Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law

Alison joined the Law School as a Senior Lecturer in 2001. She holds bachelor degrees in Arts and Laws (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, and a Master of Law from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Pegasus Cambridge Commonwealth Scholar.

Alison is actively involved in a number of professional and community bodies, including the Australian Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Advisory Committee (Victorian Division). Alison is a Red Cross Community Speaker and in that capacity speaks to community and legal groups on issues such as international humanitarian law and the enforcement of international criminal law. In October 2004 she was appointed as a member of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Advisory Commission, based in New Delhi.

In 2000, Alison spent six months at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London, where she commenced research into the membership criteria of international organisations as a Dame Lillian Penson Research Fellow. In 2004 she was a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge and she returns there from January to May 2006.

Abstract of PhD Thesis
'The Role of Human Rights and Democracy in Determining the Participation of States in International Organisations'
(expected completion date: May 2007)

International organizations are increasingly promoting the observance of human rights and democratic governance as principles to be observed when assessing applications for admission by non-member states. In the 1990s the importance of these standards was underlined by suggestions that a state's membership of institutions such as the United Nations and its involvement in regional security measures should be based on certain fundamental values, including compliance with democratic principles. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relevance of membership criteria in international institutional law, and the extent to which a number of international and regional organizations have included compliance with fundamental rights as requirements for admission to membership. The thesis will also analyze whether any particular rights or definitions of democracy have been given precedence in membership decisions, and the problems that may arise with an emphasis on rights for the functioning and direction of these organizations.

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