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We are deeply saddened at the passing of our colleague, Professor Françoise Hampson, who died following a long illness. Professor Hampson was a leading scholar and practitioner of international and European human rights law and international humanitarian law. Like so many pioneering human rights law academics of her generation, Françoise combined a deep knowledge of international law with an unwavering commitment to the pursuit of justice through European and UN human rights processes. Her work contributed to significant legal change, and to expanded protections for victims of human rights violations, particularly in armed conflict.

With our former colleague, the late Professor Kevin Boyle, Françoise litigated many cases before the European Commission and Court of Human Rights. For her work on cases concerning the Kurish victims of human rights violations in Turkey,  she was named Human Rights Lawyer of the Year in 1998 by Liberty, alongside Kevin. Prior to her death, and despite battling a terminal illness, Françoise arranged for the donation of the Kurdish litigation archive to the University of Galway, to be added to the Kevin Boyle human rights archive.  The Kurdish litigation papers comprise of material relating to the litigation against Turkey on behalf of individual Kurds in which Kevin, Françoise and others were heavily engaged in the 1990s.

 In Françoise’s own words, “The cases were brought by Turkish Kurds against Turkey for serious violations of human rights occurring in the east of the country, of which they were victims. The litigation was unusual for a range of reasons. First, the cases were not brought only as individual cases. The goal was to show the scale of the problems and systemic issues. The cases were seen as a whole. Second, they raised unusually serious human rights violations, such as targeted killings, indiscriminate killings, torture, enforced disappearances, village destruction etc. Third, the failure of the Turkish judicial system meant that the European Commission of Human Rights had to conduct fact-finding hearings. Many of the cases are seen by the European Court of Human Rights as leading cases, given the centrality of issues of peace, conflict and security to Europe, and to European and international research agenda.”

Professor Siobhán Mullally, Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights said: “It is a great privilege to host this significant archive at the University of Galway and at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, where we will build on the legacy of Francoise’s human rights and humanitarian law practice and scholarship. We extend our deepest condolences to Françoise’s sister, Michèle, and to her many friends, colleagues and former students, who continue to honour her legacy through their commitment to human rights struggles and to the pursuit of justice across the world, often at dark times.”