Shared Goals Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

James Martin MBE and Mencap talk disability and human rights on our Shared Goals podcast.

This episode features an interview with Mencap NI ambassador, award-winning actor and barista James Martin MBE alongside Mencap NI’s Senior Marketing, Communications and Influencing Lead, Karen Gilgunn.

It explores a wide range of topics around the theme of disability and human rights, including the power of sports, drama and music to help persons with disabilities fulfil their right to participate fully in society.

James highlights his own journey with Mencap from young service user to award-winning actor and how he is now helping others in his role as an ambassador, while Karen outlines the steps being taken to make our communities more inclusive and concerns about the
impact of funding cuts.

This episode of Shared Goals is released to mark the UN
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The episode features an interview with Marie Brown, CEO of Foyle Women’s Aid and the Foyle Family Justice Centre, who has successfully led key developments and a wide range of projects supporting women, children and young people who are victims and survivors of domestic and sexual abuse across the Foyle area.

*Trigger warning*

During the interview Ms Brown discusses the causes of
violence against women, the impact of recent measures designed to tackle violence against women, and the support available for women and their families
who have experienced abuse.

If you have been affected by issues discussed on this
episode please see a list of organisations below for support and information.


Women’s Aid Federation - Women's Aid Federation Northern Ireland (womensaidni.org)
Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline
HereNI - HERe NI - A place for Lesbian and Bisexual Women
Men’s Advisory Project NI - MAPNI - Men's Advisory Project - Male Victims of Domestic Abuse
Nexus NI - Home - Nexus NI
Rainbow - Home - rainbow (rainbow-project.org)

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has launched the third episode in its new podcast series ‘Shared Goals.’ This episode explores the topic of poverty and human rights and marks International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Staff from the Commission are joined in discussion by Jonny Currie, NI Network Lead at the Trussell Trust.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has launched the second episode of its new podcast series ‘Shared Goals’. This episode explores the topic of climate change and human rights and features an interview with Dr Ian Fry, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change.

Today we release our first episode on International Youth Day – 12 August 2023 and our topic is the issue of equal protection from physical punishment for children in Northern Ireland. Michael Boyd, Hannah Russell and Conor Boyle from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission interview Caroline Cunningham, Acting Policy and Public Affairs Manager at NSPCC Northern Ireland.