Human Rights
Since coming into force in 2000, the Human Rights Act 1998 has made rights from the European Convention on Human Rights enforceable in our own courts. Human Rights must be at the centre of all Government legislation, policy and administration practice.
Get in on the Act
A practical guide to the human rights act for public authorities in Northern Ireland (PDF 1.08 MB) has been developed by the Human Rights Unit to help public authorities in Northern Ireland understand how the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights affects their work.
Information in the guide is divided into three parts
- Part 1 - is the introductory and background section. You will need to read this first because it lays out the foundation for understanding and getting the most out of the guide.
- Part 2 - sets out the Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (and itsProtocols) which have been made part of our law by the Human Rights Act.
- Part 3 - contains a series of supporting documentation including a Human Rights Impact Assessment proforma (MS Word 108 KB), some frequently asked questions (FAQs), useful contacts and a glossary.
European Convention on Human Rights
A poster outlining the European Convention on Human Rights (PDF 800.69KB) is available to download. It summaries the articles and procols. It was produced by Equality and Rights Unit of OFMDFM in 2006 along with the Get in on the Act pack to help explain the Human Rights Act.
UN Human Rights Council
The UK are currently nominating for re-election in the human rights council. The elections happen every two years and the purpose of the United Nations Human Rights Council UK re-election campaign document (MS Word 30.5 KB) is to show the equality and Human Rights issues of Northern Ireland seperately from those of the rest of UK.
In order to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Act, OFMdFM's Equality, Rights and Social Need Division has developed a supplement to its "Get in on the Act" document published in 2006. This is available below.
The following presentations are provided for information and give details of specific legal cases where Human Rights issues were involved. Hopefully you will find them useful
We hope that you will find this information helpful. Any queries should be address to admin.ersnd@ofmdfmni.gov.uk
