Transitional Justice Institute: Public Lectures and Events

At this TJI public seminar, part of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival, Prof Rachel Rebouché discussed the most recent challenges to reproductive rights in the US.

Dean Rebouché shared her thoughts on recent legislation and court cases including cases that are making their way through the court system in the United States, and which may wind up before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Rachel Rebouché is the Interim Dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law and the James E. Beasley Professor of Law. Prior to her appointment as Interim Dean, she was the Associate Dean for Research, a position she held from 2017 to 2021. She is also a Faculty Fellow at Temple’s Center for Public Health Law Research.

Dean Rebouché is a leading scholar in reproductive health law, feminist legal theory, and family law. She is an author of Governance Feminism: An Introduction and an editor of Governance Feminism: Notes from the Field. She is also the editor of Feminist Judgments: Family Law Opinions Rewritten, published by Cambridge University Press, and an author of the sixth edition of the casebook, Family Law, with Professors Leslie Harris and June Carbone. In addition, she is writing a book on reproductive health law that is under contract with NYU Press and editing a collection of essays for Law & Contemporary Problems on the pandemic’s effects on issues in contract law.

Dean Rebouché has served as a co-investigator on two grant-funded research projects related to reproductive health, one housed at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and another funded by the World Health Organization. Her recent research also includes articles in law reviews and in peer-reviewed journals on relational contracts, gestational surrogacy, prenatal genetic testing and genetic counseling, collaborative divorce, parental involvement laws, and international reproductive rights.

Dean Rebouché received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an LL.M. from Queen’s University, Belfast, and a B.A. from Trinity University. Prior to law school, she worked as a researcher for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast. After law school, Dean Rebouché clerked for Justice Kate O’Regan on the Constitutional Court of South Africa and practiced law in Washington, D.C., where she served as an associate director of adolescent health programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families (formerly, the Women’s Legal Defense Fund) and as a Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow at the National Women’s Law Center.

Leah Rea (PhD researcher) and Dr Joanna McMinn will co-chair this event, with Prof Siobhán Wills (TJI Director) making opening remarks.

At this seminar, part of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival, members of the Constitutional Conversations Group discussed the rights and equality commitments that remain outstanding from the Belfast Good Friday Agreement The seminar features a few short presentations from the group on 'Rights & Wrongs' followed by a Q&A session. Presenters included Eilish Rooney, Mark Bassett, John Gormley, Paddy Kelly and Colin Harvey.

Professor Monica McWilliams was a founding member of the Women’s Coalition, a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland and Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (2005-2011), Oversight Commissioner for prison reform in Northern Ireland (2011–2015) and is on the Independent Reporting Commission for the disbandment of paramilitary organisations. Monica has been the author of numerous publications, including groundbreaking research on domestic and intimate partner violence in Northern Ireland. She is a specialist in conflict resolution, chaired Interpeace, an international peacebuilding NGO, and served on the Board of Trocaire, the Irish development agency. She has worked with women’s groups in conflict zones world-wide, most recently with Syrian women involved in the negotiations in Geneva.

Stand Up, Speak Out charts Monica’s activism over the decades from the civil rights protests in the 1960s to her involvement in the women’s movement and the founding of the Women’s Coalition. It also includes her role in the signing and implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Prof Fidelma Ashe acted as discussant following opening remarks by Prof McWilliams. Our PhD researchers Nada Ahmed Mostafa Kamal Ahmed and Caitriona Mackel co-chaired the event.

This is part of TJI’s ‘What’s the Craic? Seminar Series’ organised by our PhD researchers Nada Ahmed Mostafa Kamal Ahmed and Caitriona Mackel.

TJI was delighted to host this book launch of 'The Law and Practice of Peacekeeping', co-authored by TJI Director Prof Siobhan Wills, Prof Rosa Freedman and Dr Nicholas Lemay-Hebert.

This book presents a multidisciplinary analysis of the controversial UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti. The legacy of this mission includes sexual scandals, the excessive use of force and a cholera outbreak. Prof Nigel White (Nottingham) acts as a discussant for this book launching, and Prof Rory O'Connell is the chair.

More information about the event in the following link: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/transitional-justice-institute/events/book-launch-the-law-and-practice-of-peacekeeping?fbclid=IwAR3UKXc4fmDZyjaxR26p2MXgorUcpCVSROeC9G6mKuolywi4RKGx_fwPQ

Event from the 5th of April 2022

Ireland has made WPS a key focus of its foreign policy and its tenure on the UN Security Council, including through taking up the role of co-chairing the Independent Experts’ Group (IEG) on WPS. It does so at a time when the dynamics on the Council present clear obstacles to advancing, and protecting progress on, the WPS agenda. This discussion explored opportunities for Ireland to influence, advance and strengthen the Women, Peace and Security Agenda through a discussion of key country contexts and themes.

Speakers included:

Áine Hearns, Director of the Conflict Resolution Unit, Ireland’s Dept of Foreign Affairs;

Madeleine Rees, Secretary-General of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF);

Horia Mosadiq, Afghan human rights activist and Executive Director, Conflict Analysis Network;

Assitan Diallo, President of the Association des Femmes Africaines pour la Recherche et le Développement (AFARD) in Mali; and

Linda Cabrera, Director of Sisma Mujer, Colombia.

Dr Salome Mbugua, Commissioner with the Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission and founder of AkiDwA, will chair the event.

The event was organised by the Irish Peace and Conflict Network, which includes the TJI.

The author Prof Rory O'Connell discusses his new book with Prof Conor Gearty (LSE), Prof Ruth Rubio Marin (Sevilla), to mark the launch of 'Law, Democracy and the European Court of Human Rights' (Cambridge 2020). Dr Catherine O'Rourke (TJI) chairs the discussion. The book is available on the Cambridge webpage and Cambridge has provided an Open Access copy of the conclusion.

This final panel of the CEDAW and SOGI workshop addressed some cross-cutting issues (conflict, asylum, hate speech) and included final concluding reflections from Marion Bethel, current CEDAW Committee member.

Cross Cutting Issues

Lucia Baca (Colombia Diversa)

Niels-Erik Hansen (Immigration Lawyer)

Kseniya Kirichenko (IGLA-World (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association))

Concluding Reflections

Marion Bethel (Current Member of the CEDAW Committee)

Women’s enjoyment of the substantive rights guaranteed under CEDAW – legal equality, nationality, education, employment, health, economic and social life, rurality, family life, political participation – are inextricably informed and shaped in important ways by their sexual orientation and gender identity.

This workshop sought to explore the current and potential activities of the CEDAW Committee on the human rights of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. It identified strengths in the CEDAW Committee’s current approach to sexual orientation and gender identity and pinpointed areas for future development. The workshop aimed to make both a theoretical and practical contribution to the interpretation of CEDAW and to the activities of the CEDAW Committee, States, civil society and international organisations.

The workshop was organised by Dr Meghan Campbell (Birmingham University Law School), Dr Loveday Hodson (Leicester University Law School) and Dr Catherine O’Rourke (Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute).

The workshop was hosted by the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University.

This panel of the CEDAW and SOGI workshop addressed health and education.

Speakers:

• Alexa Moore (Transgender Northern Ireland)

• Marisa Hutchinson (International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (Malaysia / Global South))

• Mel Duffy (Dublin City University)

Chair: Meghan Campbell

This workshop sought to explore the current and potential activities of the CEDAW Committee on the human rights of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. It identified strengths in the CEDAW Committee’s current approach to sexual orientation and gender identity and pinpoint areas for future development. The workshop aimed to make both a theoretical and practical contribution to the interpretation of CEDAW and to the activities of the CEDAW Committee, States, civil society and international organisations.

The workshop was organised by Dr Meghan Campbell (Birmingham University Law School), Dr Loveday Hodson (Leicester University Law School) and Dr Catherine O’Rourke (Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute).

The workshop was hosted by the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University.

This episode continues our workshop on CEDAW and SOGI, with a panel focused on relationships and families.

Speakers:

• Danielle Roberts (HereNI)

• Imani Kimiri (National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission of Kenya)

Chair: Loveday Hodson (Leicester)

Women’s enjoyment of the substantive rights guaranteed under CEDAW – legal equality, nationality, education, employment, health, economic and social life, rurality, family life, political participation – are inextricably informed and shaped in important ways by their sexual orientation and gender identity.

This workshop sought to explore the current and potential activities of the CEDAW Committee on the human rights of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. It identified strengths in the CEDAW Committee’s current approach to sexual orientation and gender identity and pinpoint areas for future development. The workshop aimed to make both a theoretical and practical contribution to the interpretation of CEDAW and to the activities of the CEDAW Committee, States, civil society and international organisations.

The workshop was organised by Dr Meghan Campbell (Birmingham University Law School), Dr Loveday Hodson (Leicester University Law School) and Dr Catherine O’Rourke (Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute).

The workshop is hosted by the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University.

This workshop sought to explore the current and potential activities of the CEDAW Committee on the human rights of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. It identified strengths in the CEDAW Committee’s current approach to sexual orientation and gender identity and pinpoint areas for future development. The workshop aimed to make both a theoretical and practical contribution to the interpretation of CEDAW and to the activities of the CEDAW Committee, States, civil society and international organisations.

This opening panel includes keynote addresses from:

• Lia Nadaria (Current Member of the CEDAW Committee)

• Victor Madrigal-Borloz (UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity)

The workshop was organised by Dr Meghan Campbell (Birmingham University Law School), Dr Loveday Hodson (Leicester University Law School) and Dr Catherine O’Rourke (Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute).

The workshop is hosted by the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University.