Derry/Londonderry report on upholding the right to human rights to culture in post-conflict societies

This report was based on research commissioned by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in 2013. It provides an overview of critique of relevant international standards addressing cultural rights; identifies examples of good practice and areas were problems have arisen and uses the City/Londonderry City of Culture 2013 designation as a case-study of the opportunities and challenges in relation to the realisation of the right to culture in post-conflict and divided societies

The Derry/Londonderry report on upholding the human right to culture in post-conflict societies

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (the Commission) is mandated as a national human rights institution to uphold all of the human rights in the international human rights treaties. These include the right to culture. However, the Commission has found that little attention has been paid to cultural rights in human rights discourse. In particular, the promotion and protection of cultural rights in societies emerging from conflict is a neglected area. Little guidance exists for States, cultural stakeholders and such human rights actors as national human rights institutions as to how best to uphold cultural rights in such contexts. This gap is of particular concern for the promotion of cultural rights in Northern Ireland, a society that is emerging from decades of conflict. It is in order to redress this gap in literature and policy guidance that the Commission is publishing the present report. The report is set against the backdrop of the designation of Derry/Londonderry as UK City of Culture 2013. The experience of that city as City of Culture is used as a case study in relation to the realisation of cultural rights in a post-conflict society. As part of the UK City of Culture initiative, the Commission organised a conference and consultation on cultural rights in divided and post-conflict societies in association with the University of Ulster and in co-operation with the UN Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, Ms Farida Shaheed. This event took place in Derry/Londonderry from 1 to 3 July 2013 and the discussions that took place informed the finalisation of the current report as well as the attached recommendations

Ensuring the right to education for Roma children : an Anglo-Swedish perspective

Access to public education systems has tended to be below normative levels where Roma children are concerned. Various long-standing social, cultural, and institutional factors lie behind the lower levels of engagement and achievement of Roma children in education, relative to many others, which is reflective of the general lack of integration of their families in mainstream society. The risks to Roma children’s educational interests are well recognized internationally, particularly at the European level. They have prompted a range of policy initiatives and legal instruments to protect rights and promote equality and inclusion, on top of the framework of international human rights and minority protections. Nevertheless, states’ autonomy in tailoring educational arrangements to their budgets and national policy agendas has contributed to considerable international variation in specific provision for Roma children. As this article discusses, even between two socially liberal countries, the UK and Sweden, with their well-advanced welfare states and public systems of social support, there is a divergence in protection, one which underlines the need for a more consistent and positive approach to upholding the education rights and interests of children in this most marginalized and often discriminated against minority group

Mid-term review- UK Roma national integration strategy: Roma at the intersection of ethnic-inclusive, post-racial and hyper-ethnic policies

Rather than developing a specific strategy to promote Roma integration, the UK government decided to use mainstream legislation. However, the complex mechanisms of UK policy-making, means that responsibility for integration is defused. Because of the devolved governmental systems and the localisation agenda, Gypsy, Traveller and Roma (GTR) populations often find that they are subject to different forms of inclusion and exclusion depending on their specific geopolitical location. In this paper, the authors suggest that in addition to experiencing the impact of devolution, ‘mainstreaming’ approaches to Roma integration are failing because GTR communities find themselves located at the intersection of three different policy ideologies in the UK: ‘ethnic inclusive policies’ (that seek to promote Roma inclusion), ‘post racial policies’ (that obscure-specific forms of structural inequalities) and ‘hyper-ethnic’ policies, (targeted in a discriminatory manner towards certain communities). With the British about to exit from the European Union, concerns are also being raised about the future of Roma communities and the commitment to their inclusion

The inclusion of LGBT+ health issues within undergraduate healthcare education and professional training programmes: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: An inclusive health curriculum within undergraduate and continuing professional development programmes (CPD) should include issues related to people whom identify as LGBT+. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this systematic review was to examine the education and training requirements of undergraduate students and health professionals regarding the inclusion of LGBT+ health issues. DESIGN: A systematic review of the available published empirical studies. DATA SOURCES: A systematic literature search was undertaken of the following databases: CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase and Sociological Abstracts. All papers reviewed were from the years 2007 to 2017 and written in English. REVIEW METHODS: Three research questions informing the literature review were: (i) What are the education and training requirements of undergraduate students and health professionals regarding the health needs of LGBT+ people? (ii) What are the approaches utilized in the education and training of undergraduate students and health professionals regarding the health needs of LGBT+ people? (iii) What are the best practice examples of the education and training of undergraduate students and health professionals? Following the application of definitive criteria, 22 papers were included in the review. Quality appraisal and data extraction was undertaken by the two authors. RESULTS: The 22 papers were reviewed in detail in the final data analysis and synthesis where four main themes were identified: (1) Cultural competence and inclusivity. (2) Existing knowledge of LGBT+ health-related issues. (3) Curriculum developments and outcomes. (4) Evidence of best practice in education delivery. CONCLUSION: The review highlights the importance of the inclusion of LGBT+ health-related issues within the health curriculum and continuing professional development programmes and the implications for education and training, clinical practice and research

The Northern Ireland Assembly's standing orders and human rights protection

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m01/27320 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Enhancing thr rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Northern Ireland

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m01/35232 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Human rights in Northern Ireland Materials for use in human rights information/training sessions

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m01/27316 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

The Bill of Rights Equality

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m01/27329 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo