Professor Aoife Nolan

The Committee on the Rights of the Child is a body of 18 experts responsible for monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by states parties around the world. The election took place during a session of the United Nations Geneal Assembly on 23 June.

Professor Nolan was selected and nominated as Ireland’s candidate following an expression of interest and competitive selection process led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in recognition of her expertise and extensive experience in the field of children’s rights.

An internationally recognised expert in human rights law, Professor Nolan has more than 20 years of professional experience working on children’s rights across legal, policy, practitioner and academic settings. At the University of Nottingham, she serves as Director of the Human Rights Law Centre. She also co-leads Doughty Street Chambers’ Children’s Rights Group and is a member of the Doughty Street International Steering Group.

She also currently sits as President of the Council of Europe’s European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), the leading European monitoring mechanism on economic and social rights. She has served as an independent expert member of the Committee since 2017 and was its Vice-President from 2021 to 2022.

In her new role, Professor Nolan will contribute to the committee’s work overseeing state compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including examining periodic reports submitted by states parties and helping to develop authoritative guidance on children’s rights.

Professor Nolan said: “I am profoundly honoured to have been elected to the Committee. From climate change to poverty and inequality to armed conflict to digital technologies, children and their rights are under enormous pressure across the world. As an independent expert member of the Committee, I will bring all my experience and energy to bear in advancing the CRC’s work on the key challenges faced by children globally. The task of making children’s rights real in practice has never been more important.”

Foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee said: “Professor Aoife Nolan brings over 20 years of professional experience in children’s rights, working within the legal, policy, practitioner and scholarly fields and is a leading voice in the field of research in children’s rights, human rights and constitutional law. I wish Professor Nolan every success in her new role and reiterate Ireland’s strong support for the critical work of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.”