Martin O’Brien (born in

Belfast, Northern Ireland Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

in October 1964) is a human rights activist and charity administrator in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He has worked for over 40 years in the peace and human rights movement in Northern Ireland. Since 2015, O'Brien has been the director of th
Social Change Initiative
an international not-for-profit organisation based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that supports activists and funders globally to secure progressive change, while also working to cement peace in Northern Ireland. Prior to joining SCI, Martin worked for 11 years at the

Atlantic Philanthropies The Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) was a private foundation created in 1982 by American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focused its giving on health, social, and politically left-leaning public policy causes in Australia, Berm ...

, where he led the planning process for the conclusion of Atlantic’s programmatic grant making which worked to bring about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people globally.The Atlantic Philanthropies , Atlantic: About: Management: Staff Listing: Staff: O'Brien, Martin
In 2011, O'Brien was appointed Senior Vice-President of Programmes at Atlantic with responsibility for global grant making programmes on Health, Ageing, Children and Youth, and Reconciliation and Human Rights. Prior to joining Atlantic Philanthropies, O’Brien worked for 17 years co-ordinating the work of the

Committee on the Administration of Justice The Committee on the Administration of Justice (often known by the acronym CAJ) is an independent human rights organisation in Northern Ireland with cross-community membership. It was established in 1981 and lobbies and campaigns on a broad range ...

''(CAJ)'', an organisation dedicated to securing the highest standards in the ''administration of justice in Northern Ireland''. As executive director of the CAJ, O'Brien helped to secure strong human rights provisions in the 1998

Good Friday Peace Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

supported by most parties, that set forth a timetable and a structure to create a new power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. It was during O’Brien’s tenure in 1998 that the CAJ was awarded the prestigious

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

Human Rights Prize in recognition of its contribution to protecting and promoting human rights in Northern Ireland. O’Brien has written, spoken and publicly campaigned on a wide range of civil liberties issues. He has brought concerns about the abuse of human rights in NI to international audiences, including the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. O’Brien received his degree in Sociology and Social Administration from

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

in 1987. In 1996, he was awarded a Master's degree in human rights law. In May 1999,

Notre Dame College Notre Dame College (Notre Dame College of Ohio or NDC) was a private Roman Catholic college in South Euclid, Ohio. Established in 1922 by the Sisters of Notre Dame as a women's college, it was coeducational from January 2001 until its closure ...

presented him with an honorary Doctorate in recognition of his work to promote justice and peace in Northern Ireland. O'Brien is the cofounder of several organisations, including ''Youth for Peace''; the ''Irish Network for Nonviolent Action Training and Education'' (INNATE); and ''Kilcranny House'', a rural education centre committed to healing the divisions which exist in Northern Ireland. O’Brien was one of four recipients of the

Reebok Human Rights Award The Reebok Human Rights Award honoured activists under the age of thirty who fought for human rights through non-violent means. Each year, the award was given to four or five individuals. Each received a grant of US $50,000 that was to be used to ...

in 1992 in recognition of his contribution to the protection of human rights. His work has also been honoured by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, which selected him as one of 12 international human rights monitors for 1992Facing History and Ourselves - Be the Change: Upstanders for Human Rights
and by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Martin 1964 births Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Human rights activists from Northern Ireland