Activist Lawyer

Episode 76: IWD24: Dr Maebh Harding and Professor Aoife O’Donoghue

To mark International Women’s Day 2024  we are joined by Dr Maebh Harding and Professor Aoife O’Donoghue to discuss the network Doing Feminist Legal Work. DFLW connects legal scholars across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain addressing emerging issues of gender and law. This is an exciting and innovative project and you can find out how you can become involved in the network.  We also discuss the meaning of adapting a ‘feminist approach’ to work and to teaching as well as the position of western feminism in the context of the ongoing crisis in Palestine.
Professor Aoife O’Donoghue of Queen’s University Law School, works extensively on projects relating to utopia, feminism and international law and tyranny, in particular taking a law and humanities perspective that incorporates history, literature and theory.  Aoife was co-director of the Northern Ireland Feminist Judgements Project and is co-direct of the Feminist Constitutional Futures Project. 
Dr Maebh Harding works at University College Dublin, Sutherland School of Law.  Dr Harding is Assistant professor in Family and Child Law at UCD and her research combines a critical feminist perspective with empirical, historical and doctrinal rigour to challenge legal regulation of family life.  She takes a particular interest, not only in law and gender but in how family justice systems actually work.  Her work has been widely citied and has significantly impacted policy and practice.

Episode 75: Professor Shane Darcy, Nadeen Yousef and Ramez Hayek

Continuing with our series focusing on events unfolding in Palestine we speak to Professor Shane Darcy, Nadeen Yousef and Ramez Hayek from the Irish Centre for Human Rights in the School of Law at University of Galway.
 
The panel discuss events subsequent to the ICJ ruling on provisional measures in the case of South Africa v. Israel in relation to the Genocide Convention, 1948.  We discuss the action of state parties to the Convention in light of the ruling, the validity of international legal institutions as well as touching on other important legal actions taken on both an international and domestic level in an effort to hold Israel and its allies accountable for their actions and contraventions of international law. 
Professor Shane Darcy is the Deputy Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights in the School of Law at the University of Galway, where he teaches business and human rights, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. He is the author of Judges, Law and War; The Judicial Development of International Humanitarian Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and To Serve the Enemy: Informers, Collaborators and the Laws of Armed Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2019). He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Business and Human Rights Journal, the Irish Yearbook of International Law and Criminal Law Forum.
Nadeen Yousef, a Palestinian human rights advocate, and a full-time LLM student specializing in International Human Rights Law at the University of Galway. She has previously worked as an Advocacy Coordinator at several Palestinian civil society organizations including the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, and the Palestinian Vision. Along her studies, Nadeen is currently working as a Research Assistant for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the OPT, Francesca Albanese. 
Ramez Hayek is a legal researcher from Palestine. He holds a dual-BA degree in International Law & Human Rights from Bard College in New York and Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, as well as an MA degree in Human Rights from Central European University in Vienna. He is currently pursuing an LLM in Peace Operations, Humanitarian Law, and Conflict at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in Galway. Professionally, he has worked with several Palestinian and international organizations, including UNICEF, PEN America, Amnesty International, the Swedish Development Aid Organization, etc. He is currently a member of the research team helping Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, with her upcoming thematic report, focusing on the question of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
 
 

Episode 74: Maryam

This episode of Activist Lawyer sheds light on the horrific circumstances facing women in Afghanistan. As we approach International Women’s Day, we ask everyone to listen to this episode where our guest Maryam, explains what is happening in Afghanistan since the Taliban enforced their oppressive regime in August 2021. Maryam discusses education, employment, mental health and women in law. Afghan women and girls face a truly harrowing future if the international community does not act urgently and intervene. 
Maryam is an activist lawyer and mental health advocate for women in Afghanistan.
*Mistake in recording: Sarah notes the Taliban regime ran between 1996 and 2021 – it should be 2001

Episode 73: Cristina Stamatescu

Sarah is joined by Dublin based solicitor Cristina Stamatescu to talk about her unique journey to becoming a human rights practitioner. Cristina discusses the importance of balancing her day-to-day role as managing solicitor with networking, pro-bono work and opportunities to develop and learn more about the law and making change happen outside of the office!
 

Episode 72: Dr Munir Nuseibah

Human rights lawyer and law professor at Al-Quds University, Dr Munir Nuseibah shares his opinion on Israel before the ICJ, the importance of states joining South Africa's action under the Genocide Convention as well as activity (or lack thereof) at the ICC when it comes to prosecutions and accountability.  

Episode 71: Soraida Hussein

Sarah is joined by renowned women’s activist and co-founder of the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, Palestine, Soraida Hussein to discuss the impact of violence on women and child victims of the ongoing aggression in Gaza and the West Bank.
For more on the film Soraida: A Woman of Palestine : https://genderandsecurity.org/projects-resources/filmography/soraida-woman-palestine
Donate: Action Aid Gaza Appeal

Episode 70: Tamara Tamimi

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by Tamara Tamimi. Tamara is a Palestinian born in Jerusalem. Tamara holds an MA degree in Human Rights Law from SOAS, University of London and is currently pursuing her PhD from Queen’s University Belfast in international law and the Palestine question. Tamara’s research activity focuses on settler colonialism, transformative justice, forcible displacement, gender equality, and aid effectiveness of overseas development assistance as part of policies of Western countries.
Tamara has also published extensively in peer reviewed journals and edited collections on aforementioned subjects, including Development in Practice Journal, Al-Shabaka- Palestinian Policy Network, and with University of Gottingen, and Queen’s University Belfast.  
Previous podcast
https://lawpod.org/podcast/international-law-and-perceptions-of-justice-in-palestine/?fbclid=IwAR1f8ymrMJ3qtGO9_Ya4zEXsYDfJqHilHgvq_ZkY9DZdo_gUs6BnSp-Hlrw
On genocide perpetrated in Gaza:
Raz Segal, A Textbook Case of Genocide, Jewish Currents <https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide>
Omer Bartov, What I Believe as a Historian of Genocide, New York Times <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/opinion/israel-gaza-genocide-war.html>
Center for Constitutional Rights, Israel's Unfolding Crime of Genocide of the Palestinian People & U.S. Failure to Prevent and Complicity in Genocide <https://ccrjustice.org/israel-s-unfolding-crime-genocide-palestinian-people-us-failure-prevent-and-complicity-genocide>
 
On settler colonialism, displacement, and dispossession of Palestinians:
Tamara Tamimi, Ahmad Amara, Osama Risheq, Munir Nuseibah, Alice Panepinto, Brendan Browne, and Triestino Marinello “(Mis)using Legal Pluralism in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to Advance Dispossession of Palestinians: Israeli Policies against Palestinian Bedouins in the Eastern Jerusalem Periphery” in Noorhaidi Hasan and Irene Schneider (eds) in International Law between Translation and Pluralism: Examples from Germany, Palestine and Indonesia
Edward Said, The Question of Palestine
Edward Said, Out of Place: A Memoir 
Eward Said, The Politics of Dispossession 
Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe, On Palestine 
Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Judith Butler, Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism
Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917- 2017
Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness
 
On solidarity, mobilisation and accountability:
Angela Davis, Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
Ali Abunimah, The Battle for Justice in Palestine
Audrea Lim (editor), The Case for Sanctions Against Israel  

Episode 69: Professor Donncha O’Connell

In this week's episode, Sarah speaks with Professor Donncha O’Connell, Established Professor of Law in the School of Law, University Galway.

Episode 68: Gary Daly

In this week's episode, Sarah is joined by human rights solicitor and partner with Daly Khurshid Solicitors, Gary Daly. Gary discusses the effectiveness of activism and the law through his work on discrimination, immigration and social welfare and housing law as well as his time spent in Palestine, Calais and other locations where he provides voluntary legal support to vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers as well as human rights organisations.
 

Episode 67: Danielle Ayres

Sarah is joined by employment law specialist Danielle Ayres of Primas Law.  Danielle shares her experience as a solicitor, juggling family life and supporting women facing maternity challenges and discrimination around pregnancy and related issues.   Danielle and Sarah highlight the importance of flexible working, managing menopause in the workplace as well as Danielle’s role in the fantastic organisation and campaign ‘Pregnant then Screwed.’
Follow the links below for more on Danielle’s work and the ‘Pregnant then Screwed’ Campaign.
https://www.primaslaw.co.uk/team/danielle-ayres/
https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/