Human rights organisation combines advocacy and legal tools to change police policy on racist signs
“This is a significant change, and communities have reported to us that they have seen it reflected in daily life…”
Issue:
Who owns a lamppost? And who is responsible for removing anything fixed to one that shouldn’t be there?
When a series of racist posters and banners were erected in multiple housing estates in November 2023, those seemingly simple questions were met with inaction from both the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Department for Infrastructure.
The messages – warning housing authorities and landlords against making homes available to immigrants – appeared across Belfast city and beyond, including the Glen estate in Newtownards and Moygashel in Co. Tyrone.
The banners that were removed in south Belfast’s Belvoir estate were taken down by a local councillor, an action that actually prompted more offensive material to be erected as well as a threat issued against anyone who removed the posters.
Since 2019, the Committee on the Administration of Justice’s policy team had been regularly engaging with public authorities on this issue. In particular, CAJ had asked the PSNI and DfI to review their existing guidance and proactively develop new policies on how to remove examples of public hate expression.
“We felt that our previous advocacy was not progressing the issue, and the need for action was becoming more urgent as hate expression was increasing in communities, particularly racist hate expression.”
This overall lack of initiative, intensified by the fact that the NI Executive was still suspended following its February 2022 collapse, prompted CAJ to explore legal options to supplement their ongoing advocacy work.
Ideas:
Armed with CAJ’s impressive portfolio of existing policy work on hate expression in public spaces, PILS were in a position to connect CAJ’s own solicitor with additional legal support rapidly:
- In December 2023, a barrister from the PILS Pro Bono Register held a consultation meeting with CAJ and PILS to discuss CAJ’s legal options.
- In January 2024, CAJ informed both the PSNI and DfI of their intention to initiate judicial review proceedings against both authorities. This threat of legal action prompted a fresh round of engagement, as CAJ solicitor Úna Boyd explains:
Supported by PILS, we consulted with a barrister and issued pre-action correspondence challenging their failure to implement effective removal policies. This correspondence led to offers of meetings with the Chief Constable and Infrastructure Minister.
The PSNI subsequently hosted a senior decision-makers workshop with CAJ, led by an Assistant Chief Constable, to examine the issues in detail. This process facilitated a formal review of PSNI policy, resulting in a revised Operational Guidance and Service Instructions.
Impact:
The escalating visible demonstrations of racist violence by far-right actors that have devastated Northern Ireland in the months and years since CAJ first applied to PILS for support underlines how vital it is for hate material to be removed promptly.
On 16 January 2026, the PSNI published its revised Service Instruction for officers responding to, reporting or investigating incidents involved displays in public space.
This legal challenge resulted in a review of, and revision of the PSNI operational guidance and service instructions. This is a significant change, and communities have reported to us that they have seen it reflected in daily life, with hate expression being removed more frequently.
This new Service Instruction is influenced by the PSNI’s human rights obligations and existing criminal law provisions. As noted in the Equality Coalition’s 2026 ‘Gaining a Foothold?’ research report, this is a welcome shift from the force’s previous practice of treating removal of racist material predominately as a public order issue.
The collaboration between CAJ’s own legal team and the pro bono barrister highlights the real-life effect that legal processes can have when combined with advocacy conversations. Ultimately, communities witnessed concrete action being taken without CAJ having to resort to full-scale judicial review.
Human rights group ‘helped develop’ new PSNI policy on paramilitary displays – The Irish News
Testimony from CAJ:
“Having an independent legal opinion helped us to focus and clarify our arguments. Our barrister was also really helpful when it came to developing a litigation strategy. For example, we chose not to pursue a leave hearing following the responses to our pre-action letters, as it was felt we could achieve more through engagement at that stage.”
– Úna Boyd, Senior Solicitor, Committee on the Administration of Justice