SDLP co-opt migrant rights activist to Derry council

Ms Seenoi-Barr helped organise the June 2020 Black Lives Matter anti-racism protests in Derry

A prominent migrant rights and anti-racism campaigner has been co-opted as a SDLP councillor in Londonderry.

Lilian Seenoi-Barr will represent the party in the Foyleside ward of Derry and Strabane District Council.

She is the programme manager of the North-West Migrants Forum, which she founded in 2012.

The vacancy on the council became available after Mary Durkan announced she would be stepping down last month.

Originally from Kenya, Ms Seenoi-Barr previously worked to promote gender rights issues for Maasai women, focusing on forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

She was involved in organising the June 2020 Black Lives Matter protests which took place in Derry's Guildhall Square.

In 2019, Ms Seenoi-Barr polled strongly for the SDLP in her first attempt to be elected to the council, receiving 721 first preference votes, almost 10% of the total in the Foyleside district.

She has previously served as chair of the SDLP's Derry and Strabane branch.

SDLP leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said Ms Seenoi-Barr was "an outstanding advocate for those who need support" and had "dedicated her life to helping people".

"She has been a leader in our community, visibly during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, and quietly behind the scenes helping people and families whenever she can," he added.

"I know that Lilian is also relentlessly ambitious for our city and will make an immediate impact on the council."

Ms Seenoi-Barr said it was a "real honour" to have been selected to take up the seat.

"I have been an activist and an advocate all my life, I know what it's like to see injustice and to face it down," she said.

On Monday, Derry City and Strabane District Council appointed the DUP's Alderman Graham Warke as its new lord mayor, with Sinn Féin's Christopher Jackson taking over as deputy mayor.