Inez McCormack Fund launched

An unrelenting activist for the equality provisions outlined in the Good Friday Agreement, in the 1980s, Inez was also a signatory to the historic MacBride Principles on fair employment

THE Inez McCormack Fund was launched on Saturday 23 March at Elmwood Hall, Belfast, to celebrate the life and work of the renowned trade unionist and human rights activist.

The Fund will support the work of the pioneering and highly-commended Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR)* organisation, which was established by Inez in 2006. PPR provides support to local disadvantaged communities and groups in using a rights-based approach to change the social and economic inequalities and deprivation they face.

The celebratory event was attended by over 200 guests, including Inez’s family, representatives from the trade union movement, and US organisation Vital Voices, established by Hillary Clinton during her time as First Lady.

• Vinny McCormack, Michael D Higgins & wife Sabina

Dignitaries included Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and recently appointed UN Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

Inez, who passed away on 21 January 2013 following a short illness, was the first female President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. An unrelenting activist for the equality provisions outlined in the Good Friday Agreement, in the 1980s, Inez was also a signatory to the historic MacBride Principles, a corporate code of conduct for US companies investing in the North of Ireland which demanded outcomes to address religious inequality in employment.

In 2011, Inez was named by US publication Newsweek as one of ‘150 Women Who Shake the World’, a recognition of her work to improve the quality of women’s lives through human rights values.

• Vinny McCormack and Mary Robinson