transitional justice research institute - University of Ulster

Shane Darcy
Dr. Shane Darcy is a lecturer at the Transitional Justice Institute and School of Law at the
University of Ulster, based on the Magee campus. He holds a B.A. from the University of
Limerick (2001) and LL.M in international human rights law from the National University of
Ireland, Galway (2002). He completed his Ph.D at the National University of Ireland, Galway
in 2005. Prior to joining the Institute, Shane was a doctoral fellow at the Irish Centre for
Human Rights in Galway. He was awarded the Irish Research Council for the Humanities
and Social Sciences Post-Graduate Scholarship in 2004. In recent years, he has engaged
in research and advocacy work for various non-governmental human rights organisations
including Al-Haq, the West Bank affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, and Human Rights for Change,
of which he is a founding member. Shane is Managing Editor of Criminal Law Forum, an international journal
published by Springer.
Shane’s main research interests lie in the fields of international humanitarian law, human rights, international
criminal law and transitional justice. He is particularly interested in the legal regulation of conduct during times
of war and states and emergency, and has previously written on the laws of occupation and the protection of
civilian property, the lawfulness of belligerent reprisals and the protection of minorities during emergencies. Much
of Shane’s work is also concerned with accountability before international criminal tribunals and the interaction
between criminal processes and truth seeking mechanisms. He is currently working on a book which explores
collective responsibility under international humanitarian law and international criminal law, and the evolution of
the concept since the creation of these legal regimes. The book seeks to address also the compatibility of modes
of imputed criminal liability with the goals of international criminal justice.
Elvira Domínguez Redondo
Elvira joined the Transitional Justice Institute as an RCUK Post Doctoral Fellow in September
2006. She was awarded a PhD for her study of Special Procedures at the United Nations, at
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) in 2004. She has extensive experience of teaching
public international law and human rights law as an assistant professor at Universidad Carlos
III de Madrid (1997-2005) both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has participated
in training programmes in India, Malta, Spain, Syria, Mexico and China. More recently, she
has also taught modules in International Humanitarian Law, Reservation to Human Rights
Treaties, and the European Convention of Human Rights at the Irish Centre for Human
Rights, NUI Galway. She was awarded a Post- Doctoral fellowship by the Irish Research Council for Social Sciences
and the Humanities for research on a project that sought to examine the foundations of human rights law and
the acquired competencies of human rights bodies. She has worked as a consultant at the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, specifically working on the thematic mandate of torture. In 2002 and
2003 she was Director of Academic Studies with responsibility for delivery of a month long postgraduate course
specialising in International and European Human Rights Law at Universidad de Alcala de Henares (Madrid).
Elvira’s research interests lie in public international law and human rights legal theory with particular focus on
UN institutions. She is currently undertaking research on the UN process of reform concerning the creation of
the UN Council of Human Rights and its reflection in the work of the UN Peace-Building Commission. Special
attention is paid to the inter-linking of the new Universal Periodic Review mechanism of the UN Council of
Human Rights with the work of the Peace- Building Commission in post-conflict situations. The legitimacy and
legal foundations of the work of several bodies of the UN dealing with the promotion and protection of human
rights is an underlying question explored throughout the research. In addition, Elvira is researching in the area of
the resurgence of the debate surrounding the absolute prohibition of torture.
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