Research Interests:   Children's rights, youth justice, European Convention on Human Rights, international trade law and globalisation.

Subjects Taught:   Juvenile Justice, Moot Court, International Trade Law and Policy

Ursula Kilkelly (BA, LLM, PhD) joined the Law Faculty in 1999. She has lectured and published widely on children's rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and juvenile justice. At UCC, she teaches Juvenile Justice, International Trade Law and Moot Court.

Ursula is Chairperson of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (www.iprt.ie) and a founder member of the Irish Youth Justice Alliance. She works closely with a range of children's and human rights organisations and agencies in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Europe.

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS:

Children’s Rights

Email u.kilkelly@ucc.ie for a copy of our submission to the Oireachtas Committee on the Children's Rights Amendment

Children’s Rights in Ireland

• NEW BOOK!  Children’s Rights in Ireland: Law, Policy and Practice, Tottel Publishing, October 2008. Purchase now at http://www.tottelpublishing.com/article/24/Ireland.html
• 'Listen to Me! The Child's Right to be Heard in the Healthcare Setting' (with Donnelly,M) forthcoming International Journal of Children's Rights, 2009.
• 'The Proposed Children's Rights Amendment: Running to Stand Still?' (with O'Mahony, C) [2007] 2 Irish Journal of Family Law 19.
• 'In the Best Interest of the Child? An Evaluation of Ireland's performance before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child' 19 Irish Law Times (1998) 293-300.
• 'Children's Rights and the Family: Myth or Reality?' Studies, 2007.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

• 'The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child - an evaluation in the light of recent UK experience ' 8 (2) Child and Family Law Quarterly (1996) 105-120
• 'The Protection of Children's Rights in Ireland: Monitoring the Monitoring Process of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child' in Driscoll (Ed) Irish Human Rights Review (Roundhall Sweet & Maxwell, 2000).
• 'The Impact of the Children's Convention on the European Convention on Human rights' in Fottrell (Ed) Revisiting Children's Rights: Ten Years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Kluwer, 2000.

Family Law and Children’s Rights

• 'Children's Rights and the Family: Myths and Reality' Studies An Irish Quarterly Review Vol 97 No 385 (2008) 7-18.
• 'Complicated Childhood: the rights of children in committed relationships’ in Doyle & Binchy (eds), Committed Relationships and the Law (Four Courts Press, 2007) pp 215-238.
• 'Child Protection and the European Convention on Human Rights', 2 Irish Journal of Family Law (April 2000) 12-20
• 'The Reform of Irish Adoption Law - Ensuring Compliance with International Obligations' 1 Irish Journal of Family Law (2004) 10-14

Religion, Exploitation, Disability, Immigration

• 'The Child's Right to Religious Freedom: Time to Reform the Right that Never Was' in Fineman and Worthington (eds) What is Right for Children? Competing Paradigms of Religion and Human Rights (Ashgate, 2009) pp 243-268. 
• ‘Economic Exploitation of Children: A European Perspective’ XXII(2) Saint Louis University Journal of Public Law (2003) 321-358
• ‘Disability and Children: the Convention on the Rights of the Child’ in Quinn and Degener, Human Rights and Disability: the current use and future potential of the UN human rights instruments in the context of disability (Geneva: United Nations, 2002). This publication is also on the UN website (www.ohchr.corg) and on CD ROM.
• 'Nsona v the Netherlands: The Treatment of Minors and the European Convention on Human Rights' 8(4) International Journal of Refugee Law (1996) 640-650

Implementing and Researching Children’s Rights

• ‘Children's Rights in the Bill of Rights: Meeting or Exceeding International Standards’ 52 (3 & 4) Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly (2001) 286-295.
• 'The Best of Both Worlds for Children's Rights: Interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child', 23(2) Human Rights Quarterly (2001) 308-326.
• ‘Effective protection of Children’s Rights in Family Cases: An International Approach’ 12(2) Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems (2002) 336-354
• 'Strengthening the framework for enforcing children's rights: an integrated approach' in Ensalaco and Majka (eds) 'Children's Human Rights - Progress and Challenges' Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.
• 'Children’s Rights in Action:  Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child as an Auditing Tool' (with Lundy, L) 18(3) Child and Family Law Quarterly (2006) 331-350.
• ‘Operationalising Children’s Rights: Lessons from Research’ 1(4) Journal of Children’s Services (2006) 36-46.

Annual Review of International Children’s Rights and Family Law

• 'Annual Review of International Law', in Bainham (ed) International Survey of Family Law 2004 Edition (Bristol: Family Law, 2004).
• 'Annual Review of International Law', in Bainham (ed) International Survey of Family Law 2005 Edition (Bristol: Family Law, 2005).
• 'Annual Review of International Law' in Bainham (ed) International Survey of Family Law 2006 Edition (Bristol: Family Law, 2006).
• 'Annual Review of International Law’, in Atkin (ed) International Survey of Family Law 2007 Edition (Bristol: Family Law, 2007).
• 'Annual Review of International Law' in Atkin (ed) International Survey of Family Law 2008 Edition (Bristol: Family Law 2008).

Juvenile Justice

• Guest Editor, Youth Justice: An International Journal Vol 8(3) Rights and Youth Justice: Measuring Compliance with International Standards, 2008.
• ‘Youth Courts and Children’s Rights: the Irish Experience’ 8(1) Youth Justice (2008) 39-56.
• ‘Reform of Youth Justice in Ireland: the 'new' Children Act 2001', Part 1 (2006) 16(4) Irish Criminal Law Journal and Part 2 (2007) 17(1) Irish Journal of Criminal Law 2.
• 'The Human Rights Act: Implications for the Trial and Detention of Young People' 51(3) Northern Ireland Law Quarterly (2000) 466-480.
• ‘DG v Ireland: Protecting the rights of children at risk: a lazy government and unruly courts’ 24 Dublin University Law Journal (2002) 269-290.
• 'Children in Detention Schools: learning from International Best Practice' 13(2) Irish Journal of Criminal Law (2003) 15-19.
• Youth Justice in Ireland: Tough Lives, Rough Justice, Irish Academic Press, 2006. Order it from www.iap.ie

Prison Law

• 'Human Rights in Irish Prisons' (with Claire Hamilton) 2 Judicial Studies Institute Journal (2008) 58-85.

The European Convention on Human Rights

• NEW BOOK!  ECHR and Irish Law (Ed), 2nd Edition, Bristol, Jordans, 2008.
• ECHR and Irish Law (Ed) (Bristol, Jordans, 2004) ISBN 0853089264.
• 'Article 8: The Right to Respect for Private and Family Life, Home and Correspondence' in Harris, O'Boyle and Warbrick, Law and Theory on the European Convention on Human Rights, 2nd Ed. (OUP 2008) pp 361-424.
• The Child and the European Convention on Human Rights, (Ashgate Publishers, 1999), ISBN, 1 8014 704 0.
• 'Pinnacles and Pitfalls: The Exploration of Human Rights from Galway to Prague' 47 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 208 (1996).
• The Right to Respect for Private and Family Life: A Guide to the implementation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, (Strasbourg: Council of Europe 2001). 20,000 copies of the Russian language version of this publication were distributed among the procuracy in the Russian Federation and it has now been published in Turkish, Albanian, Macedonian, French and English.
• 'The Human Rights Act and Children: On Year On', ChildRIGHT, December 2001.
• 'The Human Rights Act and Issues for Health Care' in Gordon & Harran, Fragile: Handle with Care: Protecting Babies from Harm, (NSPCC, Leicester, 2001), pp 13-22.

RESEARCH REPORTS

• Barriers to the Realisation of Children's Rights in Ireland. Ombudsman for Children, 2007. See www.oco.ie.
• The Child's Right to be Heard in the Healthcare Setting: Perspectives of Children, Parents and Health Professionals (with Donnelly, M) Office of the Minister for Children, 2006.
• 'Children's Rights in Northern Ireland' (with Kilpatrick, Lundy, Moore and Scraton) (Belfast: NICCY, 2005) available at www.niccy.org including a children's and a young person's version
• The Children's Court: A Children's Rights Audit' (2005)  Research supported by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
• In Our Care: Protecting and Promoting the Rights of Children in Custody With L Moore and U Convery), 147 pp (Belfast: Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, 2002) ISBN 190368126X.
• Small Voices: Vital Rights: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Dublin: Children's Rights Alliance, 1997, 54 pp) ISBN 0 9529 142 12.

FUNDED RESEARCH

• A Practitioner’s Guide to the Children Act 2001, commissioned by the National Children’s Office, 2002, €10,000.
• ‘The Children’s Court: A Children’s Rights Audit, funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ , 2003, €6,000.
• Support for the development of the UCC Globalisation Research Group, Irish Aid, 2004, €10,000 approx.
• 'The Child's Right to be Heard in the Healthcare Setting: Perspectives of Children, Parents and Health Professionals' (with Donnelly, M and Madden, D). 2004, €50,000 approx
• ‘A Baseline study of children’s rights in Ireland’, Ombudsman for Children, 2006, €40,000 approx

• 'Social integration of young people in contact with youth justice systems: a youth action research project' (Associate Investigator with A Veale). Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social  Sciences, 2007. €50,000 approx

• 'The Operation of the Court System in Domestic Violence Cases: A Literature Review. COSC, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, September 2008, €12,000 approx.

• IRCHSS Research Development Initiative Visiting Fellowship to Temple Law School, Philadelphia. January 2009. €2,000.

OTHER AWARDS

NAIRTL Grant

• Development of a model for a Child Law Clinic, 2009. €5,000.
• Establishment of an Online Law Journal, 2009. €3,800 (with Prof Hedley and Dr Kilcommins)

President's Award for Research on Innovative Forms of Teaching

• 'Youth Justice: An On-line Teaching Resource', 2007. €3,800
•  'Digital Video Recording of Student Presentation Skills' (with M Donnelly) 2005.

Development of a Globalisation Research Group at University College Cork

• In 2004, Ursula was provided with funding from Irish Aid (formerly Development Co-operation Ireland) to develop a multidisciplinary cross-faculty Globalisation Group among academic colleagues at UCC.  Throughout 2005 and 2006 she ran a seminar series and organised several round-table discussions to further ideas and initiatives in the teaching and research of issues relating to globalisation including health, development, human rights, trade and poverty. Download the UCC Globalisation Directory.

ROLE IN PUBLIC POLICY AND LAW REFORM

Ursula works closely with non-government bodies and statutory agencies in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Europe.  Through this work she advocates a rights-based approach to the research and implementation of children’s rights.  In Europe she has worked with the Council of Europe, Interrights and the AIRE Centre in London.  In Northern Ireland, she works with the children’s rights sector including Save the Children and the Children’s Law Centre and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.  In the Republic of Ireland, she works with groups including the Children’s Rights Alliance, Barnardos, statutory agencies like the Equality Authority and the Ombudsman for Children. She is Chairperson of the Irish Penal Reform Trust.

The following documents are available to download:

• In Our Care, Promoting the Rights of Children in Custody, NIHRC, 2002
• Children’s Rights in Northern Ireland , NICCY, 2004
• Compliance of proposals for the Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland with international standards
• Protecting Children’s rights in the Bill of Rights: How? Why? (with Goretti Horgan)
• The case for Constitutional Change, Barnardos, 2007
• Briefing paper on Children’s Rights and the Irish Constitution

CONFERENCE PAPERS AND SEMINARS (Sample):

The European Convention on Human Rights

• 'Introducing the Legislation: The European Convention on Human Rights and the Approaches taken by the Court in Children's Cases' at The Human Rights Act and Children, organised by Children in Wales and the Association of Lawyers for Children, Cardiff, 2nd March, 2000.
• 'Overview of the Human Rights Act and Issues for Children's Services' at a Conference organised by the Local Government Association and the Children's Rights Office, London, 21st March, 2000.
• 'The Scope of Family Life under Article 8 ECHR: Developing a Dynamic Concept', presented at the Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference, Belfast, April 28th, 2000.
• 'ECHR Issues relating to Family Law and Care', presented at a conference, The Human Rights Act 1998 and Family Law, organised by SLS Legal Publications at Queen's University Belfast, 20th May 2000.
• 'The Human Rights Act 1998: Juvenile Justice Implications', presented at a one day conference, Human Rights Act: Implications for Children, organised by the NIO and other agencies, Belfast, 24th May 2000.
• 'Monitoring the Care System: An Analysis of ECHR Case Law', presented at the Society for Public Teachers in Law Annual Conference, 'Law's Future(s)', University College London, 19th September 2000.
• 'Implications of Incorporation for Family and Child Law in Ireland', ECHR Lecture Series, Irish Centre for European Law, Trinity College Dublin, Monday February 5th, 2001.
• 'The Best of Both Worlds for Children's Rights: Interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child' presented at a Conference, Protecting Children's Rights Ten Years after the World Summit, University of Dayton, Ohio, USA, March 2nd 2001.
• Keynote Speech: 'Bringing Rights Home for Children', Conference organised by the Children's Law Centre, Save the Children and the NIGALA, Belfast, May 10th, 2001.
• 'Education Law in Northern Ireland and the Human Rights Act 1998', Human Rights in Education Conference, organised by the Human Rights Commission and the (NI) Department of Education, Belfast, 26th September, 2001.
• 'ECHR and the Family 2001' a lecture delivered at The (Justice) Human Rights Law Conference 2001, London, Thursday 18th October 2001.
• As an expert on Article 8 ECHR (private and family life) I provided training to judges and prosecutors at two workshops organised by the Council of Europe and the Albanian School of Magistrates in Vlora, Albania on 25-27 March and Durrus, Albania on 17-19 April, 2002.
• 'Effective Protection of Children's Rights in Family Cases', International Society of Family Law 11th World Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, 3rd August 2002.

Children’s Rights

• 'Implementing Children's Rights in Europe', Beasley School of Law, Temple University, Philadelphia , 4 October 2007.

• 'Children's Rights in Ireland: Barriers and Challenges' Faculty of Law, University of Otago, Dunedin , New Zealand , 19 March 2007.

• 'Children's Rights: Converging approaches,' Department of Law, Cambridge University , 1 March 2007.

• 'Child Representation And Human Rights', presented at Children and Families: Access to Injustice? the 11th Annual Conference of the Association of Lawyers for Children, University of Warwick, 20th September 2000.
• 'Children's Rights in Ireland' presented at Human Rights Commissions: Strategies and Practical Agendas, an Irish Council for Civil Liberties Conference, Dublin, 3rd February 2001.
• 'Children's Rights in Court Proceedings with particular reference to the European Convention on Human Rights' presented to the Irish Judicial Studies Institute Annual Conference, Dublin Castle, 15 November 2003
• 'Strategic Litigation and other challenges for Children's Rights' presented at the conference Children's and Young People's Rights and Advocacy in Times of Conflict and Transition organised by the Transitional Justice Institute (UUJ), Belfast, 14 May 2004
• 'Maximising the Potential of Children's Rights Standards: Research and Strategic Litigation' presented at a conference on Children's Rights organised by Queen's University Belfast, the Children's Law Centre and the NI Commissioner for Children and Young People, Belfast, 26 November 2004
• 'The Rights of the Child in Early Childhood' OMEP Annual Conference, University College Cork, 28 April 2006
• 'The CRC: its use as an auditing tool' (with Lundy), International Interdisciplinary Conference on Children's Rights, Ghent, Belgium, 17-18 May, 2006
• 'Family Law and Human Rights: Modern Challenges' presented to the Four Jurisdictions Family Law Conference, Belfast, 27 February 2004

Juvenile Justice

• 'Models of Detention for Children' (with M Geaney), Irish Youth Justice Service Biennial Conference, Cavan 6 March 2008.
• 'International Standards in Youth Justice' , Measuring Compliance with International Standards, an international conference hosted by the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights at the Faculty  of Law, UCC and the Children Acts Advisory Board, 3-4 April 2008
• 'The Garda Diversion Programme: Issues and Challenges' An Garda Siochana Juvenile Liaison Officer Annual Conference, Cavan, 7th April 2008.

• 'Youth Justice, the Rights Approach and the Irish Youth Justice System' Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney , 30 March 2007.

• 'The Children Act 2001: A Children's Rights Perspective' presented at a Seminar on the Children Act 2001 organised by the Labour Party Lawyers Group held in Dublin on 9th March 2002.
• 'The Children's Court: Justice for Children' presented to the IALT Annual Conference, Derry, 3 April 2004
• 'The Irish Youth Justice System: Progress since 1998' presented at the plenary session of the Fourth Biennial Four Jurisdictions Conference on Juvenile Crime and Offending, Cardiff, 22 June 2004
• ‘Reforming Youth Justice in Ireland’ presented at the 2^nd International meeting of the International Juvenile Justice Observatory, Brussels, October 2006

Trade and Globalisation

• 'Child Labour: An issue for Europe?', ILSA Conference on Children's Rights, Saint Louis University, Missouri, November 2002.
• 'The WTO and workers' Rights: A right to comparative advantage for developing countries?' presented at the Globalisation and Inclusion conference, UCC, 1 June 2004. I was co-organiser of this conference within a cross-departmental group at UCC.

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