Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin visits Ukraine for the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & the Genocide Convention

Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin visited Lviv, Ukraine in December for the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & the Genocide Convention. The convention was attended by 75 international lawyers from the American Society of International Law and 75 lawyers from the Ukrainian Association of International Law, all dedicated to upholding human rights and international law.

“On the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the 75th anniversary of the Genocide Convention it was profoundly moving to be in Lviv, Ukraine and to express a clear commitment to maintaining the rule of law and human rights," said Prof. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin. "I carried with me the aspirations and hopes of the human rights community at the  University of Minnesota and the work so many of our alums, students, and colleagues carry out every day to fulfill the promise of these legal instruments.”

Professor Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin 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.

In 2017, Professor Ní Aoláin was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. In this capacity, she worked closely with states and United Nations entities to advance human rights protections in some of the most difficult contexts globally. She was re-elected by States for a further three-year term in 2020, and her term ended in November 2023.  She was elected to the International Commission of Jurists in 2023.