Monica McWilliams

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Monica McWilliams (b. 28 April 1954) is a Northern Ireland academic and politician. She is Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission [1].

McWilliams is a graduate of Queen's University Belfast and the University of Michigan. She was Professor of Women's Studies and Social Policy at the University of Ulster.

McWilliams, a Catholic from South Belfast, co-founded (along with Pearl Sager, a Protestant social worker from East Belfast) the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC), a political party involved in the Northern Ireland Forum from 1996 to 1998. She was an elected member of the Multi-Party Peace Negotiations and a signatory to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

She (and another NIWC member, Jane Morrice) served as Members of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland for from 1998 to 2003. During the negotiations following the Agreement, she was the Chairperson of the Human Rights Sub-Committee until 2003. She was appointed full-time Chief Commissioner for Human Rights in Northern Ireland in June 2005. In 2006 the NIWC ceased to exist due to declining electoral fortunes.

McWilliams is an Associate Researcher with the Institute for Transitional Justice and INCORE, a United Nations Research Centre for the Study of Conflict, at the University of Ulster. She has published two books: Bringing It Out in the Open: Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland (1993) and Taking Domestic Violence Seriously: Issues for the Civil and Criminal Justice System (1996) and numerous articles on the impact of political conflict. Her work has been recognised by the John F. Kennedy Leadership and Courage Award and the Frank Cousin Peace Award. She has also received honorary doctorates from Lesley College, Massachusetts and Mount Mary College, Milwaukee.