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Welcome to PPR

PPR puts the power of human rights at the service of those who need it most. We help marginalised groups use rights in practical ways to make real social and economic change in their communities.

Located in Belfast, PPR supports groups in using our unique Human Rights Based Approach to tackle the issues challenging them. The groups launch campaigns which measure success when change is seen on the ground, not when government makes a commitment.

Successes include the establishment of a new appointment system for mental health patients attending A&E across Northern Ireland, re-housing families from run-down tower blocks, and re-negotiation of regeneration plans from which residents have been excluded.

Our results demonstrate that people in the most deprived communities have valuable expertise about the problems they face, and how they can be remedied.  PPR groups aim to harness this expertise to make the government decision making processes that exclude them more participative and accountable.

Our work is showing that this approach leads to better outcomes, long-lasting change, and has the potential for widespread replication.

Latest News

Information denied on £250m University of Ulster investment - questions remain on how deprived communites will benefit

PPR has strongly criticised the University of Ulster’s failure to provide basic information how its £250m plans for a new north Belfast campus will impact on the social deprivation in the immediate vicinity of the site.

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Card Before You Leave scheme at risk?

The Belfast Mental Health Rights Group have expressed their concern that the Card Before You Leave Scheme could be at risk. The scheme launched in 2011 by Minister for Health Michael McGimpsey (pictured) has been positively evaluated by the Health and Social Care Board, and has resulted in the number of mental health patients who do not attend their follow up appointments falling by almost half, yet indications have been made that it is 'under review'.

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Mary Robinson speaks about the life and work of Inez McCormack

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has spoken about the life and work of Inez McCormack. Some of her comments include:

"She had a unique way of thinking about how power should be exercised"

"She had a great reputation in places like Vietnam, Cambodia and South Africa because of the work she was doing"

"When I met Inez one of the first things we would do was take out photographs of our grand-children"

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Social Housing in Northern Ireland: Facing the Future or Reliving the Past?

"In a post-NIHE housing era in Northern Ireland, the principles of equality and objective need must be adhered to. Otherwise, rather than ‘Facing the Future’, we will be 'Reliving the Past'."

Last week Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland MLA announced plans to dismantle the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and restructure the delivery of social housing. Investiative journalism website, The Detail, published PPR's analysis.

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PPR express concerns over DSD Housing Strategy

PPR have expressed serious concern about the Department for Social Development's proposals for Northern Ireland's first ever Housing Strategy in a response to the DSD "Facing the Future" consultation.

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A right to work, a right to welfare

Over the summer PPR began working with the Golden Thread Art Gallery in Belfast to harness the experience and ideas of unemployed people at the DHSS office in Great Patrick Street.

With over 5000 unemployed in north Belfast alone, Assembly plans to create only 5000 jobs a year are falling far short of what is needed to deal with an ever growing unemployment crisis.

The Assembly have also recently passed the Welfare Reform Bill through its first stage - designed to cut at least £18 Billion from the UK welfare budget at a time of fewer jobs and general economic decline.

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United Nations Recognise the Work of Seven Towers Residents Group

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has recognised the work of the Belfast based Seven Towers Residents Group as an international best practice example of using international human rights standards to make local change.

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Housing Authorities and DSD Deny Problems on the Ground

In the aftermath of recent ‘Equality Can’t Wait’ actions by north Belfast residents, five women in four separate parts of the constituency, each in their own way enduring the effects of the failing social housing system, wrote detailed letters to the NIHE asking for answers.

Having received either no response or having been told again that their housing conditions are a result of personal choice the North Belfast women have used the press to help highlight their ongoing struggle for equality and decent housing conditions. 

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