Maeve O’Rourke
Dr Maeve O’Rourke is Lecturer in Human Rights and Director of the postgraduate Human Rights Law Clinic at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, University of Galway. She is also Programme Director of the Law (BCL) and Human Rights undergraduate degree at University of Galway. Maeve’s research interests lie primarily in the development of the rule against torture and ill-treatment, human rights protections in institutional and care contexts, access to justice and redress for systemic and so-called ‘historical’ human rights abuses, and ‘movement lawyering’ methods. Maeve has a keen interest in the experiences of older survivors of Ireland’s social ‘care’-related and family separation abuses, and she has undertaken extensive evidence-gathering and advocacy initiatives regarding the experiences, needs and entitlements of those subjected to the Magdalene Laundries, Mother and Baby Homes, County Homes, Industrial Schools, forced adoption and related regimes. Her monograph entitled Human Rights and the Care of Older People: Dignity, Vulnerability, and the Anti-Torture Norm was published by Oxford University Press in May 2024 and is open access.