Directory of Research and Expertise

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Research Summary and Profile

Research interests:

Law

Summary of research interests and expertise:

Public international law, international human rights law, and international legal theory.

Project summary relevant to Fellowship:

International Human Rights Law Organs and Institutional Time: The Cornerstone of a Timely Legal Order 

Human rights organs are an essential part of international human rights law. Interest in this topic is particularly high in light of upcoming anniversary dates – such as the 20th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in 2026 and the 35th anniversary of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2028 – that offer opportunity for reflection. Focusing on the UN system, the present work contributes to understanding of, and new directions for engagement with, such organs through examining the connection they have with time.  

Building on existing scholarship noting the significance of time in (international) law more broadly, the research examines the role of what I term ‘institutional time’ in international human rights law organs. This can be understood as time as it appears underpinning the institutional structures of organisations, organs and bodies. Institutional time is evident in time rules, horizons and resources; in concepts like cyclicality, urgency, delay and endurance that characterise activities and mechanisms; as well as in broader critical junctures, timing, sequencing and the ongoing nature or speed of organisational change. It draws attention to a collection of diverse temporal concepts and orientations evident across institutional activity and their significance in the operation of organs. 

Institutional time is an important, yet under-explored, phenomenon that holds potential to re-examine common wisdom in existing thinking on international human rights law organs. Time may be noted in scholarship considering these organs to date. Examples include the duration of meetings, the periodicity of elections, the timing of monitoring processes, and timelines for policy creation. However, in this work time is understood primarily as an external factor that acts on, or is employed by, organs rather than something that is internal to them. Additionally, time is viewed as holding limited significance in terms of its substantive role in organs’ institutional processes, review and reform, and contribution to the wider international human rights law order. The lens of institutional time brings these common understandings into view and counters them.  

This lens reveals that, first, human rights organs are driven by time and it is internal to their structures, work such as monitoring and drafting, and their development in both supportive and challenging ways. Attending to this helps to further evaluate the political lives of such bodies, their past and present activity, as well as routes for future development. Furthermore, second, human rights organs and their temporal operation can be understood to form the cornerstone of time in this subset of international law. The time concepts that are central to these institutions underpin the temporal landscape of international human rights law and, through this, help to secure a timely legal order. An under-examined function for human rights organs thus comes into view. These insights thicken knowledge of key bodies within this area of law, as well as revealing institutional structures as an important angle through which the time of international law can be understood. 

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