Aoife Nolan
Aoife Nolan is Professor of International Human Rights Law and Director of the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham. Her professional experience in human rights and constitutional law straddles the legal, policy, practitioner and academic fields. She is President of the Council of Europe's European Committee of Social Rights, which she joined in 2017.
Professor Nolan has published extensively in the areas of human rights and constitutional law, particularly in relation to children's rights and economic and social rights. From 2020-3 she led a major international research project on ‘Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation (www.acrisl.org). Professor Nolan has acted as an expert advisor to a wide range of international and national organisations and bodies working on human rights issues, including numerous UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, multiple NHRIs and NGOs. In 2018, she served on the Scottish First Minister’s Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership and in 2019-20 was a member of the Scottish Government’s UNCRC Working Group to input on the best model of incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scottish law. She recently served as an advisor to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on its General Comment No.26 on children’s rights and the environment, as well as to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on its forthcoming general comment on sustainable development and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
She has held visiting positions at academic institutions in Europe, Africa, the US and Australia. She is an Academic Expert member at Doughty Street Chambers where she co-leads the Children’s Rights Group and is on the Steering Group of Doughty Street International.
Her current work focuses on future generations' rights, child rights and climate justice.
Address: School of Law,
University of Nottingham,
University Park,
Nottingham NG7 2RD,
United Kingdom
Professor Nolan has published extensively in the areas of human rights and constitutional law, particularly in relation to children's rights and economic and social rights. From 2020-3 she led a major international research project on ‘Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation (www.acrisl.org). Professor Nolan has acted as an expert advisor to a wide range of international and national organisations and bodies working on human rights issues, including numerous UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies, the Council of Europe, the World Bank, multiple NHRIs and NGOs. In 2018, she served on the Scottish First Minister’s Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership and in 2019-20 was a member of the Scottish Government’s UNCRC Working Group to input on the best model of incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scottish law. She recently served as an advisor to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on its General Comment No.26 on children’s rights and the environment, as well as to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on its forthcoming general comment on sustainable development and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
She has held visiting positions at academic institutions in Europe, Africa, the US and Australia. She is an Academic Expert member at Doughty Street Chambers where she co-leads the Children’s Rights Group and is on the Steering Group of Doughty Street International.
Her current work focuses on future generations' rights, child rights and climate justice.
Address: School of Law,
University of Nottingham,
University Park,
Nottingham NG7 2RD,
United Kingdom
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Books by Aoife Nolan
Featuring pioneering work by leading experts in the field of human rights and public finance, this multidisciplinary collection will be of great interest to academics, practitioners, public servants and students working in the areas of law, human rights, economics, development and political science
The book sets out an ICESCR based methodology for analysing budget and resource allocations. It offers an innovative approach focusing on the legal obligation imposed by article 2(1) of ICESCR to use ‘the maximum of available resources’ rather than looking at budgets in terms of equality. This methodology is then applied to case studies of social housing and mental health services in Northern Ireland in order to demonstrate and promote the use of a ‘rights-based’ approaches at the budget formulation stage. The book critically engages with recent scholarly discussions in human rights law over the precise role of "mainstreaming" initiatives, including their theoretical basis and practical effectiveness.
The book will be relevant to a global audience currently considering how to engage in the budget process from a human rights perspective. It will be of interest to students and scholars international human rights law, as well as practitioners, economic and social rights advocacy and lobbying group, and government representatives."
Featuring pioneering work by leading experts in the field of human rights and public finance, this multidisciplinary edited collection will be of great interest to academics, practitioners, students and public servants working in the areas of law, human rights, economics, development and political science."
The author brings together and addresses a wide range of issues that have never previously been considered together in book form. These include children's socio-economic rights; children as citizens and their position in relation to democratic decision-making processes; the implications of children and their rights for democratic and constitutional theory; the role of the courts in ensuring the enforcement of children's rights; and the debates surrounding the litigation and adjudication of socio-economic rights. This book thus represents a major original contribution to the existing scholarship in a range of areas including human rights, legal and political theory and constitutional law.
'Children's rights were often thought to be synonymous with economic and social welfare prior to the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. Ironically, since that time, remarkably little scholarship has been devoted to the vitally important economic and social rights dimensions of children's rights. Nolan's book singlehandedly remedies that neglect and does so in a sophisticated, nuanced and balanced way. It provides a superb account of the pros and cons of judicial activism in promoting these rights.'
Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor, NYU Law School
'Thus far the burgeoning literature on the judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights has failed to engage in a sustained, systemic manner with this topic from the perspective of children and the complexity of their status as citizens within contemporary democracies. This book fills this gap and makes a major contribution to the literature in the three interrelated areas of the judicial review of socio-economic rights claims, children's rights, and democratic theory. Nolan navigates skilfully through the dense, but rich literature in these areas as well as relevant international and comparative law. In so doing she illuminates both the pitfalls and potential of resorting to courts in a partial response to the multifaceted and deeply entrenched global phenomenon of child poverty.'
Professor Sandra Liebenberg, HF Oppenheimer Professor of Human Rights Law, University of Stellenbosch Law Faculty.
Papers by Aoife Nolan
Featuring pioneering work by leading experts in the field of human rights and public finance, this multidisciplinary collection will be of great interest to academics, practitioners, public servants and students working in the areas of law, human rights, economics, development and political science
The book sets out an ICESCR based methodology for analysing budget and resource allocations. It offers an innovative approach focusing on the legal obligation imposed by article 2(1) of ICESCR to use ‘the maximum of available resources’ rather than looking at budgets in terms of equality. This methodology is then applied to case studies of social housing and mental health services in Northern Ireland in order to demonstrate and promote the use of a ‘rights-based’ approaches at the budget formulation stage. The book critically engages with recent scholarly discussions in human rights law over the precise role of "mainstreaming" initiatives, including their theoretical basis and practical effectiveness.
The book will be relevant to a global audience currently considering how to engage in the budget process from a human rights perspective. It will be of interest to students and scholars international human rights law, as well as practitioners, economic and social rights advocacy and lobbying group, and government representatives."
Featuring pioneering work by leading experts in the field of human rights and public finance, this multidisciplinary edited collection will be of great interest to academics, practitioners, students and public servants working in the areas of law, human rights, economics, development and political science."
The author brings together and addresses a wide range of issues that have never previously been considered together in book form. These include children's socio-economic rights; children as citizens and their position in relation to democratic decision-making processes; the implications of children and their rights for democratic and constitutional theory; the role of the courts in ensuring the enforcement of children's rights; and the debates surrounding the litigation and adjudication of socio-economic rights. This book thus represents a major original contribution to the existing scholarship in a range of areas including human rights, legal and political theory and constitutional law.
'Children's rights were often thought to be synonymous with economic and social welfare prior to the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. Ironically, since that time, remarkably little scholarship has been devoted to the vitally important economic and social rights dimensions of children's rights. Nolan's book singlehandedly remedies that neglect and does so in a sophisticated, nuanced and balanced way. It provides a superb account of the pros and cons of judicial activism in promoting these rights.'
Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor, NYU Law School
'Thus far the burgeoning literature on the judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights has failed to engage in a sustained, systemic manner with this topic from the perspective of children and the complexity of their status as citizens within contemporary democracies. This book fills this gap and makes a major contribution to the literature in the three interrelated areas of the judicial review of socio-economic rights claims, children's rights, and democratic theory. Nolan navigates skilfully through the dense, but rich literature in these areas as well as relevant international and comparative law. In so doing she illuminates both the pitfalls and potential of resorting to courts in a partial response to the multifaceted and deeply entrenched global phenomenon of child poverty.'
Professor Sandra Liebenberg, HF Oppenheimer Professor of Human Rights Law, University of Stellenbosch Law Faculty.