The standard of the best interests of the child as a tradition of Western inconsistencies (1999)
Academic work
Main interests
Children's rights law, international human rights
Claire M. Breen is a New Zealand law academic, and as of 2021 is a full professor at the University of Waikato. Her work focuses on children's legal rights, international human rights and international peace and security.
Breen's research focuses on the rights of the child, and in particular how 'a more inclusive understanding' of children can create a better legal framework for law and policy.[4] She has published two influential monographs on child rights, The Standard of the Best Interests of the Child (Martinus Nijhoff, 2003) and Age Discrimination and Children’s Rights (Martinus Nijhoff, 2006), and another on socio-economic influences on international peace, Economic and Social Rights and the Maintenance of International Peace and Security (Routledge, 2017).[4] Breen and colleague Alexander Gillespie published a history of New Zealand law in 2022.[4]
Recent articles by Breen cover a range of issues, including how New Zealand should deal with the return of an alleged ISIS terrorist to New Zealand, with reference to the rights of the two children involved, access to beaches for some disabled people, and how the ACC system discriminates against women by not covering birth injuries.[5][6][7]
C. Breen (17 October 2008). "The Policy of Direct Provision in Ireland: A Violation of Asylum Seekers' Right to an Adequate Standard of Housing". International Journal of Refugee Law. 20 (4): 611–636. doi:10.1093/IJRL/EEN037. ISSN0953-8186. WikidataQ106668483.
Claire Breen (2005), Rationalising the Work of UN Human Rights Bodies or Reducing the Input of NGOs? The Changing Role of Human Rights NGOs at the United Nations, vol. 5, pp. 101–126, doi:10.1163/1571807054764186, WikidataQ106668486
C. Breen (1 October 2003). "Refugee Law in Ireland: Disregarding the Rights of the Child-Citizen, Discriminating against the Rights of the Child". International Journal of Refugee Law. 15 (4): 750–785. doi:10.1093/IJRL/15.4.750. ISSN0953-8186. WikidataQ106668488.
The rights of children in Aotearoa, radio interview with Breen covering the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child review of New Zealand law, 17 February 2023