School of Advanced Study, University of London

Faculty Member, Human Rights Consortium

Lecturer in Human Rights

About

I'm a lecturer in human rights at the Human Rights Consortium, School of Advanced Study, University of London. I teach human rights at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and the Institute for the Study of the Americas.

Previously, I taught International Relations theories and International Security at various Oxford colleges, and at Oxford Brookes University, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and at Warwick University. I studied International Relations (DPhil) at Oxford University; Latin American Studies (MSc) at the Institute of Latin American Studies (currently the Institute for the Study of the Americas), University of London; and Philosophy and Economics (BA) at University College London.

My current research interests focus on regional human rights institutions both comparatively and with a particular reference to the Inter-American human rights system and its capacity to shape domestic human rights politics in Latin America. My further research interests include the relationship between human rights and democratization; judicialization of politics; transitional justice; the international relations of the Americas; human rights, humanitarianism, and foreign policy; theories of international relations, particularly relating to international law and institutions; and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of human rights. To date, my country-specific research has focused, in particular, on Argentina, but also Brazil and Chile. In addition, I am currently involved in human rights research related to Colombia and Mexico.

For more information on my research, including papers for download, see my SSRN Author page: http://ssrn.com/author=834539

My ongoing research activities can be divided into the following overlapping areas:

My research into compliance with the Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS) focuses on issues of human rights implementation and effectiveness of international institutions. This area of my research seeks to further understandings of how human rights norms operate through regional human rights institutions and influence domestic institutions and political actors. I am currently working on a book manuscript based on my DPhil research on Argentina and the IAHRS, which was awarded (jointly) the Bapsybanoo Marchioness of Winchester Prize for best human rights thesis at the University of Oxford, and a number of articles that draw on different aspects of my research in this area. A future comparative study of regional human rights regimes is envisaged.

Together with Thomas Pegram (Trinity College, Dublin), I am currently directing a research project on National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and torture prevention in Latin America, funded by a grant from the Human Rights and Democracy Programme of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The purpose of this research project is to strengthen the capacity of NHRIs in Latin America – Defensorías del Pueblo, Procuradurías y Comisiones de los Derechos Humanos – to engage with the Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council to promote State implementation of international torture prevention standards (CAT and OP-CAT).

My research in the field of transitional justice, conflict and rights focuses in large part on the role of international norms and institutions (such as the Inter-American Human Rights System and the International Criminal Court) in establishing accountability for past human rights violations and their contribution in furthering peace, justice and political democratization locally. I study ongoing transitional justice developments in Argentina and Brazil in particular, and the politics of accountability and conflict resolution in Colombia. Through my co-chairmanship of the London Transitional Justice Network, I also engage in transitional justice related debates beyond the region of Latin America.

Another area of research interest focuses on the role of rising powers within the international human rights regime. Much attention has been given to ‘emerging powers’ such as Brazil, China, India, and South Africa and what effects their growing influence has on the present and future management of issues of global concern. But there has been no systematic research on the meaning and wider implications of the rise of non-Western states in the issue-area of human rights. To this end I have recently written on Brazilian foreign policy and human rights.

I am also developing my research on and engagement with the policy reforms of Sweden’s international development assistance programmes in the interlinked areas of human rights, humanitarian assistance and democracy promotion.

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