Brian J. Dooley is an Irish human rights activist and author. He is Senior Advisor at Washington DC–based NGO Human Rights First. In October 2023 he was made an Honorary Professor of Practice at the Mitchell Institute, Queen’s University Belfast. He is a visiting scholar at University College, London (UCL). He is a prominent human rights voice on Twitter (@dooley_dooley).

From April 2020 to March 2023 he was Senior Advisor to Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. He is as an advisory board member of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and was a visiting scholar at John Jay College, City University of New York from 2022 to 2023, and at Fordham University Law School in New York from 2019 to 2020.

He receives the award for having dedicated his career to advocating human rights and bringing greater global attention to less visible issues. Congratulations with a big DISCLAIMER : I am a good friend and admirer of Brian [see posts: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/brian-dooley/] and he has represented Human Rights First on the MEA Jury for years.

For more on the University of Oslo Human Rights Award and its laureates see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/41A114AE-182E-4EB3-8823-4A5AA6EEEF28

Dooley has written numerous reports on human rights defenders and human rights issues based on research in countries including Bahrain, Egypt, China (Hong Kong), Hungary, Kenya, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, Palestine, Ukraine, the USA (Guantanamo), and the United Arab Emirates.  His efforts have played a crucial role in exposing human rights violations, and he has actively supported justice in conflict areas, including Ukraine and Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the Award, Brian Dooley said: “This is such a great honour for me, and I’m very grateful to the University of Oslo for recognising my work.  I’ve been very lucky over decades that my work with Amnesty International, with The Gulf Centre for Human Rights, with Mary Lawlor – the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders – and with Human Rights First has enabled me to meet and work with Human Rights Defenders working in some of the most difficult places in the world.  Too often great work by local activists in wars or revolutions, or those living under oppression, goes unseen and unreported.  This award helps bring attention to this work, and to those who do it.”

Brian will receive his Award during the Oslo Peace Days this coming December.

https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI/mitchell-institute/news/15092025-ProfessorBrianDooleyAward.html

https://www.uio.no/english/about/news-and-events/news/2025/uios-human-rights-award-2025.html

This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.