The NIHRC Blog #1

​Welcome along to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission’s first blog post!

Over the past year, we have been working hard to enhance our digital content and seek out the best ways to engage with the public. In doing so, we have been busy updating our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube profiles with new and exciting content - as well as launching an Instagram account. We’ve really enjoyed adding vibrant new material to the web, and developing infographics to make content easier to digest.

These social networks allow us to share the work we’re currently doing, but they can be limiting - we can’t say a lot in 140 characters. So we wanted a way of going beyond the simple ‘picture and caption’ approach. We wanted a space where we can present the human rights issues we’re currently working on, and have room to dig a little deeper.

That’s where the NIHRC blog comes in.

We will create posts that engage and inform you - in a format that’s both lively and accurate. We will take time to cover topics that are relevant to you, living in Northern Ireland, as well as shining a light on issues arising internationally.

We want to create an open dialogue with our readers. To accommodate this, each post will contain a special #hashtag which we’ll encourage you to use on social media - so the discussion can develop across the web.

Every other month, our Chief Commissioner will contribute a blog post - and we’ll ask members of staff for their input, too, to give you a complete picture of the work that the NIHRC are doing.

It’s been a busy start to the year for Northern Ireland.

March 2nd saw the Northern Ireland Assembly election and, almost two months later, Northern Ireland is still without an Executive.

March 29th marked the triggering of Brexit. In its wake, our Chief Commissioner, Les Allamby, voiced the NIHRC’s recommendation that:

‘the UK government ensures there is no regression in the protection of human rights as a consequence of exiting the European Union.’

Throughout this time, we have been working to protect and promote the rights of everyone in Northern Ireland, working with a huge variety of organisations and individuals along the way.

Right now, we’re working in partnership with the Northern Health and Social Care Trust to pilot a human rights-based approach to participatory decision-making. We’ve also been working with Young Ambassadors from the Prince’s Trust to engage with young people on the subject of mental health. We’re looking forward to the collaborations in store throughout 2017 - and we promise there will be plenty of updates both here and across our social networks.

So thank you for checking out the first NIHRC blog post. We plan to post every month, and look forward to welcoming you back soon.

[As well as sharing content on the issues currently on our agenda, we want to welcome your input and ideas on topics you would like to read more about. If there’s a particular issue you have in mind, get in touch:

zara.porter@nihrc.org]

#NIHRCblog