On Friday 27 September 2024, the Human Rights Centre at Queen’s co-hosted a workshop on ‘Human Rights and Northern Ireland’ with the Centre for Public Law at the University of Cambridge, in conjunction with the European Human Rights Law Review.

The workshop consisted of five expert panels exploring a variety of topics in connection with human rights law in Northern Ireland. The first panel focused on the legacy of the past; the second focused on accountability mechanisms; the third focused on freedom of expression; the fourth focused on LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, while the fifth panel focused on the reach of human rights in Northern Ireland. 

The workshop attracted contributions from academics and practitioners based not only in Northern Ireland but also England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia and the US. The event concluded with a keynote address by the Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Alyson Kilpatrick. 

The workshop organisers – Dr Conor McCormick (QUB), Dr Kirsty Hughes (Cambridge) and Dr Stephanie Palmer (Cambridge) – hope to facilitate the timely publication of papers from the workshop as editors of the European Human Rights Law Review.