Pearce Clancy

He is currently a PhD scholar at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, where his doctoral research concerns the concept of permanent neutrality in international law. Prior to re-joining the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Pearce worked as a legal researcher for Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organisation based in the occupied West Bank.

Permanent neutrality refers to a legal status whereby a state is bound to remain neutral in all future international armed conflicts, and to avoid any entanglements during peacetime which may render this impossible. It may be based in either bilateral and multilateral treaties, or unilateral declarations made by states. This is distinct from the neutrality of traditionally voluntarily neutral states, such as Ireland, which is not based in any concrete domestic or international legal obligation. Contemporary examples of permanently neutral states include Switzerland, Austria, Costa Rica, Malta, and Turkmenistan, whereas previous examples include Belgium, Luxembourg, and Laos. Pearce’s research charts the legal processes through which permanent neutrality may come about, how it may end, and aims to identify the rights and duties of a permanently neutral state.

Pearce’s research is funded by the Irish Research Council and the NUI through the EJ Phelan Fellowship in International Law and has been published in journals such as the Irish Yearbook of International Law, Irish Studies in International Affairs, the Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, and the Journal of Palestine Studies. He expects the EJ Phelan Fellowship to be of tremendous help in completing this project and is confident that the NUI’s support will allow him to further develop his skills as a researcher ahead of seeking a full-time position in academia.