Human Rights Defenders Under Threat
A major issue of concern raised at the recent meeting of NGOs the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay was the growing threat of reprisals against human rights defenders…
From Compassion to Advocacy
The following article was originally written for and published in in the Winter 2013 edition of ‘Siol’ the newsletter of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust in Ireland. Personal encounters with…
Ending Violence Against Women
Up to 70 per cent of women experience violence in their lifetime. Between 500,000 to 2 million people are trafficked annually into situations including prostitution, forced labour, slavery or servitude,…
NGO Recommendations DO Matter in the UPR Process
In 2008 the Human Rights Council initiated the first Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This four-yearly human rights review of every Member State of the United Nations takes place in Geneva…
Promoting Human Rights in Timor Leste
The freedom to gather and speak openly about human rights was not possible for the people of Railaco Kraic under the Indonesian occupation of Timor Leste which only ended a…
Students Raising Awareness About Modern Day Slavery
An estimated 27 million people are presently enslaved around the globe as a result of trafficking, debt bondage, illegal contract labour and prostitution – more than the total figure of…
Advocacy and Human Rights training in the Philippines
ERI Team member Peter Harney visited the Philippines in February to conduct two training workshops, one in Maasin and the other in Kabankalan. The latter was held at the San…
High Commissioner Reflects on Human Rights Progress
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré At the commencement of the 22nd Session of the Human Rights Council on 25th February, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, acknowledged the…
Balancing Free Speech and Incitement of Hatred
Following a two-year process and a series of workshops around the world on how better to implement Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the…
Where? Small Places Close to Home!
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the…