Professor Áine Ryall re-elected Chair of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee

3 Mar 2026

UCC School of Law's and Sustainability Institute Professor Áine Ryall has been re-elected unanimously as Chair of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee.

The Aarhus Convention is a multilateral agreement linking the environment and human rights.  The three core rights guaranteed under the Convention – information, participation and access to justice in environmental matters – underpin the right of every person of present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to their health and well-being.   

The Compliance Committee is tasked with overseeing implementation of the Convention across 48 State Parties.  It comprises nine members with recognised expertise in international environmental law and human rights.  The main element of the Committee’s workload involves dealing with communications from the public, including non-governmental organisations, alleging breach of Convention obligations by State Parties. 

Following her re-election Professor Ryall said:

“I’m honoured to be re-elected by my Compliance Committee colleagues to serve as Chair for a second term.  I look forward to working with them to support Parties to the Aarhus Convention in the implementation of their international law obligations. 

At a time of global upheaval, when new challenges bring the risk of backsliding on human rights and environmental protection, the Convention and its compliance mechanism are an important guardrail to protect environmental democracy and the rule of law.  In particular, the right to access to justice in environmental matters aims to ensure that the law is applied and enforced in practice. 

Transparency, accountability and oversight are essential if there is to be genuine public trust in Parties’ environmental governance frameworks.  These values underpin the vision of environmental democracy articulated in the Aarhus Convention.”

Áine is Co-Director of the Centre for Law and the Environment at UCC. 

She was first appointed to the Compliance Committee in 2015 and elected Vice-Chair in 2017.  Following her nomination by Ireland, she was re-elected at the Meeting of the Parties held in October 2021 to serve a second term on the Committee. 

Under its rules of procedure, the Compliance Committee elects its own Chair and Vice-Chairs.  Áine was elected Chair on 16 December 2021 and re-elected to serve a second term as Chair on 26 February 2026.