Staff Profile

Rhona Smith joined Newcastle University in August 2016 as Professor of International Human Rights. 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 Administrative Law and International Human Rights, Development and Security Global Challenges.

• Articles

  • Molloy S, Smith R. Advancing human rights in a post-Brexit era: Global Britain or wavering Britain?. Cambridge Review of International Affairs 2023, 36(4), 578-596.
  • Farran S, Smith R. The ‘Pacific way’ of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Studies 2021, 110(2), 217-231.
  • Smith R. States of Denial: Rationalising UK Government Responses to UN Special Procedures. Human Rights Law Review 2021, 21(2), 458-474.
  • Farran S, Smith R. Graffiti in a time of Covid-19: spray paint and the law. King's Law Journal 2021, 32(1), 84-95.
  • Smith R, Molloy S. Navigating Human Rights in a ‘Post-Human Rights’ Era: Mapping the Terrain through the Lens of ASEAN States. Asia-Pacific Journal of Human Rights and Law 2020, 21(2), 139-194.
  • 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, Farran S. When is a Child not a Child and Other Questions - A Commonwealth-wide Overview. The Round Table 2016, 105(4), 363-375.
  • 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.
  • 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, 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. Form over substance? - China’s contribution to human rights through universal periodic review. Asian Yearbook of International Law 2014, 17, 85-116.

• Authored Books

  • Smith RKM. Texts and Materials on International Human Rights. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.
  • Smith R. International Human Rights Law. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2017.
  • Smith R. Textbook on International Human Rights. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2016.

• Book Chapters

  • Dominguez-Redondo E, Smith R. Searching for recommendation alignment across UN human rights bodies. In: Damian Etone, Amna Nazir and Alice Storey, ed. Human Rights and The UN Universal Periodic Review Mechanism: A Research Companion. Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2024.
  • Mallory C, Smith R. Finding its Voice: the OHCHR in the digital age. In: Ingrid Westendrop and TBC, ed. Human Rights Strategies. 2024. In Preparation.
  • Mallory,C, Smith, R. Human Rights During Power Transitions. In: Joel Oestreich and Ken Stiles, ed. Global Institutions in a Time of Power Transition. Routledge, 2023. In Preparation.
  • Smith RKM. Gross and systematic human rights violations. In: Binder, C; Nowak, M; Hofbauer, JA; Janig, P, ed. Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2022.
  • 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 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.
  • 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.
  • 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, 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.
  • 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. 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. In: Goodhart, M, ed. Human Rights: Politics and Practice. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  • 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. 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.
  • 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. Prevention and Human Rights. In: Mihr, A; Gibney, M, ed. The SAGE Handbook of Human Rights. Sage Publications Ltd, 2014.

• Edited Books

  • Reayat, N, Cho, M, Smith, R, ed. Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies. Routledge, 2024. In Preparation.
  • McConnell L, Smith R, ed. Research Methods in Human Rights. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018.

• Editorial

  • Farran S, Smith R. Introduction. Round Table 2016, 105(4), 351-354.

• Online Publication

  • Molloy S, Smith R. Advancing human rights in a post-Brexit era: Global Britain or wavering Britain?. London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 2022. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/advancing-human-rights-post-brexit/.