In Northern Ireland, abortion is regulated by outdated legislation, including Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Act, 1861. Abortion is only lawful where necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman or where there is a risk of real and serious adverse effects on the woman’s physical or mental health,...

CAJ Director Brian Gormally appeared today before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality to discuss the issues and potential risks raised by Brexit in terms of human rights and equality in Ireland. Attending the same meeting were representatives of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) and the Irish Human Rights and Equality...

To say there is still confusion about the practical implications of Brexit is an understatement. One area over which there remains numerous questions is the impact of Brexit on the rights of people born or living in Northern Ireland depending on their citizenship status. Currently, people resident in Northern Ireland generally fall into two citizenship...

CAJ highlights another year spent promoting justice and protecting rights in our Annual Report 2018. It’s been an eventful twelve months for the CAJ team, not least because of the human rights implications of the UK’s impending exit from the EU. Introduction to the report: People in Northern Ireland are sometimes accused, not always unjustly,...

When: 11am to 1pm, Tuesday 11 December 2018 Where: UNISON, Galway House, Belfast As part of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival 2018, the Equality Coalition invite to you to a panel discussion on the increasingly hostile environment faced by human rights defenders. Online abuse, trolling and threats have become common place in the digital...

CAJ joins with seven other human rights organisations to call for an independent review of the UK’s Prevent strategy. The government’s Prevent strategy – which forms one strand of the government’s overarching counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST – seeks to pre-empt acts of terrorism by identifying those at risk of committing such attacks, including by ‘intervening to...

Inside this issue: Belfast journalists reject recent attacks on media freedom. Experts provide commentary on the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill and the latest legacy proposals for Northern Ireland. We examine how one council’s ban on Irish street signage ended badly in court and highlight new research which shows Brexit may weaken human rights protections....

CAJ joins with eight other UK organisations to share concerns about proposed legislation. The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill would restrict freedom of expression and press freedom, threaten the protection of journalistic sources, and undermine academic research in Britain. It would limit the right to access information online and it would sneak in a new, harsh border regime for...

The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill continues to progress through the UK Parliament. Our latest briefing note on the bill examines one particular area of concern: an additional border control power that could jeopardise the Common Travel Area (CTA) between the UK and Ireland. The Bill would extend the existing port and border control powers...

CAJ has lodged a formal complaint with the European Ombudsman in relation to rights in Northern Ireland after Brexit. We are concerned that previous promises to protect the rights of people in post-Brexit Northern Ireland are now at risk of being watered down. In December 2017, the EU and the UK produced a joint report...