Marisa McVey

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

There are welcome signs that change is coming in the UK but any changes will need to take into account devolved arrangements too.

There are many people to thank for getting this paper to see the light of day, not least my QUB colleagues. Final article will be out in the new year, preprint below:

I compare the EU's focus on due diligence with the more passive approach taken by the UK (so far). The paper also explores the (often overlooked) role of Northern Ireland and the implications of the Windsor Framework for business and human rights.

While the broader effects of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU have been extensively scrutinised, little attention has been paid to how each jurisdiction has comparatively sought to prevent and mitigate corporate human rights abuses.

🇪🇺 📣 Is everyone bored of Brexit yet? 📣 🇪🇺

📖 If not, I have a forthcoming article in the Modern Law Review on the divergent approaches to implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights post-Brexit.

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:

- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

Not guilty: Soldier F cleared in Bloody Sunday murder trial A former paratrooper has been cleared of two murders during the Bloody Sunday shootings in 1972.

A day where law and justice feel far apart. But criminal law really struggles to function at 53 years of remove, when so many witnesses are dead. Injustice was assured when it took this long for the state to recognise its wrongdoing and start proceedings:

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/...

From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy

“In Ireland, data centers consume more than 20 percent of the country’s electricity. In Chile, precious aquifers are in danger of depletion. In South Africa, where blackouts have long been routine, data centers are further taxing the national grid.”

Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

Conor Gearty died a month ago yesterday. He was deeply committed to human rights law without idealising it. He recognised its power & value while acknowledging its limitations (& those of the people engaging with it). He was also an exceptional lawyer. This is a fitting final piece in the @lrb.co.uk

The UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel: Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Absent a court judgment, findings of UN COIs are the most conclusive, thus we should read these findings thoroughly.
www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

‘It’s dying in front of our eyes’: how the UK’s largest lake became an ecological disaster Signs tout a natural paradise, but pollution from over-farming has left Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh choked by toxic algae

"Sinn Féin and the DUP have stalled the nutrients action programme over fears of a farmer backlash."

The *only* thing they'll unite on: ensuring the largest lake ecosystem in Ireland or Britain, Lough Neagh, continues to die of pollution.

What a f**king disgrace.
share.google/cazBTwCid9qR...

It's ok to be a Luddite!

ITV have this headline 100% correct. It was an attempted lynching in broad daylight at a preannounced white supremacist mobilisation.

Despite being MLA for the area, the Justice Minister doesn’t engage with victims of white supremacist terror in her own constituency.

[1/n]

Headline from Belfast Telegraph: Claims NI peace deal stops UK leaving ECHR ‘entirely groundless’ – think tank

For context: Policy Exchange is among the least transparent think tanks in the UK regarding its funding sources.

Co-founder and first chairman Michael Gove wrote a pamphlet in 2000 comparing the Good Friday Agreement to the appeasement of the Nazis in the 1930s.

People from Northern Ireland listening to English flag discourse

Headline: BBC under pressure to pull Sally Rooney dramas over vow to fund Palestine Action

Headline: Tory minister Robert Jenrick pictured with former Nazi terror chief at far right protest.

Perhaps, one day, schoolkids will study this squalid little chapter in British terror-panic history. When they do, I hope these two headlines from today are printed side by side, with clear annotation of which individual faced more outrage and condemnation.

The whole article is worth reading!

Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the targeted assassination of its correspondents Anas Al Sharif and Mohammeel Qraiqea, along with photographers Ibrahim Al Thaher, and Mohamed Nofal, by Israeli forces.

#JournalismIsNotACrime

‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians Revealed: The Israeli military undertook an ambitious project to store a giant trove of Palestinians’ phone calls on Microsoft’s servers in Europe

“The leaked Microsoft files suggest that a large proportion of the unit’s sensitive data may now be sitting in the company’s datacentres in the Netherlands and Ireland.”

A deadly serious allegation that requires urgent investigation.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Yet another blog on the ICJ's Advisory Opinion on climate change - with a slight twist!

Below, myself and Annalisa Savaresi share reflections specifically on the implications for human rights-based corporate responsibility 👇

A sit down protest by Palestinian solidarity groups has been blocking the road in front of City Hall for 2 hours now

Gaza extermination: Hasan should have turned three. Instead, he starved to death Israel is using starvation as a weapon of genocide in Gaza. The death of one child is not an accident, but the death of many is a crime the world has allowed

“Israel is using starvation as a weapon of genocide in Gaza. The death of one child is not an accident, but the death of many is a crime the world has allowed.” www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza...

"What we're seeing now is the most horrific stage of Israels starvation campaign... Israel has been using aid as a way to bait civilians & has been killing civilians who have been seeking aid..."

Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food

"Four-year old Razan Abu Zaher gave up her fight for life on Sunday."

"She died at a hospital in central Gaza from complications brought on by hunger and malnutrition, according to a medical source. Her skeletal body was laid out on a slab of stone."

Daniella Lock | Heavy Power During a parliamentary debate on the Terrorism Bill in 2000, MPs asked whether the legislation could be used to...

‘Given the size of Palestine Action and the breadth of support so far expressed for it, proscribing it could lead to a significant proportion of civil society being criminalised, including MPs, journalists and NGOs.’

New on the blog: Daniella Lock on Palestine Action. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/ju...

Human Rights and Legal Organizations Warn Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and Partners of Legal Liability for Complicity with Serious International Law Violations June 23, 2025, New York/Geneva - Today, a group of 15 leading human rights and legal organizations released an open letter urging an end to the current privatized, militarized aid delivery model opera

Human Rights and Legal Organizations Warn Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and Partners of Legal Liability for Complicity with Serious International Law Violations: ccrjustice.org/home/press-c... @ccrjustice.org

Drs Ciara Hackett and Marisa McVey presenting.

Drs Ciara Hackett and @marisamcv.bsky.social introduced the second day of our Business and Human Rights workshops, taking us through the context in Northern Ireland and sharing the Northern Ireland Business and Human Rights Index.

Northern Ireland has changed massively over the past 60 years in a lot of ways but certainly not in others

Queen's University Belfast no longer investing in Israeli companies "as of yesterday"