Mary Lawlor

Mary Lawlor is Adjunct Professor of Business and Human Rights in the School of Business of Trinity College Dublin. An Irish national, she is currently the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, appointed in May 2020. She is the founder and former Executive Director of Front Line Defenders and former director of the Irish branch of Amnesty International.

Background Lawlor was born in 1952 in Ireland, the second-eldest of seven sisters, and grew up in Kilmacud, a suburb of Dublin. She holds a first degree in philosophy and psychology, from University College Dublin, and postgraduate degrees in Montessori teaching and personnel management.

She was married in 1979.

She helped draw up the EU Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the Council of the European Union in June 2004.

In March 2020, Lawlor was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, for a three-year term from 1 May 2020, succeeding Michel Forst.

Other roles and awards Lawlor currently serves on the boards of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the University College Dublin Centre for Ethics in Public Life, and the Norwegian Human Rights Fund.

On 3 July 2014, Mary Lawlor was presented with the Order of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by French Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Jean-Pierre Thebault, on behalf of the French government.

In 2016 she was awarded the Franco-German Award for Human Rights and the Rule of Law.