Mary Robinson is the founding director of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative. She was president of Ireland (1990-97) and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002).

Mary Robinson was the first head of state to visit Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide and to visit Somalia following the crisis there in 1992. She is also the vice-president of the Club de Madrid.

Robinson was named one of Time Magazine's 2005 "Heroes & Icons", men and women whose "power, talent or moral example is transforming the world." She received the CARE Humanitarian Award for Emergency Relief in recognition of her efforts in Somalia and has received numerous other awards and honours for her involvement in international affairs.

Mary Robinson began her career as a human rights lawyer, founding the Irish Centre for European Law at Trinity College with her husband Nicholas Robinson. In 1969 she became the youngest Reid Professor of Constitutional Law at Trinity College, Dublin.

Recent articles

As things stand at present, only the extremists are winning. War is destroying the Middle East.

The former Irish president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, now architect of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative, talks to openDemocracy about the 21st century human rights agenda – one that connects universal principles to the daily lives and needs of the world’s poorest people.