Join us for an event exploring the potential powerful role that human rights have to play for transforming society and tackling the climate emergency.

Lecture by Alyson Kilpatrick, Chief Commissioner of Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, and poetry reading by Belfast-based poet Niamh McNally.

Alyson Kilpatrick, Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, is giving a lecture on the human rights impacts of climate change at Queens University Belfast.

The global climate crisis is also a human rights crisis. Climate change caused by human activity is denying or limiting the access of many people to a wide range of human rights.

There will also be a poetry reading by Belfast-based poet Niamh McNally, whose poetry aims to raise awareness of the climate crisis.

Niamh completed her MA in Ulster University where she co-created and edited, The Paperclip. Since then, Niamh has been a facilitator in The Seamus Heaney Homeplace and her poetry can be seen in publications such as: The Tulsa Review, Tír na nÓg, Capsule Stories, The Galway Review, Snowflake Magazine, Aôthen Magazine and HOWL: New Irish Writing.

Niamh’s poetry featured on the BBC and in the NI Human Rights Commission film ‘It Seems’, which focuses on the climate crisis. Her poem, 'If Stone Could Speak' was showcased by Bushmills as promotion for 'The Causeway Collection', and Niamh's most recent poetry film, 'Defining Hope', premiered at the Business in the Community 2021 Responsible Business Awards.

This year, Niamh has spoken at UU's 'Writing for The Earth' Symposium, The John Hewitt Society's 'Tending Our Planet' Symposium, and has taken eco-poetry workshops in The Ulster Museum.