Michael O'Flaherty

For other people named Michael O'Flaherty, see Michael O'Flaherty (disambiguation).

Professor Michael O'Flaherty is an Irish academic human rights lawyer and a member since 2004 of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC), the expert body that oversees compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).^[1] Again nominated by Ireland in 2008, O'Flaherty was re-elected to the HRC with the highest number of votes (136 states) achieved by any candidate.^[2] In July 2011 it was reported by the Belfast Telegraph that he would succeed Monica McWilliams as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, the statutory national human rights institution for Northern Ireland.^[3] The Northern Ireland Office subsequently confirmed the appointment, to take effect on 19 September 2011.^[4]

A native of Salthill in Galway,^[5] O'Flaherty holds degrees in law from University College Dublin, in theology and philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and in international relations from the University of Amsterdam. Ordained in the 1980s as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Galway, he has not exercised priestly ministry since 1992; he has not yet completed the process of laicisation,^[6] but has applied for it^[7] Qualified as a solicitor in Ireland, he does not practice in the courts. Since completing his postgraduate studies he has worked mainly in the field of international human rights. He is currently Professor of Applied Human Rights and Co-Director of the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham, England.^[8]

Having written extensively on the ICCPR in the 1990s, O'Flaherty joined the United Nations civil service and held several headquarters and field positions in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This included coordination of the OHCHR Asia and the Pacific programmes, field operations in Sierra Leone and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and (2000-02) chairing the UN reference group on human rights and humanitarian action. He served for some years as secretary to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and as a senior researcher in Florence at the UNICEF child rights research unit, the Innocenti Research Centre.^[1] He is a member of the UN Expert Group on Human Rights Indicators, and is an advisor to several intergovernmental and international non-governmental organisations^[4], including the European Roma Rights Centre and the Council of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation.^[1]

O'Flaherty was 'rapporteur' (principal drafter) for the Human Rights Committee's General Comment on Article 19 of ICCPR, finally adopted on 21 July 2011 after two years of negotiation. This major re-statement of the international law on freedom of expression emphasises the importance of media freedoms and it sets out the extent to which human rights standards relate to the new media and information platforms.

O'Flaherty also has contributed significantly to the international definition and protection of gay rights: in 2006 he led the drafting of the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.^[9]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Official UN biography
2. ^ Blog report of UN HRC election 2008
3. ^ Belfast Telegraph report 15 July 2011
4. ^ ^{a b} NIO news release 18 July 2011
5. ^ Galway News report 18 July 2011
6. ^ Belfast Telegraph report 18 July 2011
7. ^ "Galwayman is appointed to key human rights chair in the North", Galway City Tribune, 22 July 2011, page 5.
8. ^ University of Nottingham biography
9. ^ The Yogyakarta Principles: Rapporteur Addresses Gay Conference

External links

• Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
• Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham
• Yogyakarta Principles website

Persondata
Name	Oflaherty, Michael C
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Short description	Human rights lawyer
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