Ireland

Our collective mission is to help make Ireland a safer and fairer place in which to live and work, visit and do business. The remit of the Justice family of agencies and services stretches across a range of human concerns and touches on aspects of national life as diverse as the protection of life and property; the prevention and detection of crime; the provision of services for the buying and selling of property; the management of inward migration to the State and providing a Courts Service and other forms of investigative tribunals. On the international front, the Minister and the Department serve the interests of Ireland in relation to Justice and Home Affairs’ matters by participating fully in the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations among other international fora.

The Department has civil and military elements and was established by the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924. The primary role of the civil element of the Department is to support the Minister as head of the Department and in particular to provide policy advice and support on Defence matters, including assistance with policy formulation and the implementation of policy as directed by the Minister.

The Mission of the Department of Foreign Affairs is to advance Ireland's political and economic interests in the European Union and in the wider world, to promote Ireland's contribution to international peace, security and development both through the European Union and through active participation in international organisations, in particular the United Nations, to protect our citizens abroad, and to pursue reconciliation and partnership on the island of Ireland.

Irish Aid is the Government of Ireland’s programme of assistance to developing countries. The overarching objective of Irish Aid is the reduction of poverty, inequality and exclusion in developing countries.

The Network is the successor to The International Human Rights Trust established as a charity in 1996 by Karen Kenny and Brian McKeown. The work of IHRT was carried out under the guidance of a Board of Trustees with Noeline Blackwell (Chair), David Begg,Brian McKeown, Grahame Morphey while Harry McKeon served as Honorary Treasurer. The principles developed through the Trust’s work are the foundation of those which the Network continues to develop and advocate.

Brian McKeown served as co-founder and Trustee of the International Human Rights Trust and as an independent advisor until his retirement in 2003. He had previously served as Director of Trocaire, the Irish international development agency for twenty-one years. During this period he worked on development issues in Asia, Africa and South America. He was President of the European Union Development NGOs Liaison Committee, a member of the (then) Irish Government’s Advisory Council on Development as well as Chair of the Confederation of Irish Development Organisations. He was a founder and Trustee of the Association of West European Parliamentarians for Southern Africa (AWEPA)- African European Institute. In 1995 he was appointed the European Union's Co-ordinator for the UN Human Rights Operation in Rwanda (HRFOR).