transitional justice research institute - University of Ulster

Niamh Reilly
Niamh joined TJI as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2005 (Magee Campus). She has a
BA (Hons) in Politics and Economics from University College Dublin, an MA in Economics
(International Development) from the University of Wisconsin, and a PhD in Politics from
Rutgers University, New Jersey. Her research interests focus on feminist theory and practice
in relation to human rights and transformative politics in global perspective. She has taught
modules on human rights, feminist and political theory, and conflict and development at
various third-level institutions in Ireland and the US.
From 1989 to 1996 she was a programme associate/director at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at
Rutgers. She has extensive experience of United Nations institutions and processes and working with women’s
and human rights NGOs internationally and in Ireland. She served as a gender expert on the Joint Department
of Foreign Affairs/NGO Standing Committee in the Republic of Ireland (1997-1999) and was part of a group
invited to advise Amnesty International in the development of its ongoing campaign: Stop Violence against Women.
Most recently, she was a postdoctoral fellow in Women’s Studies and Politics at the University of Limerick
(2003-2005).
Niamh’s interests centre on the role of international human rights in transformative political projects driven
by civil society actors. Her work reflects an interdisciplinary feminist approach informed by critical political
and legal theory insofar as: she seeks to map the dynamics of ‘emancipatory’ projects; begins with a notion of
(international) law as a site of contestation; and is primarily concerned with examining women’s experiences
and the gendered exercise of power. It also builds on critical/feminist international relations and recent work by
democracy theorists recognizing that globalization, and increasing diversity within ‘nation states’, demand that we
rethink ideas of citizenship, rights and justice beyond the state. She is currently writing a book entitled Women’s
Human Rights: Seeking Gender Justice in a Globalising Age which explores transnational feminist advocacy to
shape and use international law – from the UN Women’s Convention, to the ICC and Security Council resolution
1325. It further advances feminist analyses of the interface between human rights and new forms of militarization,
rising fundamentalisms, and neo-liberal globalisation. She is also developing a comparative research project aimed
at positing feminist models of ‘democracy’ in transitional contexts. The project responds to the marginalization of
women in post-conflict reconstruction and the failure of mainstream transitional justice discourse to challenge the
limits of ‘liberal democracy’ as the presumed outcome of transition.
Anne Smith
In 1998 Anne graduated first in her year with a BA Hons in Law and Government from the
University of Ulster. In 1999 at the same university, she was awarded the degree of LLM in
European Law. Having lectured part-time at the University of Ulster from February to June
2000, she began her PhD in the field of human rights and equality law before moving to
Queen’s University Belfast in April 2001. There she occupied posts as Human Rights Training
Officer and as a Research Associate. As the Human Rights Training Officer, Anne provided and
delivered training sessions to the public sector on the Human Rights Act and continues to
provide consultancy work in this area. As a Research Associate, she was involved in a major
research project entitled ‘Evaluating the Effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions:
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, With Comparisons from South Africa’, January 2005. In 2004
she moved to the Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster, where she was appointed lecturer. She teaches
Public International law at undergraduate level and International Human Rights Law at postgraduate level. At
present she is completing a PhD thesis looking at the protection of equality in Bills of Rights.
Anne’s main research interests are in human rights and equality law, especially constitutional and institutional
mechanisms designed to promote and protect human rights and equality. Her PhD thesis examines how Bills
of Rights can be used to guarantee meaningful equality and draws upon the experience of Canada and South
Africa to identify a number of lessons that other countries who are who are adopting a Bill of Rights can learn
about Bills of Rights as a vehicle for protecting equality. As part of her fieldwork for her PhD, as a recipient of
the MOLSON and UK Postgraduate Students Canadian Studies Travel Awards, she spent some time in Canada
in August 2004 interviewing a number of people and organizations on the role the Canadian Charter has played
in protecting equality. She is also interested in the role played by National Human Rights Institutions in the
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