Profile of Invited Expert “OBrien”

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Profile

Full Name
Melanie O’Brien, Ph.D.
Position
Senior Lecturer in International Law
Organization
University of Western Australia Law School
URL
https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/melanie-obrien
Biography

Dr. Melanie O’Brien is Senior Lecturer in International Law at the University of Western Australia, an award-winning teacher of International Humanitarian Law, Public International Law, and Legal Research. Her research examines the connection between human rights and the genocide process; and sexual and gender-based crimes against women in atrocities. Her work on forced marriage has been cited by the International Criminal Court, and she has been an expert panellist on genocide prevention for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Dr. O’Brien has conducted fieldwork and research across six continents.

Dr. O’Brien is on the Editorial Board of Human Rights Review, and the WA International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Australian Red Cross. She is incoming President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) and co-convened the 2017 IAGS conference at the University of Queensland, serving on the Editorial Board of Genocide Studies and Prevention 2013–2017.

Dr. O’Brien is an admitted legal practitioner who has previously worked at several Australian universities; the National Human Rights Institution of Samoa; and the Legal Advisory Section of the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court. She is the author of Criminalising Peacekeepers: Modernising National Approaches to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (2017, Palgrave) and tweets @DrMelOB.

Selected Citations to Published Materials

History

Member for
3 years 20 weeks