Cultural pluralism, Gender Equality and Treaty Making: The Case of Shari'a Reservations

Join us for an Annie MacDonald Langstaff Workshop in collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism with Tanya Monforte, O'Brien Fellow in Residence, McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.

About the speaker

Tanya Monforte is the former director of the International Human Rights M.A. Program at the American University in Cairo, where she was also a professor of law and served on the steering committee of the Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies. She has been a visiting faculty at Brown University, Addis Ababa University, and the University of Texas.

Tanya Monforte’s background in the sociology of law has contributed to her interdisciplinary approach to law. Participating in a research group of scholars from various social science disciplines and institutions in the Global South, she has developed a critical research agenda on the international protection of the child. She has published on the topic of children associated with armed groups and has a forthcoming publication on peace education during times of conflict. She plans to further develop this line of research during her time at the Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism as an O'Brien Fellow in Residence.

Her research project in the law of treaties addresses the International Law Commission’s Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties and specifically deals with the ILC’s treatment of “sharia” reservations to human rights treaties. Tanya Monforte is currently working on a reflective essay of her years directing a human rights program under an authoritarian government.