Dr Natalia Alvarez

Job Title	Contact	Location
Lecturer in Development Studies	N dot Alvarez at uea dot ac dot uk Tel: +44 (0)1603 59 3685	Arts Building 2.73

Personal
Research
Teaching

Biography

I joined the UEA in July 2008 as a Lecturer in Human Rights and International Development.

Career

Before joining the UEA I was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Aberdeen.

Academic Background

I studied law at the University of Deusto (Basque Country) and I obtained my PhD in 2003 with a dissertation on the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples.

I am specialised in the broad area of international law and human rights and I have worked both as academic and also as a human rights legal advisor and consultant for different international and national institutions (United Nations, European Commission, Centre of Human Rights University of Pretoria, Basque Government or Bizkaia Bar Association, among others).

I am a founder member of the Spanish Association for teaching and researching on indigenous peoples’ rights (ADIDPI) and founder and Director (2000-2004) of the Indigenous Fellowship Programme at United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Spanish Programme).

My approach to international law and human rights is based on a multidisciplinary analysis coming from law, political philosophy and international relations. I am also interested in multiculturalism and feminism as valid instruments and tools to explore issues related to power and discrimination.

I am interested in supervising students in the following areas: the rights of indigenous peoples, especially in Latin America, women rights, minority rights and issues related to the use of force in international law, such as humanitarian intervention or international war and conflict.

Key Research Interests

My research is focused in three areas: human rights, indigenous peoples and the use of force in international law.

Research Grants

- 2008, Associated researcher, Ministry of Education, Spain, project on indigenous peoples and public policies in Latin America. Link to the web page of the project.

-Postdoctoral Fellowship, Basque Government, Ministry of Education, 2005-2007.

-Tokyo Foundation, Doctoral Fellowship, 1998-2001

-University of Deusto, Research Fellowship. 1997-1998.

My work in the field of human rights and indigenous peoples is a combination of academic work with policy applied research.

In 1999, I participated as a research-consultant in a study on the United Nations Treaty Body System. This study was conducted by Prof. Heyns and Prof. Bayefsky and commissioned by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. One of outcomes of this study was the publication by Christof Heyns and Frans Viljoen of the book “The impact of the United Nations Human Rights Treaties on the domestic level”. Link to the book.

In 2003 I participated in a conference organised by ILA on United Nations Human Rights Treaties. I was commissioned to contributed with the following report ‘Implementation of the Views of the UN Human Rights Committee in Spain’ 2003:

in http://web.abo.fi/instut/imr/research/seminars/ILA/Alvarez.doc.

I also coordinated two alternative reports to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the situation of inmigrants in Spain in 2000 and 2004. Link to the 2000 report in Spanish.

In the field of evaluation of human rights programmes, I was external evaluator of the EU calls proposals 2004 and 2005 in the area of discrimination, xenophobia and discrimination against indigenous peoples and national minorities and evaluator of the United Nations Indigenous Fellowship Programme in 2004.

Publications

Books

- Álvarez, Oliva and Zuñiga (eds) (forthcoming 2010) The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Madrid. Catarata. (Original in Spanish)

- Álvarez (2008) Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Self-determination: Towards a Multicultural International Law? Bilbao. Cuadernos Deusto. (Original in Spanish)

Peer- reviewed Articles

- Álvarez (2008) Legality v. legitimacy and the use of force in international law. Madrid. FRIDE. Link to the article

- Álvarez (2007) Feminism and internacional law in the construction of peace. Revista Feminismos. 9, 79-93. (Original in Spanish) Link to the article

- Álvarez (2007) Is the fight against terrorism changing international law? Revista Papeles Internacionales. 98, 93-101. (Original in Spanish) Link to the article

- Álvarez (2003) From recognition of the right to property to the property of the right: Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua. Revista Papeles. 83, 167-173. (Original in Spanish) Link to the article

- Álvarez (2002) International recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and the multicultural project. Revista Papeles. 77, 73-79. (Original in Spanish) Link to the article

Book Chapters

- Álvarez (2009) Indigenous Culture and State-Sponsored Violence, Indigenous Peoples Movements, Human Rights Norms and Human Rights. In Young, Nigel (ed) The Oxford International Encyclopaedia of Peace. Oxford. Oxford University Press.

- Álvarez (2009) The International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Evolution of the Concept of Racial Discrimination. In Gómez, Felipe et al. (eds) International Human Rights Law in a Global Context. Bilbao. Universidad de Deusto.

- Álvarez (2007) The use of force, ethic anxiety and the right to question in international law: A retrospective of Kosovo. In HEIS (ed) The Rights of Peoples and global governance. Pamplona. Universidad de Mondragón. 197-214. (Original in Spanish)

- Álvarez (2006) From the Theory of Discovery to the Theory of Recognition of Rights: Conventional International Law in Search of Homeopathy. In Meckled-Garcia, Saladin and Cali, Basak (eds) The Legalization of Human Rights. London. Routledge. 165-182.

- Álvarez (2006) When the order of the factors do not alter the product: Nation-state, multiculturalism and indigenous peoples. In Pérez Royo, J et al. Constitutional law for the XXI century. Vol II. Cizur Menor. Aranzadi-Thompson. 4963-4972. (Original in Spanish)

- Álvarez (2006) The UN Convention on Elimination on All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In Gomez, Felipe et al. (eds) The International Protection of Human Rights in the XXI century. Bilbao. University of Deusto. 175-186.

- Álvarez (2006) Legal personality of indigenous peoples in Argentina: A human rights or international law issue? In Aparicio, Marco (ed) Paths towards recognition: indigenous peoples, law and pluralism. Girona. Universidad de Girona. 30-45. (Original in Spanish)

- Álvarez (2004) Indigenous peoples in United Nations: A challenge for discourse, dialogue and representativity. In Mariño Menéndez, Fernando and Oliva Martínez, Daniel (eds) Advancing in the protection of indigenous peoples. Madrid. Dykinson. 63-71. (Original in Spanish)

- Álvarez (1999) An introduction to the evolution of human rights since 1948. In Oraá, Jaime et al (eds) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in its 50 Anniversary. Bilbao. Universidad de Deusto. 93-178. (Original in Spanish)

Teaching Interests

I am currently involved in teaching undergraduates and Masters courses in the following modules:

Human Rights ( UG)

Social Analysis for Development 3 ( UG)

Development Working Experience (UG)

Conflict, Peace and Security ( PG)

Governance, Democracy and Development (UG)

I am also supervising Master dissertations in the field of Truth Commissions, militarisation and right to self-determination.