With violence on the rise once more, UNISON’s national delegate conference called for a proper bill of rights to help tackle sectarianism in Northern Ireland this morning.
Owen Stewart from Northern Ireland told delegates that racism, homophobia and sexism were all on the rise in Northern Ireland, but that “the elephant in the room is sectarianism”.
Yet sectarianism in the country remains undefined, and “if we cannot define the oppression, we cannot challenge it,” Mr Stewart continued.
One thing that could help to deal with that would be a long-sought bill of rights – and delegates agreed that UNISON’s influence should be brought to bear to make the peace process and a bill of rights political priorities, including seeking its inclusion in the Labour Party’s manifesto for next year’s general election.