Thursday, Sep 2nd 2010
This article is a slightly edited version of a presentation I gave at the Equality in a Time of Crisis conference, organized by the UCD Egalitarian World Initiative (EWI) and the UCD School of Social Justice in UCD last week.
The issues raised by an agenda of workplace equality have urgent implications for trade unionists.
By [...]
In his insightful ‘Inaugural Editorial’ for the Irish Human Rights Law Review, Donncha O’Connell briefly addresses the lack of enthusiasm in Ireland for a political approach to human rights (rather than juridical). There is much to commend the editorial. Perhaps the most interesting element is O’Connell’s sense of the political and its relation to human [...]
At the Hands of the State
A TG4 documentary from a number of year back on human rights abuses in Ireland in the 70’s and the Sallins train robbery.
In 1977 Amnesty International published a report condemning the government of the twenty-six counties for its stance on human rights. The case of Osgur Breatnach was one of [...]
Ireland is in the middle of a catastrophized recession. This will come as no surprise to anyone in Ireland, though perhaps it is not known as well internationally as one might think. One of the crucial features of the time leading up to the boom was the activity of the property developers, the ‘risk-taking’ darlings [...]
In the immediate aftermath of World War Two, as awareness of the horrific atrocities inflicted by the Nazi regime on Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled filtered out, there was widespread international agreement that systems and structures should be put in place to prevent future recurrence of such barbarity. One pillar of these efforts was [...]
The Equality and Right Alliance conference, A Fairer Ireland: Equality and Rights at the Heart of Recovery is on today in Dublin. According to the Conference program, this morning’s speakers included Dr Kathy Walsh and Brian Harvey who are presenting their research into the real impact of government cuts in the funding of both the [...]
Last week’s resignation by Equality Authority head Niall Crowley has focussed belated attention on a round of Budget cuts which, at the time, went largely unnoticed - certainly by the general public.
In October, the Government decided that over 40 public bodies should be abolished, amalgamated or absorbed into the relevant Government departments. Budget 2009 [...]
Venezuela faced renewed criticism after the expulsion last month of two members of Human Rights Watch (HRW) from the country, including HRW’s Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco, after they had published a report accusing the Chavez government of undermining democracy. The expulsion was a foolish and paranoid over-reaction which should not be supported by those [...]