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RECENT NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Applications now welcome for two new doctoral Scholarships at the irish centre for human rights

The Irish Centre for Human Rights is currently accepting applications for two Doctoral Scholarships.  Applications are sought from students who intend to pursue doctoral level research on topics related to either:

(a)     Freedom of Expression
(b)    The United Nations architecture for the protection of human rights.

The successful students will be supervised by Professor Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the Centre.  These Scholarships will commence no later than October 2013 and are available for a period of four years. Scholarships comprise an annual stipend of €16,000 inclusive of University tuition fees (accordingly a student paying EU-level fees would receive a tax free stipend of approximately €11,755 per annum).

The holder of a Scholarship is expected to reside in Galway, Ireland and, under the guidance of Professor O’Flaherty, will engage in twenty hours per week of research and research support, teaching and administrative tasks at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, in addition to pursuing his or her own doctoral research.  Those interested in applying should submit the following:

•    A covering letter
•    A curriculum vitae
•    Two letters of reference
•    A statement of the proposed doctoral research topic (1000 words).

These materials must be sent to humanrightsnuigalway.ie by 5pm on 31 May 2013.  Award of a scholarship will be conditional on admission by the University. 

business and human rights in ireland blog 

Dr. Shane Darcy, a lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, has recently started the Business and Human Rights in Ireland blog. The blog is dedicated to tracking and analyzing developments relating to business and human rights from an Irish perspective. It aims to address legal and policy issues, as well as highlighting human rights concerns raised by the activities of Irish companies or multinational corporations based in Ireland. The blog seeks to bring an international perspective on business and human rights, drawing on developments taking place at the United Nations and other international organisations, as well as regionally and in national contexts.

The blog will serve also to highlight any developments arising from the detailed report produced by the Centre last year entitled ’Business and Human Rights in Ireland’. The report drew on the UN Framework and Guiding Principles on business and human rights and made a list of recommendations for the Irish Government, companies and civil society. Dr. Darcy is currently a visiting fellow at the Human Rights Program, at Harvard Law School, but will return to the Centre in September, where he teaches a course on business and human rights. 

The blog can be visited at: http://businesshumanrightsireland.wordpress.com.

Professor koskenniemi to give public lecture at NUI, galway

Professor Martti Koskenniemi will give a public lecture on 'The Histories of International Law – Dealing with Eurocentrism' at 6pm on 23 April 2013 at NUI, Galway (in Lecture Theatre 201, Annex to the Martin Ryan Institute).  The lecture is free of charge and no advance registration is required. Professor Koskenniemi’s work has pushed the boundaries in law, challenging the idea that law is either pre-political or fixed and stable. For more information click here.

Ireland and the human rights council - where to from here?

On Friday 1 Feb 2013, the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties hosted a one day seminar at NUI Galway entitled ’Ireland and the Human Rights Council – Where to From Here?’. The seminar explored the challenges and opportunities presented by Ireland’s recent election to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The event brought together a range of human rights experts, drawing up a list of recommendations to inform Ireland’s term of office on the United Nations Human Rights Council. Questions regarding Ireland’s pre-election commitments, how Ireland can best contribute to the agenda of the Council, and the leadership role that Ireland can play in the promotion of human rights were given careful consideration.

The day-long event included two thematic sessions, the first on implementing Ireland’s commitments to LGBTI rights, gender rights and the freedom of religious beliefs, and the second on how Ireland can lead the Human Rights Council in the protection of human rights defenders and civil society organisations more generally. If Ireland is seriously committed to these priority issues, it must act to address deficiencies at home as well as abroad. The large conference turnout demonstrated the huge interest there is in the promotion of human rights, in multilateral monitoring through the United Nations and Ireland’s performance on the UN Human Rights Council. Speakers at the seminar included:

• H.E. Gerry Corr, Ireland's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva;
• Prof. Michael O’Flaherty, Co-Director, Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway;
• Mr. Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director, Amnesty International (Irish Section;
• Ms. Suzanne Egan, Lecturer, School of Law, University College Dublin (Ms. Egan's presentation is available here);
• Dr. Niamh Reilly, Senior Lecturer, Global Women’s Studies, School of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway (Dr. Reilly's presentation is available here);
• Ms. Mary Lawlor, Founder and Executive Director, Front Line Defenders (Ms. Lawlor's presentation is available here);
  
• Mr. Philippe Dam, HRC Advocate, Human Rights Watch (Mr. Dam's presentation is available here);
  
• Ms. Caoimhe de Barra, Head of International Department, Trócaire

human rights defenders in zimbabwe and the russian federation

On Thursday, 11th of October 2012, Front Line Defenders, the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, in association with The Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway presented:

“REPORTING FROM THE FRONT LINE”
Exposing the dangers faced by human rights defenders in the Russian Federation & the diamonds fields of Zimbabwe

The event was held in the Seminar Room of The Irish Centre for Human Rights. The speakers were Mary Lawlor (Founder & Executive Director of Front Line Defenders, Ireland), Olga Sadovskaya (Deputy Director, Nizny Novgorod “Committee Against Torture”, Russian Federation), and Farai Maguwu (Director of the Centre for Research and Development, Zimbabwe). The event was open to the public and was well attended. Students and others learned a great deal from many hard won insights conveyed by the speakers, drawing on extensive experience in human rights defending in such disparate parts of the world.

debating the 2012 sakharov prize for freedom of thought

The third annual debate on the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was held by the Irish Centre for Human Rights on October 1^st 2012. In the name of Russian physicist Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the European Parliament make this award yearly to honour selected individuals or organisations for their exceptional work to defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Since 2010 the Centre has organised a public debate on the nominees for the Prize where the Centre’s students from all programmes, BA, LLM and PhD, briefly present the case for each nominee. An open discussion is then held and finally the audience votes on which nominee they believe most deserves the Prize.

The event was introduced by Francis Jacobs, head of the European Parliament Information Office in Ireland, and was chaired by Dr Karen da Costa. Presentations were given on this year’s nominees including; Ales Bialiatski, a freedom fighter and human rights defender currently imprisoned by the Belarusian regime; Joseph Francis, the founder and director of the Center for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement in Pakistan; Victoire Ingabire, Déogratias Mushayidi, and Bernard Ntaganda, three imprisoned Rwandan opposition representatives who have tried to put an end to the cycle of violence by fostering dialogue and reconciliation; Pussy Riot represented by Nadezhda Andreyevna, Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina, imprisoned and sentenced to forced labour in the Russian Federation for acts of protest; and, Nasrin Sotoudeh and Jafar Panahi, both persecuted Iranian human rights advocates. Click here for further information on the Prize and the nominees.

Following an interesting debate the greatest share of the audience vote went to Victoire Ingabire, Déogratias Mushayidi, and Bernard Ntaganda of Rwanda. These nominees were presented by Leisha Shiner, Katie O'Riordan, Lucy Fitzgerald, and Anna Chiapello, all of the Centre’s LLM programme. The results of the debate will be disseminated to the Irish MEPs and delivered to the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights to be factored into the decision made on this year’s prize in December 2012.

Mr Francis Jacobs with all of the student presenters

IHL Roundtable Discussion: International Humanitarian Law and Weapons

Louise Sarsfield Collins
Email:  lscollinsredcross.ie
Telephone: 01-642 46 47

Symposium:

Complaints to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IRELAND

Monday, 14 May 2012.
National University of Ireland Galway

Organised and hosted by the Irish Centre for Human Rights – Children’s Rights Working Group

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified human rights treaty. Nevertheless, children worldwide continue to suffer violations of their rights without recourse to an effective remedy.

On 19 December 2011, the UN General Assembly approved a third optional protocol to the Convention on a communications procedure, which will allow for individual children to submit complaints regarding specific violations of their rights under the Convention. It is a major achievement for the protection of children's rights. Ensuring widespread ratification of the third optional protocol will nevertheless be a challenge.

Ireland has not yet ratified the third optional protocol, but by doing so, it will demonstrate its commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the communications procedure. The Symposium aimed to consider the relevance of the protocol and opportunities for Ireland to lead in the ratification process.

The Symposium was held on May 14th 2012 at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Speakers included Dr. Maria Herczog (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, presentation available here), Geoffrey Shannon (Special Rapporteur to the Irish Government on Child Protection) and Tanya Ward (Chief Executive, Child Rights Alliance, presentation available here).

For further information please see the programme and the poster.

The Symposium culminated in a call, signed by all those present, to the Irish Government for the ratification of the Optional Protocol on a Complaints Procedure.

IRELAND AND THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK FOR BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

On 24 March 2012 this one-day conference was held at the National University of Ireland Galway.

Organised by the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the School of Law, NUI Galway, the conference explored and analysed issues of law and policy for Ireland arising from the 2011 adoption by the United Nations of Professor John Ruggie’s framework for business and human rights. The framework emphasises a State’s duty to protect human rights, a corporate responsibility to respect human rights and the need to provide remedies to respond to violations of human rights by business.

This conference looked beyond the voluntary corporate social responsibility approach to business and human rights; as Maurice Manning, President of the Irish Human Rights Commission has observed, “voluntarism can never be a substitute for global standards on businesses' mandatory compliance with human rights”.

Contributions addressed legal questions which arise in relation to the UN framework on business and human rights. Ireland represents an obvious case study in this context, given the presence of numerous multinational corporations, increasing privatisation of public services and allegations of corporate involvement in human rights violations both in and outside of Ireland.

The conference focused on the following topics:

• ·         Legal and policy approaches to regulation of Irish companies for human rights
• ·         Obligations of the State and companies when public functions are privatised
• ·         Role of extraterritorial jurisdiction in Irish law to address violations committed overseas by Irish companies or multinationals based here
• ·         The potential role of criminal law to address violations of human rights by business
• ·         Civil litigation as a means accountability – lessons from the Alien Tort Claims Act
• ·         Remedies for victims

The conference was attended by over 80 delegates, and papers were delivered by legal academics and practitioners from the US, the UK, Ireland, Belgium and Italy. Among them were Professor Anita Ramasastry (University of Washington), Dr. Nadia Bernaz (Middlesex University, London), Dr. Tony Royle (NUI Galway), Mr Nicholas McGeehan (European University Institute, Florence), Mr. Alan Brady (Trinity College, Dublin), and Dr. Corrine Lewis (Lex Justi Law Firm, Brussels).

The programme is available here.

The conference was organised by Dr Shane Darcy, Dr Ciara Hackett, and Ms. Hadeel Abu-Hussein.

Honorary CHAIRMAN OF THE ICHR, PROFESSOR WILLIAM SCHABAS, RECEIVES RIA GOLD MEDAL

From left, Professor Eugene Kennedy, Professor Attracta Ingram, Professor Luke Drury, Professor Sean O’ Scanlan Engineering Sciences Gold Medallist, Professor William Schabas, Social Sciences Gold Medal, and the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, T.D.

Minister Ruairi Quinn, T.D., recently presented the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) Gold Medals to the international human rights scholar Professor William Schabas and engineer Professor John O’Scanlan in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the Social Sciences and the Engineering Sciences.

The RIA Medals acclaim Ireland’s foremost contributors to the world of learning and science. The Gold Medals are awarded to two outstanding academics each year and are recognised as a truly national expression of celebration for scholarly achievement. The medals are sponsored by The Higher Education Authority and  The Irish Independent.

Professor William Schabas, Honorary Chairman of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway, is one of the leading scholars in the field of international criminal law. His work is closely linked with a range of international judicial institutions including, the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court (ICC). His writings are regularly cited by international courts and tribunals, including the ICC and the European Court of Human Rights. Professor Schabas’ seminal book on the  Genocide Convention was cited in the opinions of the ICC in the 2007  Bosnia v. Serbia judgement and clearly influenced the thinking of the court as a whole.

Professor John O’Scanlan, UCD, is widely recognised as one of the leading international living circuit theorists. Professor Scanlan has many awards and distinctions, a former President of the Royal Irish Academy (1993-1996); he is also a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is a recipient of the Golden Jubilee Medal of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.

Welcoming this award NUI Galway President Dr Jim Browne said: “On behalf of NUI Galway, I extend warmest congratulations to our colleague, Professor Schabas on receiving this wonderful distinction from the RIA.  This accolade will undoubtedly add lustre to his international academic standing, as well as underscore this University’s reputation as a centre of world-class research and teaching.”

TOTAL NUMBER OF ICHR DOCTORAL GRADUATES FOR 2011 REACHES 13

In the last month another three successful vivas have taken place at the Irish Centre for Human Rights. This brings the total number of PhD graduates to a veritable rush of 13 for the last year, indicating that the Centre, after ten years of establishment, is firmly at the forefront of institutions of its type worldwide. Its past doctoral graduates have regularly gone on to high-level employment in universities, institutions, research centres and international courts and tribunals all over the globe. All at the Centre wish its latest graduates the very best in their bright futures.

Wibke Timmermann (centre-left) successfully defended her doctoral thesis in Galway on December 5th 2011. The thesis is entitled: 'Hate Speech and Incitmement in International Criminal Law'. Dr Ludovic Hennebel(left), of the Centre Perelman de Philosophie du Droit at the Université Libre de Bruxelles was the internal examiner, Dr Kathleen Cavanaugh (right) was the internal examiner, and Professor William Schabas (centre-right) supervised.

Eadaoin O'Brien (centre-right) successfully completed her viva at the Centre on December 12th 2011. Her thesis is on 'The Exhumation of Mass Graves by International Criminal Tribunals: Nuremberg, the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda'.The internal examiner was Dr Kathleen Cavanaugh (centre-left), the external Professor Sue Black (right) from the University of Dundee, and Eadaoin was supervised by Professor Ray Murphy (left).

And on the 15th December 2011 Andrea Breslin (centre-left) succesfully defended her thesis on the 'The Obligation of the EU and its Member States to Ensure Respect for International Humanitarian Law'. Andrea was supervised by Dr Shane Darcy (centre-right). Her external examiner was Professor Iain Scobbie (right) of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and her internal was Professor Ray Murphy (left).

THE KURDISH CONFLICT IN TURKEY

                                                                    On Tuesday, 1 November, 2pm,

                                     Dr Edel Hughes, from the University of Limerick delivered a lecture on

                                        'Identity and Dissent: Understanding the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey’,

                                                               in Room 333, Aras Moyola, NUI Galway.

This event was hosted by the Research Cluster on Conflict, Rights and Security.

Edel Hughes is a lecturer at the School of Law, University of Limerick.  She graduated from University College Cork in 2002 with a BCL (Law and French) and was awarded an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the National University of Ireland,Galway in 2003.  Prior to joining the UL School of Law, she worked as a research assistant at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, where she completed her PhD in 2009.  Edel has worked as a lecturer with Amnesty International (Irish Section) and in recent years has engaged in research and advocacy work for various non-governmental human rights organisations.  A monograph based on her PhD thesis entitled Turkey’s Accession to the European Union: The Politics of Exclusion? was published by Routledge in 2010.

Ireland and the Universal Periodic Review

On 6 October 2011, Ireland was examined for the first time under the universal periodic review mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Irish Centre for Human Rights hosted a breakfast viewing of the event which was streamed live from Geneva. The viewing was followed by a discussion of the merits and failures of the universal periodic review process. The universal periodic review, a new mechanism introduced following the establishment of the Human Rights Council in March 2006, constitutes an examination of the human rights record of each member state of the United Nations with the objective of, amongst other things, improving 'the human rights situation on the ground'. Ireland has been preparing for some time for its turn for review before its peers at the Council. In the preparation of its national report, the government of Ireland engaged with civil society through public consultation meetings. Non-governmental organisations play a crucial role in this UPR process through lobbying, consultation with civil society and the preparation of stakeholder's reports.



 

 

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