Dr Damian Gonzalez-Salzberg

Birmingham Law School
Associate Professor
Head of Planning and Strategy

Contact details

Telephone: +44(0)121 415 8662
Email: d.a.gonzalezsalzberg@bham.ac.uk

Damian is an Associate Professor in Law, specialising in International Law and Human Rights. His primary interest is in the use of different theoretical and methodological tools to explore the protection of human rights under international law. His research on the European Court of Human Rights and on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals, such as Harvard Human Rights Journal, American Journal of International Law – Unbound, American University International Law Review, Human Rights Law Review, Modern Law Review, Journal of Law and Society, and Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly.

Damian is the author of Sexuality and Transsexuality under the European Convention on Human Rights (Hart 2019) and the co-editor of Research Methods for International Human Rights Law(Routledge 2019). Damian’s newest book International Law of Human Rights, co-authored with the late Judge A.A. Cançado Trindade (ICJ, IACtHR), is forthcoming in February 2024 with Oxford University Press.

Qualifications

PhD in Law (University of Reading)
Diploma in International and Comparative Law of Human Rights (Institut International des Droits de l'Homme)
Diploma of the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (American University)
MA in International Relations (Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals)
MA in Public Administration and Public Policy (University of York)
Attorney-at-Law (Universidad de Buenos Aires)

Biography

Damian joined the University of Birmingham in January 2020. Prior to this, he was based at the University of Sheffield (from 2014) and at the University of Reading (from 2011). Before moving to the United Kingdom, Damian worked as a lawyer on human rights law in his home country (Argentina) both for a human rights NGO and for a governmental department.

Damian specialises in International Human Rights Law, with a strong interest in the work of international courts and monitoring bodies. Within the last few years his research has focused on both the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights. Making use of queer theory, his research has explored the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on sexuality and trans* rights. This research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, such as Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, American University International Law Review, and Modern Law Review, as well as in his 2019 monograph Sexuality and Transsexuality under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Damian has conducted research on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for over ten years. This research has benefited from the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore different areas of the Court’s work, such as the examination of preliminary objections (Human Rights Law Review) and the compliance with reparations (International Law: Revista Colombiana de Derecho Internacional and Sur – International Journal on Human Rights), while his ongoing research focuses on the Court’s method to quantify compensation following a violation of human rights.

Teaching

International Human Rights Law (LLB) – Module Leader
European Human Rights Law (LLM) – Module Leader

Postgraduate supervision

Damian is keen to supervise postgraduate research students in the following areas:

International and Regional Protection of Human Rights
The work of international courts
Human Rights Research Methods
LGBTQI Rights
Feminist and Queer Legal Theories

Research

International and Regional Protection of Human Rights
The work of international courts
Human Rights Research Methods
LGBTQI Rights
Feminist and Queer Legal Theories

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Cançado Trindade, AA & Gonzalez Salzberg, D 2024, International Law of Human Rights. Oxford University Press. <https://global.oup.com/academic/product/international-law-of-human-rights-9780192893499>

Gonzalez Salzberg, D & Hodson, L 2019, Research Methods for International Human Rights Law: Beyond the Traditional Paradigm. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429468971

Gonzalez Salzberg, D 2019, Sexuality and Transsexuality under the European Convention on Human Rights A Queer Reading of Human Rights Law: A Queer Reading of Human Rights Law . 1st edn, Hart Publishing.

Article

Gonzalez-salzberg, DA 2022, 'Queering Reparations Under International Law: Damages, Suffering, and (Heteronormative) Kinship', AJIL Unbound, vol. 116, pp. 5-9. https://doi.org/10.1017/aju.2021.75

Gonzalez Salzberg, D & Perisanidi, M 2021, 'Belonging beyond the binary: from Byzantine Eunuchs and Indian Hijras to gender-fluid and non-binary identities', Journal of Law and Society, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 669-689. https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12323

Gonzalez Salzberg, D 2021, 'Non-pecuniary damage under the American convention on human rights: an empirical analysis of 30 years of case-law', Harvard Human Rights Journal, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 1-36. <https://harvardhrj.com/current/>

Gonzalez Salzberg, D & Hodson, L 2019, 'A policy of ‘quiet disregard': the Chagos Islands, islanders and international law', Revista do Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos, vol. 19, pp. 107-124. <http://revista.ibdh.org.br/index.php/ibdh/article/view/399>

Gonzalez Salzberg, DA 2018, 'An improved protection for the (mentally ill) trans parent: a queer reading of A.P., Garçon and Nicot v France', Modern Law Review, vol. 81, no. 3, pp. 526-538. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12344

Gonzalez-Salzberg, D & Zavala Guillen, A 2017, 'Legislacion y derechos humanos en tiempos K: Un estudio sobre las 589 leyes sancionadas por el Congreso Nacional durante la presidencia de Nestor Kirchner', Revista Argentina de Teoría Jurídica, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-19. <http://revistajuridica.utdt.edu/ojs/index.php/ratj/article/view/1>

Gonzalez Salzberg, DA 2015, 'Confirming (the illusion of) heterosexual marriage: Hämäläinen v Finland', Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 173-186. <https://www.jicl.org.uk/journal/june-2015/confirming-the-illusion-of-heterosexual-marriage-hamalainen-v-finland>

Gonzalez-Salzberg, DA 2014, 'Do States comply with the compulsory judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights? An empirical study of the compliance with 330 measures of reparation', Revista do Instituto Brasileiro de Direitos Humanos, vol. 13, pp. 1-27.

Gonzalez-Salzberg, DA 2014, 'The accepted transsexual and the absent transgender: a queer reading of the regulation of sex/gender by the European Court of Human Rights', American University International Law Review, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 797-829.

Chapter

Gonzalez Salzberg, D 2019, A queer approach to the Advisory Opinion 24/2017. in Research Methods for International Human Rights Law: Beyond the Traditional Paradigm.

Gonzalez Salzberg, D, Hodson, L & Johnson, P 2019, Christine Goodwin v the United Kingdom. in Feminist Judgments in International Law.

Gonzalez Salzberg, D 2017, Complying (Partially) with the Compulsory Judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. in Law and Policy in Latin America: Transforming Courts, Institutions, and Rights.

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

International Human Rights Law
The work of international courts
LGBTQI rights

Expertise

Damian’s expertise lies in the area of international human rights law. Within this field, he has worked for and collaborated with human rights NGOs, think tanks, and Governmental agencies.