Colin Harvey

Human Rights under threat

Paul Gosling on May 8, 2023, 9:00 am

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Human rights are under threat in the UK, warns the Northern Ireland Human Rights Chief Commissioner Alyson Kilpatrick. While the immediate question is whether the British government will change the law in order to remove large numbers of asylum seekers to Rwanda, this is in the context of proposals for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. This would have significant, negative, implications for Northern Ireland, given that this is one of the foundations of the Good …

‘A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland is overdue’

Paul Gosling on July 13, 2020, 9:02 am

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A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland is overdue and would protect the interests and concerns of all the population, insists Colin Harvey, professor of human rights at Queen’s University, Belfast. He was talking in the latest Forward Together podcast from the Holywell Trust. The Good Friday Agreement provided the expectation that there would be a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland that would safeguard citizens’ rights. And a committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly is, more than 20 years …

Human Rights, Equality, and a call for a generous grace …

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 9, 2014, 9:33 pm

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Does Northern Ireland need a Bill of Rights? Is Equality a Biblical value? Are human rights all about me? These were some of the questions addressed at today’s The Church in the Public Square conference organised by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Focussing on the topics of Equality, Freedom and Religion it it was perhaps appropriate that as delegates arrived the music wafting up from the Spires shopping arcade underneath the conference venue was “I can’t get no satisfaction”! …

PCI conference – Church in the Public Square – Roger Trigg, Colin Harvey, Michael Wardlow (Thu 9 Oct)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 4, 2014, 12:05 pm

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I’m firmly of the belief that churches deserve to be in the public square, but they need to take the initiative to elbow their way into the crowded agora and have something worthwhile to say. While peace and reconciliation efforts were made both at grassroots and denominational levels, over the last 40 years some inconvenient issues were ignored. There is much that the church could challenge, holding up Gospel values against Executive policies nevermind Executive politics. It’s good to see …

Bill of Rights Commission is an opportunity to re-ignite rights debate

Mick Fealty on July 1, 2011, 8:56 am

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So Mr Cameron’s Bill of Rights is to be considered by a commission. Another bauble from the election campaign becomes another can to be kicked down that proverbial road. In yesterday’s Higher Education Supplement Colin Harvey and Colm O Ceineide have a great precis on how it came to this: There exists little if any public demand for a new Bill of Rights. The commission has been established primarily to placate critics of the Human Rights Act. The Act already …