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Ulster Human Rights Watch wishes to recruit an experienced part-time Administrator to support its Advocacy Service for innocent victims of terrorism. Role will be based in Brownlow House, Lurgan.

Salary: £14,645.33 pa

Hours per week: 20

As a charitable company formed in 2002 and a major human rights organisation in Northern Ireland, Ulster Human Rights Watch seeks to promote human rights and the Judeo-Christian interpretation of such rights, advance education in human rights, and support the enforcement of the law. The UHRW Advocacy Service provides assistance to families who have unresolved historical cases from the Troubles and wish to obtain information or request further investigation.

The Administrator will be required to provide clerical, marketing and financial administrative support to the Ulster Human Rights Watch Advocacy Service. This will include monthly financial and non-financial monitoring returns, procurement, payments, and clerical oversight of the client database.

To apply please download the following:

Candidate Information Booklet

Application Form

Equality Monitoring Form

Closing date: Friday 29 September 2023

Ulster Human Rights Watch (UHRW) is urging the UK Government to consider taking the Government in Dublin to Court over its ‘outrageous failings’ on legacy.

Earlier in the month, the Republic of Ireland Government warned that it could take a case against the UK in the European Court of Human Rights because of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.

The Lurgan-based human rights body says it is hypocritical of the Irish Government to adopt such a threatening stance when it itself refuses to legislate on the vexed issue of the past.

UHRW Advocacy Manager, Axel Schmidt, said: “We don’t like what is being pushed through Westminster, but the threat from the Irish Government rings hollow.

“The Irish Government seems to want it all their own way, yet they shy away from shining a light on what the Republic of Ireland did and didn’t do during the ‘Troubles’. One has to ask why the reluctance? Why are they opposed to dealing with the legacy of the past and what are they so determined to hide?

“Their hands are far from clean when you consider the number of barbaric attacks that were planned and launched from the safe haven across the border. For decades the terrorists walked freely and even today, there are people living there who were never made amenable for their crimes. A case in point is the self-confessed gunrunner and former priest, Father Patrick Ryan.

“What we see here is a hypocritical stance being adopted by Dublin, one that is unbalanced and disingenuous. Irrespective of whether the Republic of Ireland carries out its threat of taking the UK Government to the European Court of Human Rights, the UK Government should give urgent consideration to launching legal proceedings of its own against Dublin over its outrageous failings to allow terrorist murderers and bombers to escape justice and carry out vile acts in Northern Ireland against innocent victims.

“Dublin needs to be given a strong message that it appeared to have been complicit in what was done in the name of Irish republicanism.”

Please click here to see article published in the Newsletter.

Human rights campaign organisation, Ulster Human Rights Watch (UHRW), is warning that an investigation into the 1978 La Mon atrocity could be halted by the Government’s Legacy Bill.

UHRW’s Advocacy Service has written to the Prime Minister seeking an assurance that the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (OPONI) will be able to continue with its investigation into the PIRA attack that killed twelve people and injured twenty-three others.

UHRW Advocacy Service Manager, Axel Schmidt, “This is a straightforward matter for relatives and survivors of La Mon: can the Ombudsman’s Office proceed with the investigation it started in 2022 and expects to have completed in April next year?

“The sole major obstacle that could jeopardise the completion of this investigation is the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, which may come into force in the near future.

“For this reason, taking into account the seriousness of this case and the length of time the victims have been waiting for this investigation to be carried out, I have asked that the Prime Minister urgently intervene so as to ensure that this investigation can be continued by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland until its conclusion.

“Survivors and relatives will take great comfort if the Prime Minister agrees. If, on the other hand, they are told ‘no’, then those who are left with the traumatic injuries of that awful night will be denied access to the truth and feel left behind, abandoned and betrayed by their Government.

“It would be a shocking disregard of their suffering and resilience over many years if they were to fail to get this all-important assurance from the Prime Minister.”

Click here to see the letter sent to PM Rishi Sunak MP