Jane Winter

Jane Winter is a founder member and Director of British Irish RIGHTS WATCH (BIRW) an independent non-governmental organisation that monitors the human rights dimension of the conflict and the peace process in Northern Ireland.

BIRW specialises in researching alleged human rights violations resulting from the conflict; sending independent observers to inquests, trials and inquiries; providing consultancy services for lawyers; making representations to governments and international human rights bodies including the UN and making third-party interventions in human rights cases and providing expert testimony. They also work to place human rights at the heart of the peace process.

BIRW arose out of the concern of a small group of people from England, Ireland and America, all of them now based at BIRW London, about the human rights violations stemming from the conflict in Northern Ireland. The Charity’s work began informally in 1990, and consisted originally of organising seminars for lawyers, firstly in London and then in Belfast and Dublin. Gradually, lawyers and then campaign groups and individuals whose human rights had been affected began to regard BIRW as a vital human rights resource.

In 1992, BIRW played a key role in organising the Northern Ireland Human Rights Assembly in London. This Assembly generated even more demand for the charity’s services and in May 1992, BIRW was formally established as a not-for-profit company. In 1995 the organisation achieved charitable status.

Until August 1994, BIRW’s primary role was to monitor alleged human rights violations arising from the conflict in Northern Ireland. Since the ceasefires, the Charity has enhanced its services to include ensuring that proper respect for human rights is established in Northern Ireland in the wake of the conflict, with particular emphasis currently on the role of human rights in the emerging peace process.

More recently, BIRW has been instrumental in bringing about public inquiries into landmark events in Northern Ireland, such as Bloody Sunday, the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson and the loyalist leader Billy Wright.

BIRW’s services are available free of charge to everyone, regardless of their religious or political affiliations or opinions, with services requested by individuals and groups on all sides of the community.

Until 1995 BIRW’s work was carried out on a voluntary basis by unpaid volunteers. At that point, the Charity had raised enough funding to open an office and employ a full-time director for one year. In 2004, with demand for BIRW’s services still high, a deputy director joined the team.
Jane continues to campaign for human rights throughout the peace process and beyond, working towards an integrated and socially just society in Northern Ireland.

“Jane Winter combines considerable diplomatic skills with a steely persistence to see the truth told and wrongs righted. The fact that violations of human rights are now acknowledged as a key dimension of the causes of the conflict, and respect for human rights work as an essential element of any lasting peace is, in no small part, due to her work.”

Mel James, International Human Rights Committee, The Law Society

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