Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin Concludes Term as UN Special Rapporteur

Please join the University of Minnesota Law School in congratulating Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin upon the successful completion of her second term as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. Appointed to this role in 2017, Ní Aoláin worked closely with states and United Nations' entities to advance human rights protections in some of the most difficult regions, situations, and contexts across the globe. Earlier this year, she and her team conducted the first-ever technical visit by the United Nations to the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as well as conducting a visit to detention camps in Syria. 

"We are all so proud of our colleague, Fionnuala," said Interim Dean William McGeveran, the Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty & Bennett Professor of Law. "She has been courageous, principled, and clear-eyed in her UN work, during a time of enormous threats to human rights around the globe. What a testament to the power of turning rigorous scholarly expertise into real-world impact!"

Professor Ní Aoláin was recently elected to the International Commission of Jurists for a 5-year term. She is a University Regents Professor; Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society; and faculty director of the Human Rights Center at the Law School. She is concurrently a professor of law at the Queen's University of Belfast, School of Law.