Kevin Boyle

Kevin Boyle "was the Director of the Human Rights Centre from August 1989-July 1998, August 1999 - July 2001 and again from August 2006-September 2007. He was academic director of the Democratic Audit 1994-2001. From September 2001-September 2002 he was Senior Adviser to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Mary Robinson. He was also the first Director of the Human Rights Centre at the National University of Ireland, Galway and founding Director of the NGO Article 19, the Global Campaign against Censorship. He is a practising barrister and has taken numerous cases on human rights issues to UK Courts and to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In 1998, with Professor Françoise Hampson, he was jointly named UK Human Rights Lawyer of the Year, by Liberty and the Law Society Gazette. Professor Boyle has long been involved in human rights aspects of the peace process in Northern Ireland. He has published widely on human rights issues, focusing on freedom of expression and religion and non-discrimination. His major books include (with T Hadden) Northern Ireland: The Choice (1994); (co-ed) Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report (1997), (co-ed) Human Rights and Democracy: The Role of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt (1996),  Introducing Democracy  80 Questions and Answers ( with David Beetham), A Voice for Human Rights Mary Robinson (2006). He is a member of the OSCE Advisory Panel on Freedom of Religion and Belief and the Human Rights Liaison Committee Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland. He is a member of the editorial board of the Netherlands Quarterly on Human Rights, the European Human Rights Law Review and Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights. He became Chair of the International Council of the Minority Rights Group in 2007."


 * Editorial Review Board, Human Rights Quarterly