Oral history interview of Martin O'Brien

View on DRI

Context

Martin O’Brien is a human rights activist from Northern Ireland. Martin was working for The Atlantic Philanthropies since 2004, being appointed director of grantmaking programmes that promote peacebuilding and access to human rights in 2011. Before 2004, Martin worked for the Committee on the Administration of Justice [CAJ]. As the executive director of the CAJ, Martin helped to secure strong human rights provisions in the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement. Martin has also co-founded several organisations, including Youth for Peace, the Irish Network for Nonviolent Action Training and Education [INNATE], and Kilcranny House, a rural education center committed to healing the divisions that exist in Northern Ireland. He is a past recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award, and his work in Northern Ireland has been honoured by both Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First.

Description:

The sixty-one minute long oral history interview was conducted by the Digital Repository of Ireland as part of The Atlantic Philanthropies archive project (2017-2020) titled Amplifying change: A history of the Atlantic Philanthropies on the island of Ireland in 2019., In this interview, Martin O'Brien describes his up-bringing in Belfast in the 1970s and how he became first involved in campaigning and advocating for peace in Northern Ireland. Martin talks about his work at the Committee on the Administration of Justice [CAJ] and how CAJ has been awarded the Council of Europe Human Rights Prize in recognition of its contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland. Martin also describes his work for The Atlantic Philanthropies that lasted more than a decade. He describes some of the initiatives funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies in Northern Ireland, details the government partnerships with non-governmental organisations, and describes restorative justice initiatives in the West and East side of Belfast. Martin also touches on The Atlantic Philanthropies’ work in the Republic of Ireland. Here campaigns focused on achieving greater human rights for people with disabilities and migrants and achieving equality for children, youth, and people of the gay and lesbian community., and This recording contains the personal views of the participants, they do not reflect the views of the DRI.

Type:

audio and oral histories (literary works)

Creator:

Digital Repository of Ireland, 2015 -

Subject:

Curated collection--Oral histories, Curated collection--Human rights, Curated collection--Reconciliation, Atlantic Philanthropies (Organization), Community Foundation Northern Ireland, Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Irish Penal Reform Trust, Grant 18645, Grant 22096, Grant 07268, Grant 08478, Grant 15450, Grant 10508, Grant 09978, Non-governmental organizations, Prisoners--Civil rights, Northern Ireland--History--1968-1998, Peace-building, Marginality, Social, and Curated collection--Martin O'Brien

Grant:

Grant 18645, Grant 22096, Grant 07268, Grant 08478, Grant 15450, Grant 10508, and Grant 09978

Grantee:

Irish Penal Reform Trust

Year of Grant:

1994-2013

Location of Grantee:

Dublin, Glencree, and Belfast

Rights:

Copyright is with DRI and Martin O'Brien. Please see license for reuse.

Attribution:

Digital Repository of Ireland and The Atlantic Philanthropies

Doi:

https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.fn10mm116