Staff Profile

Rhona Smith joined Newcastle University in August 2016 as Professor of International Human Rights.  She was Head of School from 2016 through to 2020. She has previously worked in various universities in the UK and held visiting positions at a number of institutions overseas. Her principal areas of interest are international human rights, human rights/civil liberties and public law. Much of her previous work has focussed on human rights capacity building in education and justice sectors.

Dr Smith's research covers a range of international human rights and public law. International monitoring of human rights standards, particularly by the UN and applied research in human rights education have been recent foci. 

This academic year, Professor Smith is teaching on International Human Rights, Development and Security Global Challenges.

• Smith R. Criminological Issues and the UN: Key Issues and Trends. In: Weber, L; Fishwick, E; Marmo, M, ed. The Routledge International Handbook of Criminology and Human Rights. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, pp.18-29.
• Smith R. International Human Rights Law. In: Goodhart, M, ed. Human Rights: Politics and Practice. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Smith R. Textbook on International Human Rights. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Smith R, Farran S. When is a Child not a Child and Other Questions - a commonwealth-wide overview. The Round Table: the commonwealth journal of international affairs 2016, 105(4), 363-375.
• Bakke-Fischenshou C, Borge-MacLeod M, Smith R. Capacity Building Approach for Human Rights Education in China: Nordic Experiences and Perspectives. In: Chen, T; Chen, DD, ed. International Engagement in China’s Human Rights. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2015.
• Smith R, Bai GM. Higher Education in Human Rights within China – a ten-year review of the Peking University model. Asian Journal of Legal Education 2015, 15(2), 81-99.
• Smith R. Interaction between International Human Rights Law and the European Legal Framework. In: Geiger, C, ed. Research Handbook on Human Rights and Intellectual Property. London, UK: Edward Elgar, 2015.
• Smith R. Form over substance? - China’s contribution to human rights through universal periodic review. Asian Yearbook of International Law 2014, 17, 85-116.
• Smith R. Prevention and Human Rights. In: Mihr, A; Gibney, M, ed. The SAGE Handbook of Human Rights. Sage Publications Ltd, 2014.
• Smith R. Yilmaz-Dogan v The Netherlands (CERD): forum shopping and intersecting grounds of discrimination thirty years later. In: Brems E; Desmet E, ed. Integrated Human Rights in Practice - Rewriting Human Rights Decisions. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2017, pp.518.
• Farran S, Smith R. Introduction. Round Table 2016, 105(4), 351-354.
• O'Brien D, Smith R. Realising the Right to Health for Young People in South Africa—Some Reflections. Round Table 2016, 105(4), 389-399.
• Smith R, Mallory C, Molloy S. Brexiting human rights diplomacy at the United Nations Human Rights Council: opportunity or cause for concern?. The International Journal of Human Rights 2020, 24(4), 414-438.
• Smith R. Protecting the most vulnerable: opportunities for employing the UN mechanisms in East Asia. In: de Varennes, F; Gardiner, C, ed. Routledge Handbook of Human Rights in Asia. New York: Routledge, 2019, pp.44-60.
• McCall-Smith K, Smith R, Yahyaoui Krivenko E. Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide . In: Hodson, L; Loveday, T, ed. Feminist Judgments in International Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2019.
• Smith RKM. Texts and Materials on International Human Rights. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.
• Smith R, Ly R, Khourn C. Forced Displacement, dispossession and property: Cambodia. In: Armed Conflict and Forcible Displacement: Individual Rights under International Law. London: Routledge, 2018, pp.170-191.
• McConnell L, Smith R, ed. Research Methods in Human Rights. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018.
• Smith R. Seeking Justice in Cambodia: The Human Rights Context. In: Coffey, S, ed. Seeking Justice in Cambodia: Human Rights Defenders Speak Out. Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press, 2018.
• Smith R. UN Special Procedures: System Puppets or User's Saviours?. In: Bribosia, E; Rorive, I, ed. Human Rights Tectonics: Glocal Dynamics of Integration and Fragmentation. Antwerp: Intersentia, 2018, pp.41-68.
• Farran S, Smith R. The Case of John Hudson December 1783, trial of John Hudson. In: Stalford, H; Hollingsworth, K; Gilmore, S, ed. Rewriting Children's Rights Judgments: From Academic Vision to New Practice. Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, 2017.
• Smith R. International Human Rights Law. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2017.
• Smith R, Farran S. When is a Child not a Child and Other Questions - A Commonwealth-wide Overview. The Round Table 2016, 105(4), 363-375.