Publications and resources
Below you’ll find a comprehensive library of the Equality Coalition’s reports, submissions and other publications. These documents are produced in collaboration with our members.
Filter
Submission to the Assembly and Executive Review Committee’s Review of Assembly and Executive Reform
19 November, 2025
The Equality Coalition has responded to the Assembly and Executive Review Committee’s (AERC) Review into Assembly and Executive Reform. Our submission includes several key asks: The AERC should advocate for the repeal of the St Andrews veto and its replacement with the NI Bill of Rights. The Petition of Concern should be further reformed to introduce the adjudicatory role of...
Read more
Download document
Submission by the Equality Coalition to the draft Programme for Government Consultation
30 October, 2025
The Equality Coalition has submitted our response to the draft Programme for Government consultation. Our response focuses on: Programme for Government legal framework The previous draft PfG in the New Decade New Approach deal The 2024 PfG consultation Equality Coalition members ‘asks’ for areas in the PfG
Read more
Download document
‘Inciting a Pogrom?’ Social Media and the Racist Disorder in Ballymena
8 September, 2025
This report builds on the Mapping Far Right Activity Online in Northern Ireland Project Report (May 2025), which examined case studies of far-right activity, from racist housing intimidation in South Belfast (2023) to the racist and Islamophobic violence in Belfast on 3 August 2024. That report analysed social media narratives, political messaging, and responses to these incidents, and was launched...
Read more
Download document
‘Screened Out Without Mitigation’ Returning Equality in Northern Ireland to the Margins
27 June, 2025
This report examines how the statutory equality duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, as well as the use of the ‘call-in’ mechanism, are operating within Northern Ireland’s 11 local councils. Authored by independent researcher Dr Robbie McVeigh and commissioned by the Equality Coalition, the report provides background on the legacy of sectarian discrimination in local government,...
Read more
Download document
Seminar Report: How could minority and women’s rights be protected in a united Ireland?
15 May, 2024
On 15th November 2023, the Equality Coalition and the Transitional Justice Institute, with support from the LSE Gender, Justice and Security Hub, hosted a seminar which discussed how the rights of minorities and women could be protected in a United Ireland. The seminar consisted of two panels. Panel one covered issues around post-unification cross-border constitutionalism, unionist rights in a united...
Read more
Download document
Seminar Report: Could rights-based safeguards make Stormont functional?
15 May, 2024
On 13th October 2023, the Equality Coalition and the Transitional Justice Institute, with support from the LSE Gender, Justice and Security Hub, hosted a seminar which explored whether rights-based safeguards could make Stormont functional. The seminar consisted of two panels. Panel one covered a range of issues including a Bill of Rights, Stormont vetoes, and judicial interventions. Panel two covered...
Read more
Download document
Equality Coalition Committee for Communities Oral Evidence
25 April, 2024
On 25 April, the Equality Coalition gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Communities on the Anti-Poverty Strategy. Daniel Holder (CAJ), John-Patrick Clayton (UNISON), Becca Bor (Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network) and Trása Canavan (Barnardo’s) represented the Coalition. They spoke about the duty to adopt an Anti-Poverty Strategy, judicial reviews of the Northern Ireland Executive and the 2020-2022 Mandate...
Read more
Download document
Progressing an anti-poverty strategy for Northern Ireland – Seminar report
1 January, 2024
On 28 June 2023, the Equality Coalition, Barnardo’s NI, and the Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network (NIAPN) held a joint seminar calling for the development of an anti-poverty strategy to be a day one priority for the next NI Executive. ‘Progressing an anti-poverty strategy for Northern Ireland’ took place at Stormont and was sponsored by MLAs from five political parties. Northern...
Read more
Download document
Progressing an anti-poverty strategy for Northern Ireland – Briefing note
1 June, 2023
The Equality Coalition, Barnardo’s NI, and the Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network (NIAPN) have produced a joint briefing note calling for the development of an anti-poverty strategy to be a day one priority for the next NI Executive. The three organisations launched the briefing at a seminar held in Stormont on Wednesday 28 June 2023. Northern Ireland has already been waiting for an...
Read more
Download document
Policy Asks 2022
1 January, 2022
The Equality Coalition has developed a series of ‘Policy Asks’ for Northern Ireland, which have a particular emphasis on rights and equality. These ‘asks’ are based on a recent mapping exercise examining the status of rights-based commitments from the agreements of the NI peace process.
Read more
Download document
Submission in relation to the ECNI draft legal assistance policy
1 September, 2021
The Equality Coalition for NI (ECNI) recently consulted on their new (draft) Policy for the Provision of Legal Advice and Assistance. In response, we produced this submission suggesting a number of changes to the draft document. Our recommendations focus primarily on encouraging ECNI to use their enforcement powers strategically and proactively going forwards.
Read more
Download document
Generic submission to draft equality schemes out for consultation in 2021
1 August, 2021
Since the advent of Section 75, the Equality Coalition has engaged extensively with public authorities in relation to their equality schemes. In 2016, when a number of reorganised public authorities were consulting on their schemes, we drafted a generic submission to provide advice to them on best practice. This submission has now been updated for 2021 as a number of public bodies...
Read more
Download document
Submission on Programme for Government outcomes and draft budget
1 February, 2021
We have finalised our submission on the Programme for Government (PfG) outcomes and draft budget (including departmental screenings/EQIAs). Given their interlinking nature, this submission responds to a number of different, concurrent consultations at once. Our submission examines the rights and equality implications of current plans, including whether the Section 75 statutory equality duty has been applied adequately throughout the budgetary process. We...
Read more
Download document
Stormont’s vetoes in the context of a pandemic – An Equality Coalition briefing note
1 November, 2020
In 2019, our Manifesto for a Rights Based Return to Power Sharing called for a new agreement to remove those political vetoes within the NI Executive that are not based on (and have conflicted with) equality and rights duties, and as such contributed to the destabilisation and collapse of the NI Executive in 2017. The issue returned to prominence in November...
Read more
Download document
Written Evidence to the NI Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on the Bill of Rights from the Equality Coalition Co-Conveners
1 October, 2020
A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland was first promised in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, but progress towards its development has repeatedly stalled. The establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Bill of Rights at Stormont represents a fresh attempt to move things forward. On 22 October 2020, the Co-Conveners of the Equality Coalition (CAJ and UNISON) gave...
Read more
Download document
Equality Proofing the Return to School – Briefing Paper
1 September, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has had far reaching impacts on all aspects of NI society, not least education, with most pupils being withdrawn from school for five months due to the strict lockdown period and the subsequent summer break. As staff and students begin the new school term, we must ensure that their return to school is carried out in a...
Read more
Download document
Defining Public Duties to Tackle Incitement to Hatred whilst Respecting Freedom of Expression: Reviewing the Legal & Policy Framework – Conference Report
13 October, 2019
A one-day conference was held on 13 October 2017 to explore, from a human rights perspective, when public authorities can or must act against speech and cultural expression in order to protect the rights of others. The event was organised by the Equality Coalition, with support from the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. It was...
Read more
Response to consultation on ECNI’s complaints and investigation procedures
2 May, 2019
The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) has been reviewing and revising the procedures related to its enforcement (investigation) powers. These powers enable ECNI to investigate public bodies that fail to comply with their Section 75 duties. In March 2019, ECNI launched a public consultation on its (draft) ‘Revised Policy and Procedures for Complaints and Investigations’. The Equality Coalition responded...
Read more
Download document
Manifesto for a Rights Based Return to Power-Sharing
1 April, 2019
More than two years have elapsed since the devolved power sharing institutions provided for under the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) collapsed in Northern Ireland. Additionally, many of the rights based commitments of the peace settlement, including those originally designed as to act as safeguards on the NI Executive and Assembly, remain unimplemented or have been misimplemented. Fresh cross-party talks to...
Read more
Download document
Post-Brexit Citizenship Status: Divided by the Rules? – Conference Report
1 March, 2019
In March 2019, the Equality Coalition, in partnership with BrexitLawNI, held a major conference on ‘Post-Brexit Citizenship Status: Divided by the Rules?’ in the Moot Court Room at Queen’s University Belfast. Featuring expert practioner and political panels, the conference explored how Brexit will transform the citizenship landscape in Northern Ireland and could lead to hardened entitlement boundaries between different groups of...
Read more
Download document