Volume 6, Issue 4
BULLETIN
Irish Centre for Human Rights
February 2007
Summer Schools 2007
International Criminal
Court
11—16 June 2007
Minority Rights, Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights Law
17—21 June 2007
For further information, see
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
Irish Centre for Human Rights:
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
E m a i l :
humanrights@nuigalway.ie
Farewell Lecture
The Challenges for the
Protection of Minority
Rights: A Global Overview
By
Professor Joshua
Castellino
8pm, 2 March 2007
Siobhan McKenna
Followed by cheese and
wine reception at the Irish
Centre for Human Rights
IRISH CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
WELCOMES NEW FACULTY MEMBERS
In 2007, the ICHR bid farewell to two
valued colleagues. Professor Joshua Castellino has been with the Centre since its commencement in 2000 and, in that time, has
contributed greatly to its growth and development . He was appointed Professor of Law
at the University of Ulster where he took up
his post in January 2007. Professor Castellino remains associated with the ICHR as
Adjunct Professor. Dr. Elvira Domínguez
Redondo joined the Centre as a post-doctoral
research fellow in 2005 and, although only
with us for a short time, she had a significant
impact on the life of the institution. In September 2006, Dr. Domínguez Redondo took
up her post as RCUK Post Doctoral Fellow
at the Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster. The Centre will miss them
both dearly and wishes them all the very best
in Derry.
Happily, in 2007 the Centre also welcomed a number of new lecturers onto the
faculty . Dr. Nadia Bernaz joined on a fulltime basis in January 2007. Dr. Bernaz holds
a PhD from University Paul Cézanne (AixMarseille III, France) where she wrote her
thesis on "International Law and the Death
Penalty". She began teaching International
Refugee Law in January 2007 and will assume a full teaching schedule in the autumn.
Dr. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, formerly
Irish Centre for Human Rights Director, Prof.
William Schabas with Dr. Elvira Dominguez
Redondo and Dr. Joshua Castellino.
Bank of Ireland Fellow (2003-2004), will
teach a course on Gender and Human Rights.
Dr. Chris Waters, Deputy Director of the
Centre for Euro-Asian Studies, University of
Reading, will lecture on International Organisations. Dennis Driscoll, a senior lecturer with the NUI Galway law faculty, will
teach a course on Business and Human
Rights and Dr. David Keane, lecturer in law
at Brunel University and a graduate of the
Centre’s PhD programme, will lecture on
minority rights and self-Determination.
The Centre is currently recruiting another
lecturer to join its permanent staff in 2007.
Academic Year begins at the ICHR with visits from Prestigious International Human Rights Law Experts
The academic year began with public
lectures from two speakers, both prestigious
international human rights experts. The visits
by Colin Gonsalves and Prof. Conor Gearty
on 5 and 6 September 2006, set the scene for
another stimulating and eventful year at the
Irish Centre for Human Rights.
‘The Challenge of Social and Economic
Rights’ was the title of the lecture given by
Colin Gonsalves, Executive Director of the
Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) and a
pioneer in public interest law in India. The
HRLN is a human rights organisation with
an active presence in many states of India.
Among other things, it provides pro bono
legal services, conducts public interest litigation, engages in advocacy, conducts legal
awareness programmes and investigates violations.
‘Can Human Rights Survive?’ was the
topic of Conor Gearty’s lecture. Prof. Gearty
is Rausing Director of the Centre for the
Page 2
Volume 6, Issue 4
Recent Visitors to the
ICHR
Dr. Laurent Pech
Genocide Denial Laws: A
misguided attempt to criminalise history
Eleanor Acer
Refugee Protection in the Era
of Homeland Security
Prof. Bryan Stevenson
Race, Poverty and Capital
Punishment in the US
Irish Centre for Human Rights:
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
E m a i l :
humanrights@nuigalway.ie
Upcoming Visitors
include:
Professor Oscar Viera
Vilhena
Professor Howard Stein
Sergey Golubok
Dr. Chris Waters
John Jones
Professor David
Kretzmer
Samuel Boutruche
See www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
for further information
Prof. Conor Gearty lecturing at the ICHR
Study of Human Rights and Professor of
Human Rights Law at the London School of
Economics and Political Science. The event
in Galway was the culmination of a series of
lectures, delivered in the UK and Northern
Ireland as the 2005 Hamlyn Lectures, since
published by Cambridge University Press. In
his fascinating lecture, Professor Gearty
confronted the fundamental concept of human rights and questioned the resilience of
human rights to stand firm against contemporary challenges such as the ’war on terror’.
Single Form: Art, Diversity and Unity at the UN
If there is one ‘truth’ about the United
Nations, it is diversity. Diversity of minds,
diversity of wills, diversity of ways. If there
is a second ‘truth’ about the United Nations,
it is its challenge to find unity in diversity.
Protracted negotiations on war and peace at
UN Headquarters constantly remind us of
divergence, not unity.
But if there is something at UN Headquarters in New York which speaks of unity,
it is art. That is why every diplomat and UN
staff member should, at least once in their
career, take a close look at ‘Single Form’ on
their hurried way towards the main UN entrance and reflect upon its meaning. This
pierced stone sculpture by Barbara Hepworth
embraces the universalizing symbolism of
art perhaps better than any other artwork at
the UN. Raised in 1964 in the memory of
Dag Hammarskjöld, its creator sought in its
abstract form a coordination of two opposite
disciplines: the imposition of her will on the
material and her obedience to it. To the observer, this goal, translated in the perfect
circular void carved out from solid stone,
conveys a dual meaning: The world originates from one ‘single form’; a unity which
simultaneously imposes constraints and possibilities. In 1959 Hepworth told Hammarskjöld that ‘the impulse to create de-
The ‘single form’ sculpture stands in front of the
United Nations Secretariat Building.
pends on the ability to resolve what [the] UN
stands for as being an essential part of the
true discipline of the creative imagination’.
Art, in its silence and simplicity, is perhaps the best medium to express unity in
diversity. The interpretation of the ‘void in
the solid’ will always differ depending on
the observer, but with creative imagination
those interpretations may find unity. Maybe
that’s how diversity finds unity; unity
through diversity?
Katarina Månsson, doctoral candidate at
the ICHR, conducted research at UN Headquarters in October 2006 as part of her PhD.
Ireland's Participation in Human Rights Law Project
Archival research for the project
'Ireland's participation in International
human rights law and institutions' has been
ongoing since the project's inception in
March 2005 under the direction of Prof.
William Schabas. The project aims to examine Irish foreign policy in the early period of international human rights law and
its institutions and, in this frame, focuses
on Ireland's involvement in the Council of
Europe and the United Nations. Currently,
the research focuses on the case of Ireland
v. United Kingdom (1971-1978). The research assistant on the project, Aisling O'
Sullivan, has collected both the Irish and
British government papers on the case this
year. Interviews with the principal members
of the Irish legal team in the case were conducted in 2006 and will continue this year.
A website for the project was set up by
Aisling O'Sullivan and Law Faculty webtechnician, Mr. Michael Coyne. The website
provides information on current and future
research, forthcoming publications and
events. The project is funded by the Irish
Research Council for the Humanities and
Social Sciences.
See: http://www.nuigalway.ie/human_rights/
Projects/ireland_project/index.html
Page 3
Volume 6, Issue 4
ICHR Director and Deputy Director Participate in Transitional
Justice Workshop in Nepal
Visiting Professor at the
ICHR
Prof. Rick Lorenz
Seminar Series
on Peacekeeping
See
http://www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights/
lorenz_lectures.html
Irish Centre for Human Rights:
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
E m a i l :
humanrights@nuigalway.ie
Prof. William Schabas and Dr. Vinodh
Jaichand, Director and Deputy Director of
the Irish Centre for Human Rights, travelled
to Kathmandu to present at a workshop on
transitional justice organized by the Informal
Security Service Centre (INSEC), a leading
Nepalese human rights NGO, in November
2006. During the visit Prof. Schabas and Dr.
Jaichand also met representatives from Nepalese political parties.
The workshop was held on 2 and 3 November and was attended by representatives
of civil society from all over Nepal. The
purpose of the workshop was to discuss a
variety of issues that have arisen since multiparty democracy was restored to Nepal in
April 2006. Professor Schabas and Dr. Jaichand delivered presentations on a wide
range of topics relating to transitional justice,
constitutional reform and civil society transformation in the aftermath of conflict including reconciliation and reparations; the relevance of the International Criminal Court in
the Nepali context; and the incorporation of
Prof. Schabas speaking at the Transitional Justice
workshop in Nepal on 2 November 2006.
economic, social and cultural rights into Nepal's new constitution. In making their presentations, Prof. Schabas and Dr. Jaichand
drew on their combined experience of working in post-conflict states including Sierra
Leone, South Africa, Burundi, Cambodia,
and Rwanda.
The workshop was considered a great
success by the organisers, who have invited
Prof. Schabas and Dr. Jaichand to return to
Nepal to participate in future events.
Model Codes for Post-Conflict Criminal Justice Project
The Model Codes for Post-conflict
Criminal Justice Project, run jointly by the
ICHR and the US Institute of Peace in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Office
on Drugs and Crime, is moving towards
completion. The model codes will be published in three volumes, starting with Volume 1 which is due for release in spring
2007. The remaining volumes will follow in
autumn 2007 and spring 2008. The volumes
will contain the four model codes - the
Model Criminal Code, the Model Code of
Criminal Procedure, the Model Detention
Act and the Model Police Act - which are the
product of this five year project. The model
codes will also be accessible online (on the
website of the Irish Centre for Human
Rights) as a valuable tool of assistance to
international and national practitioners engaged in criminal law reform in post-conflict
States.
Philippines’ Mining Operations Fact Finding Trip
Congratulations to the
LLM class of 2006
which graduated on
28 November 2006
Fact finding team at the foot of a mountain where
a mining application is pending on indigenous
peoples’ lands.
The ICHR was represented by recently
graduated LLM student, Cathal Doyle, on a
fact finding trip to the Philippines in August
2006. The team, which was assessing the
impact of mining operations on the lives of
local communities and indigenous peoples,
consisted of Clare Short UK MP and representatives from the aid agency CAFOD, the
Columban Fathers and the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social
Policy.
During their visit, they met with communities affected by mining and heard how the
livelihoods of fishermen and farmers were
affected. They learned of planned mining
operations which have the potential to destroy the countries delicate biodiversity and
to impact on its food security.
The team also meet with indigenous peoples who explained how the right to Free
Page 4
Volume 6, Issue 4
Prior Informed Consent, guaranteed under
Filipino law, was being undermined. Mining
operations, typically located in the lands of
indigenous peoples, pose a major threat to
their very existence.
The team also met with the Chief Justice,
the Chairman of Transparency International,
Senate and House representatives, the British
Ambassador, the World Bank, Bishops, the
Chamber of Mines, local NGOs and Indigenous Peoples organizations. A report of the
findings was published in January.
ICHR hosts Al-Haq Ireland Speaking Tour
Publications
A list of publications by
faculty and students of
the Irish Centre for Human Rights can be viewed
at:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights/
publications.htm
Dr. Ray Murphy delivering a lecture on the ‘Laws
of Occupation’ at NUIG on 6 November 2006
On 6 November 2006 the ICHR hosted a
visit from Al-Haq, an international law and
human rights NGO based in Ramallah.
The ‘Al-Haq Speaking Tour’ was aimed
at ‘Promoting Awareness and Action on Ireland’s International Legal Obligations in
Relation to Occupied Palestinian Territories’.
Dr. Ray Murphy, senior lecturer at the
Irish Centre for Human Rights delivered a
lecture on ‘the Laws of Occupation’ and
Khalid Quzmar, LLM student at the Irish
Centre for Human Rights, shared his experience as a lawyer with the organisation Defence for Children International, Palestine.
Gareth Gleed and Mays Warrad, Al-Haq
legal researchers, delivered lectures and
workshops at the event pertaining, in particular, to the Annexation Wall and to the Situation in Gaza.
Lunchtime Seminar Series at the ICHR
Irish Centre for Human Rights:
www.nuigalway.ie/
human_rights
E m a i l :
humanrights@nuigalway.ie
The Irish Centre for Human Rights Bulletin is compiled and edited by Michelle Farrell. The ICHR had a busy schedule in the
lunchtime seminar series during the first
semester and this has continued into the new
year. Among the visitors in the first term
was the South African Ambassador to Ireland. Her Excellency Priscilla Jana visited
the Centre on 20 September 2006 and delivered a seminar entitled: ‘Acting in the Best
Interests of Your Client: Terrorism Trials in
Apartheid South Africa’.
On 21 September, Prof. Charles Ngwena,
visiting Professor at the ICHR, delivered a
seminar on ‘Reform of African Abortion
Laws and the Opportunities presented by the
Protocol on the Rights of Women’. On 13
November Dr. Chris Gallavin delivered a
lecture entitled ‘Prosecutorial Discretion in
the ICC: The Decision to Prosecute, Theory
Her Excellency Priscilla Jana delivered a lunchtime seminar at the ICHR on 20 September 2006.
and Practice’. The following week, Dr. Fernand De Varennes gave a lunchtime seminar
on the subject of ‘Ethnic Conflicts in Asia
and the (Human) Rights of Minorities’.
If you wish to sign up for any of the above activities or to receive information regarding the
work the Centre carries out, please do not hesitate to
contact us at:
Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, Ireland.
Phone: +353-(0)91-750464,
Fax: +353-(0)91-750575,
Email: humanrights@nuigalway.ie