On 7 December 2017, Amina Adanan successfully defended her Ph. D thesis at NUI Galway. The external examiner was Professor Mohamed Badar (Professor of Comparative and International Criminal Law & Islamic Law at Northumbria University) and the internal examiner was Dr. Anita Ferrara (Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, NUI Galway). Professor Donncha O’Connell (School of Law, NUI Galway) was the chairperson.
Amina’s thesis is entitled, ‘Allies and enemies, past and present: An analysis of the rationale for the development of universal jurisdiction over serious crimes under international law’. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the rationale for the development of universal jurisdiction over the crimes to which it applies. The thesis compares the original rationale for universal jurisdiction to the exercise of the jurisdiction today. In particular, it includes a detailed examination of the laws providing for universal jurisdiction in Belgium. In addition, the thesis provides an analysis of how universal jurisdiction developed over international piracy and then transposed to other crimes. To this extent, it provides an overview of the common themes in the history of universal jurisdiction. This research uses a traditional doctrinal method, as well as a historical methodological approach using materials gathered from the Belgian Diplomatic Archives and the UK National Archives.
The thesis supervisors were Dr. Noelle Higgins (Senior Lecturer at Department of Law, Maynooth University) and Professor Ray Murphy (Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, NUI Galway). The research was funded by the prestigious NUI EJ Phelan Fellowship in International Law and the Irish Centre for Human Rights’ Doctoral Fellowship.
Dr. Amina Adanan lectures in International Human Rights Law, Land Law and Constitutional Law at the Department of Law, Maynooth University.