
Interventions Subgroup. The packed regular plenary meetings of the Coalition continue to be a key forum for collective exchange and action. The Coalition held a seminar with Ulster University in early 2025 on the enforcement of statutory duties and launched a research report into local government and equality and minority rights compliance in June. Among environmental rights issues has been the preparations for a ‘community inquiry’ into the Mobuoy illegal waste site.
CAJ is an active member of a number of international networks, including the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) representing the global human rights movement. I was pleased to be elected as a Vice President of FIDH at the triannual FIDH Congress in Bogota, Colombia in October, which will deepen our ties and involvement. CAJ has also been active in the CSO Coalition on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights, leading a new workstream on the regulation of state agents and informants. CAJ is also active within the European Implementation Network (EIN) which supports members in the implementation of European Court of Human Rights rulings.
CAJ could not carry out its work without the generous support of our funders and the commitment of our volunteer Executive Committee. We are grateful to our core funders – the NI Human Rights Fund, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and AB Charitable Trust – several of whom also provided additional project support during the year. Through the Human Rights Fund, we also received new backing from the Oak Foundation for our legacy work. The Legal Education Foundation continued to support our Senior Policy Officer post on rights and equality, Esmée Fairbairn funded our joint project with the North West Migrants Forum, and the Barings Foundation supported the development of the Equality Coalition’s legal interventions subgroup.
The Equality Coalition programme also benefited from the UNISON Campaign Fund, and our policing projects were supported by the Community Foundations for Ireland and Northern Ireland. We remain deeply indebted to all our funders, and to our Executive Committee, whose expertise and governance underpin CAJ’s ability to meet the challenges ahead.
Daniel Holder, Director
Read the Annual Report via this link.
