About BIRW

Legal Status History Key Activities Personnel
Sponsors Funding Our Impact

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Legal Status

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH is an independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) that monitors the human rights dimension of the conflict in Northern Ireland. It is registered as a not-for-profit company and is a registered charity.

The organisation was formally established in 1992, although those involved in its work have been so since 1990. Its objects are:

the promotion by means of education and research of the proper observance and maintenance of human rights in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere in the world with particular reference to the conflict in Northern Ireland;
the promotion and dissemination of knowledge, information and understanding of such human rights by writing, publishing and distributing articles, reports, books and other documents and assisting in the same, by arranging and providing lectures and seminars, and by all other means of providing and exchanging information.
to procure the abolition of torture, extra-judicial executions, and arbitrary arrest, detention and exile.

History

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH arose out of the concern of a small group of people from England, Ireland and America, all of them based in London, about the human rights violations stemming from the conflict in Northern Ireland. Our work began informally in 1990, and consisted originally of organising seminars for lawyers, firstly in London and then in Belfast and Dublin. Gradually, lawyers and then campaign groups and individuals whose human rights had been affected began to regard us as a resource. In 1992 we played a key role in organising the Northern Ireland Human Rights Assembly in London, which attracted 254 written submissions alleging human rights violations arising from the conflict and over 250 participants. A panel of seven international human rights experts heard evidence over three days and produced a substantial report, Broken Covenants, that severely criticised the United Kingdom government for its failure to protect human rights. This Assembly generated even more demand for our services, and in May 1992 British Irish RIGHTS WATCH was formally established as a not-for-profit company. In 1995 the organisation achieved charitable status.

Until August 1994 our primary role was to monitor alleged human rights violations arising from the conflict in Northern Ireland. Since the ceasefires, we have enhanced our activities to include ensuring that proper respect for human rights is established in Northern Ireland in the wake of the conflict, with particular emphasis currently on the role of human rights in the emerging peace process.

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH's services are available free of charge to everyone, regardless of their religious or political affiliations or opinions, and we are proud that our services are requested by individuals and groups on all sides of the community. We take no position on the eventual constitutional outcome of the peace process and we are entirely independent of any other organisation, although we work very closely with other domestic and international NGOs who share our concerns.

Until February 1995 all our work was carried out on a voluntary basis by unpaid volunteers. At that point, we had raised enough funding to enable us to open an office and employ a full-time director for one year. With the peace process at such a crucial moment we did not hesitate, but deployed our existing funding in full and resolved to raise enough further financial support to enable us to see our task through to its conclusion. In 2004, with demand for our services still high, we raised further funds to hire a deputy director.

Key Activities

In fulfilment of its charitable objects, British Irish RIGHTS WATCH:

researches alleged human rights violations arising out of the conflict,
sends independent observers to trials, inquests and inquiries,
provides consultancy services for lawyers,
makes representations to international human rights bodies and organisations such as the United Nations,
organises seminars for lawyers and others,
makes third party interventions in human rights cases and provides expert testimony,
publishes articles and reports,
organises conferences.

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Personnel

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH is managed by a Management Committee made up of five women, all of whom give their time and expertise free of charge:

Fiona Murphy, from Belfast, who is a solicitor,
Sarah Cooke OBE, from London, who is a human rights consultant and a former Director of the British Institute of Human Rights
Marion Fitzpatrick, from London, who is an administrator and former Director of the London Advice Services Alliance
Helen Shaw, who is the co-Director of INQUEST
Barbara Stow is a consultant, who was formerly an assistant ombudsman for prisons and probation and assistant director at the Local Government Ombudsman

The Director is Jane Winter, from London, who is a founder member of British Irish RIGHTS WATCH, and who has many years' experience of working on the human rights dimension of the conflict in Northern Ireland. She has previously worked as a researcher and as an adviser and advocate in the Citizens Advice Bureau service and the law centre movement.

The Researcher is Caroline Parkes. She has an MSc in Development Practices from the Centre of Development and Emergency Practice at Oxford Brookes University, where she focussed her research on developing human rights in post-conflict Bosnia. Prior to BIRW, Caroline worked in Nazareth, Israel for an Arab arts organisation and for Marie Curie Cancer Care in London.

The Administrator is Elizabeth Folarin. Elizabeth has considerable administrative and office management experience. Before joining BIRW, she worked for Somerfield Stores as office supervisor.

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH has volunteers based in London, Belfast and Dublin who make a valuable contribution to its work. It has also benefited from the input of interns from many parts of the world.

Funding

British Irish RIGHTS WATCH gratefully acknowledges the financial support of

Atlantic Philanthropies,
the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust,
the John Merck Fund,
the Hilda Mullen Foundation,
the Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation,
the Catherine Scorer Trust Fund,
the Patrick Finucane Memorial Trust,
Garden Court Chambers,
Took's Court Chambers,
the trade union UNISON,
under the auspices of the American Ireland Fund: Bob, Jack and Jerry Dunfey, Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Dennis Smith, Bill McNally, Bill Flynn and John T Sharkey,
and many individual lawyers in Britain, Ireland and America.

DONATIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME, ACKNOWLEDGED, AND PUT TO GOOD USE

Our Impact

For such a small organisation, we have had a considerable impact in the field of human rights in Northern Ireland. Here are just a few examples of situations where our work has made a difference.

INQUIRIES INTO THE MURDERS OF ROSEMARY NELSON, ROBERT HAMILL AND BILLY WRIGHT

British Irish rights watch has worked closely with the families of Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill and Billy Wright, who have been campaigning since the late 1990s for public inquiries into the three murders. Allegations of state collusion in the murders were investigated by Canadian judge Peter Cory, who recommended in October 2003 that public inquiries be established in all three cases, as well as in the case of Patrick Finucane. Finally, in November 2004, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced the composition and terms of reference for the three inquiries, which began their work in 2005. British Irish rights watch is monitoring the inquiries closely and has made detailed written submissions to them regarding our knowledge of the cases.

INTIMIDATION OF DEFENCE LAWYERS AND THE MURDER OF PATRICK FINUCANE
Since 1990 British Irish RIGHTS WATCH has been investigating allegations of attempts by police officers to intimidate defence lawyers in Northern Ireland. Defence lawyers' fears were greatly exacerbated when Belfast lawyer Patrick Finucane was murdered in 1989 by loyalists, apparently acting in collusion with the British security services. After we highlighted this problem internationally and submitted a series of seven reports to the United Nations, their Special Rapporteur on Judges and Lawyers made the UN's first ever official visit to the United Kingdom in 1997. In March 1998 he called for numerous reforms in the criminal law and a public inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane's murder. Following sustained domestic and international pressure, the government has committed to holding a public inquiry in the case, but under new legislation on inquiries.

BLOODY SUNDAY
In 1992 we were approached by the relatives of those who died on Bloody Sunday, 30th January 1972, when British troops opened fire on unarmed civilians in Derry, the worst loss of civilian life at the hands of the security forces in any single incident of the Troubles. Insult was added to injury when an official public inquiry, headed by the then Lord Chief Justice, exonerated the army and failed to give a true account of the tragedy. The relatives had tried unsuccessfully to re-open their case for the past twenty years. Five years later, in large part as a result of our efforts, the Irish government called upon the British government to overturn the original inquiry. In January 1998 the British government announced a new public inquiry into the events of that fateful day. The inquiry, under the chairmanship of Lord Saville, lasted until November 2004, and BIRW has had independent observers monitoring the entire proceedings.

THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT
British Irish RIGHTS WATCH co-ordinated a joint third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights in the first case it considered on rules in Northern Ireland that allow courts to draw adverse inferences if suspects exercise their right to remain silent under police questioning or fail to testify in their own defence. The Court ruled that the defendant, John Murray's right to a fair trial had been violated because he had to decide whether to remain silent in the absence of any legal advice. This winning point was first raised by ourselves. We are working on a number of other cases on this question.

For Peace Justice & Human Rights