Christine Bell

Christine was born and brought up in Belfast. She is currently Director of the Transitional Justice Institute, and Professor of Public International Law at University of Ulster (based at Magee Campus). She read law at Selwyn College, Cambridge, (1988) and gained an LL.M in Law from Harvard Law School (1990), supported by a Harkness Fellowship. In 1990 she qualified as a Barrister at law.  She subsequently qualified as an Attorney-at-law in New York, practicing for a period at Debevoise & Plimpton, NY. From 1997-9 she was Director of the Centre for International and Comparative Human Rights Law, Queen's University of Belfast. She has been active in non-governmental organizations, and was chairperson of Belfast-based Human Rights organization, the Committee on the Administration of Justice from 1995-7, and a founder member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission established under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.  In 1999 she was a member of the European Commission’s Committee of Experts on Fundamental Rights.  In 2007 Christine won the American Society of International Law's Francis Deake Prize for her article on "Peace Agreements: Their Nature and Legal Status" 100(2) American Journal of International Law .  The prize is awarded annually for the leading article by a younger author in the AJIL  She has authored two books: On the Law of Peace: Peace Agreements and the Lex Pacificatoria (Oxford University Press 2008) and Peace Agreements and Human Rights (Oxford University Press 2000), and a report published by the International Council on Human Rights Policy entitled Negotiating Justice? Human Rights and Peace Agreements (2006).  Christine was awarded the Fernand Braudel Senior Fellowship for "established academics with an international reputation" at the European University Institute Law department, Florence, Italy, from January to June 2007.  She has also taken part in various peace negotiations discussions, giving constitutional law and human rights law advice, and also in training for diplomats, mediators and lawyers.

Research Interests

Christine’s Research interests lie in the areas of transitional justice, peace agreements and international law, minority rights, discrimination, and gender and law.  She is currently working on projects in the following areas: Human rights and conflict resolution; Peace agreements and the force of law; Gender and transitional justice; Participatory democracy, civil society and transitions from conflict; Constitutional blueprints for peace and reconciliation on an all-Ireland basis; and dealing with the past in Northern Ireland.

Peer Reviewed Articles

"Does Feminism Need a Theory of Transitional Justice? An Introductory Essay" 1 International Journal of Transitional Justice (2007): 23 (co-author with C O'Rourke)

"The People's Peace? Peace Agreements, Civil Society and Participatory Democracy" International Political Science Review (2007) (forthcoming) (co-author with C O'Rourke)

"Peace Agreements: Their Nature and Legal Status." 100(2) American Journal of International Law (2006)

"Lost on the Way Home? The Right to Life in Northern Ireland." 32 Journal of Law and Society (2005): 68 (co-author with J Keenan).

"Human Rights Nongovernmental Organisations and the Problems of Transition." 26 Human Rights Quarterly  (2004): 331 (co-author with J Keenan)

‘Justice Discourses in Transition." 13 Social and Legal Studies (2004): 306-28 (co-author with C Campbell and F Ní Aoláin)

"Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland." 26 Fordham International Law Journal (2003): 1095.

"Constructive Ambiguity or Internal Self-Determination? Self Determination, Minority Rights and the Belfast Agreement." 22

Fordham International Law Journal (1999): 1345 (co-author with K Cavanaugh).