Siobhán Mullally

Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway | NUI Galway · Irish Centre for Human Rights

with businesses so that they can find sustainable employment. 14 Canada is to be commended for resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees in a relatively short period of time while Brazil is offering 8,474 humanitarian visas for refugees from Syria and, in the region, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq issues residency permits to registered refugees that grants t...

Recent years have witnessed the expansion of human rights standards relating to migrant domestic workers. This includes, in particular, the adoption of the 2011 International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (no. 189) , General Comments from UN human rights treaty bodies, and an expanding body of case law in...

This special issue brings together comparative perspectives on the regulation of abortion. It examines the sociopolitical contexts within which proposals to expand access to abortion for women are won and lost. Women’s claim to a right to safe and legal abortion services is relatively new in the language of human rights; yet, it is one that continu...

The scope of diplomatic immunity and rights claims by domestic workers in diplomatic households have been the subject of a series of cases in U.S. and U.K. courts in recent years. Parallel to these cases is a related but distinct body of case law on the immunities of states and possible exceptions to immunity claims that arise in the sphere of empl...

A Crisis of Protection in Europe: Migrants at Sea - Volume 110 - Siobhán Mullally

This paper is forthcoming in 2016 American Journal of Comparative Law.

This book is one of two volumes that examine the interface between human rights and migration and refugees. Part of a series produced for Ashgate's International Library of Essays on Rights, this book contains facsimile reproductions of articles that examine migrants as subjects of international law; the effect on rights of borders and territoriali...

Human rights law has begun to address the inequalities and exclusions that structure the domain of domestic work. The “everyday” of exclusions from employment law and social security, and precarious migration status, had, until recently, attracted only limited attention. This article examines the reforms introduced in the Overseas Domestic Workers...

The intersections of gender, religion and migration status have attracted only limited commentary to date. The significance of migration status as a marker of gender inequality, and one that further increases the burden of intersecting axes of discrimination, requires further scrutiny. This article examines the rise of civic integration requirement...

This article examines the ambiguous and uneasy status of separated children in Ireland at the margins of child protection regimes. The treatment and care of separated children in Ireland has been the subject of continuing controversy. For many years, the failure of the state to adequately care for separated children has attracted criticism. This cr...

Controversies surrounding the wearing of the veil by Muslim women in Europe have coincided with a resurgence of interest in ‘pathways to citizenship’ and integration testing. This article argues that the historical vestiges of discrimination in immigration and citizenship laws persist today in the scrutiny of the cultural affiliations and practices...

The adoption in 2000 of Security Council Resolution 1325 has rightly been described as a watershed moment. Not only does this resolution recognise women as potentially vulnerable in times of conflict, it specifically, and importantly, recognises women as political actors, as agents in peace processes and as key stakeholders in peace-building. More...

Recent years have witnessed significant developments in international human rights law relating to domestic violence. No longer viewed as a matter essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of the State, domestic violence now frequently commands the attention of international human rights bodies. The obligations imposed on States include positive...

Both the European Court of Human Rights and the Irish courts have repeatedly distinguished between the rights of settled migrants, and those whose presence in the State has been of limited duration only. Such distinctions have also been made when assessing the potential hardship that might be endured upon deportation of a parent and/or de facto dep...

The place of religion in the public sphere in Europe has attracted significant commentary and debate in recent years. In a post-secular age, it is argued, Europe’s ‘faltering project’ must recognise the significance of religion and the role that religious discourse can play in democratic debate. In Ireland, religious discourse has often played a co...

This paper explores recent proposals for reform on laws relating to female genital mutilation in Ireland. The article rejects the appeals to cultural difference that have sought to hinder the process of reform, but also cautions against polarisation of feminism and multicultural politics. The paper examines the question of consent and its positioni...

Refugee Law in Ireland has developed rapidly over the last decade. This chapter highlights the extent to which lawyers, judges and policy-makers at the forefront of developing Irish law in this field have benefited from the greater availability of comparative and international law in recent years. As the cases explored in this chapter highlight, re...

This Report examines debates and reform proposals on the independence of the judiciary in Pakistan.in response to the events surrounding the removal and later reinstatement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The Report does not limit itself to these events, but looks more broadly at concerns relating to the independence a...

This paper examines recent changes in citizenship law in Ireland, following a referendum and constitutional amendment restricting the application of the jus soli principle. The paper highlights the gendered discourse on citizenship that preceded the referendum in Ireland, and the positioning of migrant women in the moral panic that surrounded migra...

This paper examines the current legal framework in Ireland regulating the display or wearing of religious symbols in educational institutions. The paper was submitted to the Consultation on Intercultural Education, undertaken by the Ministry for Integration 2008-9. Ireland's current legal framework is examined in the light of recent developments in...

This Report reviews the UNDP Strengthening the Justice System Programme in Timor-Leste, examining how and whether the key goal of promoting greater access to justice and strengthening judicial institutions were met in the post-conflict period.

Defining the limits of minority rights poses a significant challenge to human rights norms. At the heart of current debates on multicultural citizenship is a concern to recognise the distinct cultural identifies of minority communities through legal mechanisms that allow for group-differentiated citizenship. Such differentiation, however, may bring...

The pursuit of substantive equality through legal strategies has met with significant obstacles in Ireland. Positive duties are one of a number of measures adopted in the pursuit of substantive equality, taking legal strategies beyond the limits of anti-discrimination laws. The reluctance to introduce positive duties to promote equality in Ireland...

Citizenship laws provide us with models of membership. They define the terms on which strangers and natives belong to political communities, allocating both the benefits of membership and the brutalities of exclusion. Recent legal changes in Ireland, restricting the right to citizenship by birth and limiting the rights of migrant families, highligh...

Women's reproductive autonomy has gained limited recognition at the international level. This recognition has been difficult to secure and remains contentious. This article examines the struggle for reproductive autonomy within the context of the abortion debate in Ireland, where reproductive rights particularly and women's human rights generally h...

Women's reproductive autonomy has gained limited recognition at the international level. This recognition has been difficult to secure and remains contentious. This article examines the struggle for reproductive autonomy within the context of the abortion debate in Ireland, where reproductive rights particularly and women's human rights generally h...

Tensions between the constitutional commitment to equality and the politicization of Islam create conflicting claims for Pakistan’s legal system. These claims have focused, in particular, on the sphere of intimate domestic and sexual relationships. Although the fundamental rights chapter of the Constitution guarantees equality before the law, the p...

Debates in India following on from the Shah Bano case highlight the extent to which gender equality may be compromised by yielding to the dominant voices within a particular religion or cultural tradition. As the Indian Supreme Court noted in Danial Latifi & Anr v Union of India, the pursuit of gender justice raises questions of a universal magnitu...

This is a comparative survey of the international experience of equality legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment on four grounds: (1) socio-economic status (including social origin); (2) trade union membership; (3) criminal conviction/ex-offender/ex-prisoner and (4) political opinion. The jurisdictions covered in the survey are: Austra...

In recent years, official discourse in Ireland has become increasingly preoccupied with issues of 'security' and 'control'. The preoccupation has grown often at the cost of protecting the fundamental rights of non-nationals, including in particular asylum seekers. In upholding the constitutionality of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Bill, the...

This article examines the steps taken in recent years to mainstream equality issues into the law and policy process in Ireland. Although official discourse increasingly recognises the need to tackle inequality and social exclusion, there is little to suggest that the mainstreaming process has been a transformative one. A reluctance to move beyond e...

This paper examines the legal regulation of women's employment in the public sphere in Pakistan. A large part of the legislation relating specifically to the employment of women is highly protective in nature. The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan assumes that women are in need of protection. This assumption is reflected in the labour legislation and i...