She served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 1998 to 2003,and chaired the Implementation Committee on Human Rights on behalf of the British and Irish governments. She was appointed as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from 2005–2011,and was the Oversight Commissioner for prison reform in Northern Ireland (2011–2015). She currently sits on the Independent Reporting Commission for the disbandment of paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland.
She is Emeritus Professor in the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University and continues her academic research into domestic violence. She also specialises in conflict resolution and working with women in conflict regions.
McWilliams,a Catholic residing in south Belfast,co-founded (with Pearl Sagar,a Protestant social worker from East Belfast,and other women) the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC),a political party with a feminist platform in an era where civil liberties,let alone women's rights,were difficult to gain traction on.[3] She was inspired by Martin Luther King and watched the civil rights movement grow under his leadership in North America,noting herself that rights in Northern Ireland were of real concern too. Her focus for Northern Ireland was on a broader vision of peace based on inclusion,human rights and equality.[citation needed]
In 1996,McWilliams won a seat with Sagar representing the Women’s Coalition at the multi party peace talks in Northern Ireland leading to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. She joined 3% of global women as a signatory to an international peace treaty.[4] She faced frequent sexism and ridicule [5][6] in the Forum for Dialogue and Understanding,which sat alongside the peace talks,and challenged the way in which women in public life were subjected to such behavior. In the peace accord,she contributed to the securing of key outcomes such as restitution for victims,inclusion of reconciliation,integrated education,shared housing and a civic forum rather than a sole focus on decommissioning and disarmament.[7][8] This was key to the success of the Good Friday agreement.
She was elected as one of two Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition Members of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland (the other being Jane Morrice) from 1998 to 2003,representing South Belfast. During the negotiations following the Agreement,she was the Chairperson of the Human Rights Sub-Committee until 2003. In the 2003 Assembly election she lost her seat by a few hundred votes. [9] After ten years in existence,the NIWC decided in 2006 to stand down the party.[10]
McWilliams returned to her university post from 2003 until she was appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland as full-time Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in June 2005,for a three-year term. She was reappointed for a second term,in September 2008. Under her six-year leadership the Commission finalized the advice on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.[11] It was presented to the UK government in December 2008 where legislation on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland is still awaited. In 2011 she returned to the University of Ulster as Professor of Women's Studies in the Transitional Justice Institute which carries out research on gender,transition,human rights and conflict.[12]
McWilliams was one of three persons appointed in December 2011 to a Prisons Reform Oversight Group advising the Northern Ireland Department of Justice. In 2015 she was appointed by the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister to the Fresh Start Panel on the Disbandment of Paramilitary Organizations in Northern Ireland.[13] She was subsequently appointed by international treaty between the British and Irish governments to the Independent Reporting Commission from 2017 to 2021 to oversee the recommendations from the Panel report.[14]
She chaired the Governing Board of Interpeace,an international NGO based in Geneva,until July 2021 and is Emeritus Professor in the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University.[15] Monica helped establish Politics in Action [16] and is on their board of directors.
McWilliams has co-authored two books and three government-published research studies:Bringing It Out in the Open:Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland (1993,with Joan McKiernan) and Taking Domestic Violence Seriously:Issues for the Civil and Criminal Justice System (1996,with Lynda Spence) and 'Intimate Partner Violence in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies Insights and Lessons from Northern Ireland' (2017 with Jessica Doyle).[17][18]
Her research in the 1990s led to the first government policy on domestic violence and was followed up twenty five years later as the first longitudinal study on domestic violence during and post conflict. She has published several articles on the impact of political conflict,on conflict resolution and women's rights. She has facilitated workshops with women in conflict regions including Columbia,Myanmar,Uganda,DRC,Syria,Yemen,Afghanistan,Iraq,Israel and Palestine. She was one of nine signatories of the Northern Ireland peace process jointly awarded the John F. Kennedy Library Profile in Courage Award in 1998.[19]
On 9th June 2019 she was a 'castaway' guest on Desert Island Discs on 9 June 2019.[20] She was featured in the documentary "Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs",a history of the Northern Ireland's Women's Coalition.[21][22]
Her book Stand up Speak Out:My Life working for women's rights,peace and equality in Northern Ireland and beyond was published in 2021.
In 2018,in recognition of her life work and in celebration of the 100 Anniversary of Suffrage,Women in Business awarded Monica with a Special Lifetime Achievement Award.[25] Also in 2018 Monica McWilliams was inducted into The Irish Tatler Hall of Fame.[26]
In November 2023,McWilliams was named to the BBC's 100 Women list.[27]
The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict,it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland,at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland,England,and mainland Europe.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965,it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence,a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007,although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom.
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of the participants of the Troubles. Its declared goal was to defend Ulster Protestant loyalist areas and to combat Irish republicanism,particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In the 1970s,uniformed UDA members openly patrolled these areas armed with batons and held large marches and rallies. Within the UDA was a group tasked with launching paramilitary attacks that used the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) so that the UDA would not be outlawed. The British government proscribed the UFF as a terrorist group in November 1973,but the UDA itself was not proscribed until August 1992.
Unionism in Ireland is a political tradition that professes loyalty to the crown of the United Kingdom and to the union it represents with Great Britain. The overwhelming sentiment of Ireland's Protestant minority,unionism mobilised in the decades following Catholic Emancipation in 1829 to oppose restoration of a separate Irish parliament. Since Partition in 1921,as Ulster unionism its goal has been to retain Northern Ireland as a devolved region within the United Kingdom and to resist the prospect of an all-Ireland republic. Within the framework of the 1998 Belfast Agreement,which concluded three decades of political violence,unionists have shared office with Irish nationalists in a reformed Northern Ireland legislature and executive. Currently,they are refusing cooperation in this consociational arrangement to protest what they see as an attempt,post-Brexit,to distance Northern Ireland from Great Britain through European Union compliant trade rules.
The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC) was a minor cross-community political party in Northern Ireland from 1996 to 2006.
The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire,the end of most of the violence of the Troubles,the Good Friday Agreement of 1998,and subsequent political developments.
Naomi Rachel Long MLA is a Northern Irish politician who served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive from January 2020 to October 2022. She has served as leader of the Alliance Party since 2016 and a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East since 2020.
Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists,loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom,and oppose a united Ireland independent of the UK. Unlike other strands of unionism,loyalism has been described as an ethnic nationalism of Ulster Protestants and "a variation of British nationalism". Loyalists are often said to have a conditional loyalty to the British state so long as it defends their interests. They see themselves as loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to British governments and institutions,while Garret FitzGerald argued they are loyal to 'Ulster' over 'the Union'. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state,believing they cannot rely on British governments to support them. The term 'loyalism' is usually associated with paramilitarism.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) is a non-departmental public body funded through the Northern Ireland Office but operating independently of government as the national human rights institution (NHRI) for Northern Ireland. It came into existence on 1 March 1999,having been created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom through section 68 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998,in compliance with a commitment made by the UK Government in the Belfast Agreement of 10 April 1998. Its powers were amended by the Justice and Security Act 2007.
Operation Demetrius was a British Army operation in Northern Ireland on 9–10 August 1971,during the Troubles. It involved the mass arrest and internment of people suspected of being involved with the Irish Republican Army (IRA),which was waging an armed campaign for a united Ireland against the British state. It was proposed by the Unionist government of Northern Ireland and approved by the British Government. Armed soldiers launched dawn raids throughout Northern Ireland and arrested 342 in the initial sweep,sparking four days of violence in which 20 civilians,two IRA members and two British soldiers were killed. All of those arrested were Irish republicans and nationalists,the vast majority of them Catholics. Due to faulty and out-of-date intelligence,many were no longer involved in republican militancy or never had links with the IRA. Ulster loyalist paramilitaries were also carrying out acts of violence,which were mainly directed against Catholics and Irish nationalists,but no loyalists were included in the sweep.
Jane Morrice is a Northern Irish politician and journalist who helped architect the Good Friday Agreement. She is the former Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly,former Head of the European Commission Office in Northern Ireland and former reporter for BBC Belfast. Morrice was Vice President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) from 2013 to 2015 and again from 2019 until 2020 when Brexit forced the United Kingdom out of the European Union. Morrice served two terms as Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission and was a prominent member of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition until it ceased to exist in 2006.
Events during the year 1954 in Northern Ireland.
Brice Dickson is a barrister from Northern Ireland and Emeritus Professor of International and Comparative Law at the School of Law,Queen's University Belfast. Formerly Professor of Law at the University of Ulster,he became the first Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) on its establishment in 1999,serving two three-year terms. He was a key figure related to the Holy Cross dispute in which Loyalists sought to blockade a Catholic primary school in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast. After his time on the Commission Dickson worked as a Professor of International and Comparative Law at Queen's University Belfast from 2005 until his retirement in 2017.
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April,Good Friday,1998,that ended most of the violence of the Troubles,an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. It was a major development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s. It is made up of the Multi-Party Agreement between most of Northern Ireland's political parties,and the British–Irish Agreement between the British and Irish governments. Northern Ireland's present devolved system of government is based on the agreement.
Daphne Elizabeth Trimble,Baroness Trimble,is a Northern Ireland academic and former politician. Having served as a member of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland,she was appointed as a part-time Commissioner in the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) in 2008,and publicly opposed its proposals for a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.
Inez McCormack was a Northern Irish trade union leader and human rights activist. She was the first female president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions,representing the UNISON union. She also successfully campaigned for the inclusion of strong equality and human rights provisions in the Good Friday Agreement,and was a signatory to the MacBride Principles for fair employment. In 2002 she was described as "probably the best known and most experienced human rights campaigner in this country."
The Ulster University's Transitional Justice Institute (TJI),is a law-led multidisciplinary research institute of Ulster University which is physically located at the Jordanstown,and Magee campuses. It was created in 2003,making it the first and longest-established university research centre on this theme. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) Law at Ulster University was ranked 4th overall in the UK. Ulster was ranked first for impact in law with 100% of impact rated as world-leading,the only University to achieve this in law.
Bronagh Hinds is a women's rights advocate from Northern Ireland. She was a participant in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations for the Women's Coalition and was the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
Avila Kilmurray,is a community activist and peacebuilder in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland Women's Rights Movement (NIWRM) was a women's rights group founded in 1975 in Belfast,Northern Ireland.
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