Our Strategic Priorities

Strategic Priority 1: Protect the rights of individual persons who face the greatest barriers to justice

Objectives

• Ensure through public information campaigns and digital engagement that the rights and equality of individuals and the means to vindicate them are widely understood;
• Provide people facing discrimination and human rights violations with the knowledge, skills and information necessary to vindicate their rights;
  Assist individuals in situations of particular concern to vindicate their rights through our enforcement powers.

Outcomes

• Increased public awareness of rights and equality and an understanding of the means by which to vindicate them;
• Increased engagement with the staff of the Commission from people facing the greatest barriers to justice through Your Rights and other points of access;
• Effective strategic litigation, including through the use of our amicus curiae function before the Superior Courts.

Strategic Priority 2: Influence legislation, policy and practice

Objectives

• Hold government, public bodies, agencies and businesses to account;
• Continue to develop evidence-based decision-making through an active and ongoing research programme;
• Use our enforcement powers including conducting an inquiry as most appropriate and proportionate, and move to enforcement of the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty.

Outcomes

• Greater impact for our interventions across all functions;
• Increased awareness and enhanced implementation of the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty;
• Effective compliance with the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty through enforcement.

 

Strategic Priority 3: Engage with key organisations to address discrimination and human rights abuses

Objectives

• Increase community engagement in the work of the Commission;
• Strengthen relationships with civil society and foster an enabling environment for human rights development, including through formal advisory committee structures;
• Engage with any organisation relevant to advancing our mandate and strategic priorities.

Outcomes

• Civil society, other stakeholders and individuals regard the Commission as open, responsive and respectful;
• The Commission extends the knowledge of our work nationally and enhances the use of our legal assistance powers by members of the public;
• The Commission remains informed and anticipates emerging human rights and equality issues.

 

Strategic Priority 4: Raise the quality and broaden the extent of the dialogue on human rights and equality issues

Objectives

• Facilitate a strong and shared culture of respect for human rights, equality and intercultural understanding including through education, particularly of young people;
• Promote an understanding of human rights as inter-related and interdependent, with a particular emphasis on socio-economic rights;
  Anticipate, identify and highlight issues so as to enable the Commission to respond appropriately to human rights and equality issues in the State.

Outcomes

• Measures of public sentiment demonstrate improvements in understanding of the value of diversity and respect for human rights and equality;
• Positive impact on the perceptions of all people with regards to rights, equality and intercultural understanding;
• Impact positively on the extent and content of public debate to ensure that human rights are respected across all media platforms.

 

Resources