NIHRC Chief Commissioner Alyson Kilpatrick's Speech at the Great Refugee Picnic 2025

"Thank you for inviting me to say a few words today. It is a great honour. I feel as if I have been invited to join a very select group of people, who have chosen Northern Ireland as their place of sanctuary.

We in Northern Ireland should know, better than most, with our history of conflict, how important it is to be included and to truly belong to a community of equals.

There is no you and us.

Only bad things come from excluding people or making them feel unwelcome. Good things come from including people and welcoming them.

Human rights are what we all have in equal measure. You're born with them, and you take them with you wherever you go. We are all members of the human family. But we are in dangerous territory, in which the dignity of humanity is denigrated. There is a growing tendency to assert claims for our own family, but less quick to assert the same for others.

That has got to change. If it does not, we will bring shame on all of us. We will signal that humanity is no longer precious.

As soon as you say one group of people is less worthy you demean each and every one of us. Who's to say who will be next.

Denigrate human life and we're all lost.

That's why the universal declaration of human rights was drafted after the second world war. The hope was that we would never see the same again. But we do see war, famine and atrocities happening across the globe.

We also see an increase in racism. I am deeply embarrassed by the racist and violent riots we have seen here. It goes hand in hand with a sharp increase in racist hate crimes. Don't accept it. Do go to your police service, and the statutory agencies - do come to us. I hoped we were better than this, but it seems we have a lot more work to do.

Unless we do that work we cannot call ourselves a civilised place, which once dedicated itself to human rights for all. Let me promise you that we, as the Human Rights Commission, are your Commission as much as anyone else's.

We are here for you. If we are not, then we fail.

We recently brought a case in our own name against the self-named Illegal Migration Act, and we won that case. It meant that the cruelty of that act was prevented from taking effect in Northern Ireland.

We did that because we believe it was the right thing to do, it was the lawful thing to do – it was the only thing to do. We had your support in doing that, thank you. You helped us in that work and we want to continue to work together.

Please know that what has been happening in Ballymena, for example, is not reflective of the majority of people here. I am truly sorry that this is happening to you. Please treat the Commission as yours and come to see us if we can help in any way. We will keep working and wish for the day when we actually live up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Good Friday Agreement.

I intend to enjoy your hospitality today – please give us the chance to show you ours."

Alyson Kilpatrick

Chief Commissioner