Abstract
The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) is one of Northern Ireland’s leading human rights organisations fighting for political and social change. In this interview, Mr Brian Gormally discusses the difference between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ law, and how his organisation applies legal theory to the lived experience of Northern Irish communities in its work. In outlining some of the CAJ’s recent projects – such as its Model Implementation Bill for the Stormont House Agreement – Mr Gormally describes successful working relationships with academia, politicians, civil society and members of the community. It is also noted that the CAJ engages with the community in a specific and strategic way; rather than targeting the general public, the organisation produces information and research for those with their hands on the levers of power. Nevertheless, Mr Gormally identifies some striking differences in public attitudes towards human rights between England and Northern Ireland, and praises the community sector in the Republic of Ireland for crafting personal and anecdotal narratives to help win the same-sex marriage referendum. Finally, Mr Gormally describes the benefits and challenges of working closely with academia, concluding that such collaboration feels natural and has resulted in long and successful relationships with local academic institutions.
Highlights
The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) was government to enact legislative change, publishes high-quality established in Northern Ireland in 1981 as a response to reports and research and provides information, advice and repeated human rights violations in the country during the representation to the victims of human rights abuses in Troubles – the 30-year sectarian conflict between unionists Northern Ireland
Briefing notes examine the United Kingdom (UK)’s use of emergency powers and how these have been put into practice in Northern Ireland (CAJ, 2020a), as well as exploring the implications of travel-related quarantine for those moving between the Common Travel Area (CTA) of the UK and Ireland (CAJ 2020b)
Alongside Amnesty International UK and the trade union UNISON, the CAJ has called for a public enquiry into the handling of the pandemic in care homes across the country, following news from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) that care homes residents have accounted for 51.4% of Covid19 related deaths in Northern Ireland – the highest proportion of care home deaths throughout the UK (NISRA, 2020, p. 9)
Summary
Given the importance of the CAJ’s work on a number of human rights and justice issues that are of great – and, often, personal – interest to the many disparate groups of people, we asked Mr Gormally to identify a target audience for the organisation’s detailed yet clear reports and publications. Why would you follow the CAJ unless you were a bit interested in human rights, either in general or because you work for an organisation that sees the relevance of human rights to their particular work?” Mr Gormally notes that the human rights field in England is concerned with how to influence public opinion as a result of negative media representation. “You can go to [a local political party] and say, ‘Are human rights important?’ They would say yes They may have a very different conception of what they mean by that, but the very concept is not ruled out in the same way it can be in England.”. ‘I’ll see your Article 2, and what about Article 10, section (1), paragraph (b)?’ This kind of stuff, where people talk in these acronyms or references that are completely exclusive to anybody who doesn’t live and breathe the stuff.”
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Modern Perspectives in Academia and Community Today
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
