What It Means to Be Human by Joanna Bourke

What are the Research Projects you’re Currently Working on? My studies in history, geography and political science also motivated me to pursue inquiries into the political economy of development cooperation and to contextualise processes of colonialism.

I've always been concerned about questions of social justice and inequality and the reason that I chose to study law and humanities was due to a conviction that these are tools that can be used to work towards changing unjust political, economic, legal and social structures.ĭuring my time as a law student, I volunteered in a local community legal centre in an inner-city area where there was a lot of poverty and that experience really sparked my interest in working on issues of adequate housing, social security, indigenous and educational rights as well as on gender-based violence against women. Why Did you Choose to Work in the Field of Human Rights? In addition to these activities, I have also acted as a consultant to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and to the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery as well to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Right to Education in International Development was published by Schulthess in 2012. I completed my Doctor of Laws at the University of Fribourg and my thesis, Echoes from a Different Shore. Following those experiences, I moved to academia where I coordinated the Master of Advanced Studies in Children's Rights and worked on research projects related to intersectional discrimination, the philosophy of international law and secessionist and separatist movements. During my undergraduate studies, I spent a semester at the University of British Columbia in Canada where I focused on comparative constitutional and indigenous law as well as feminist legal theory, environmental law and human rights.Īfter moving to Switzerland to complete my Masters' degree in international law at the Graduate Institute I spent several years working at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and at the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

I grew up in Australia where I studied law, contemporary South East Asian history, geography and political science. Tell us about you: What’s your Background? She is involved in several research projects dealing with gender, the right to food and land commercialization, as well as with gender equality in the context of business activities, and on economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr Joanna Bourke Martignoni is one of our Senior Research Fellows.

What It Means to Be Human by Joanna Bourke