About
Research
Email: severyna.magill@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
Severyna has over 12 years of professional human rights experience in academia and the NGO sector.
Prior to joining St Mary’s, Severyna was a senior lecturer and course leader for the Applied Human Rights MA/LLM degree at Sheffield Hallam University. She also taught at Jindal Global Law School in India for seven years, where she established the Human Rights Law and Theory programme and was the Faculty Lead for four years.
Severyna has research and practise expertise in human rights law, particularly:
- quality and discrimination
- gender
- domestic abuse
- sexual violence against women
- reproductive rights
- sexual harassment laws.
At Jindal Global Law School she co-founded the Committee Against Sexual Harassment and was the founding Member Secretary for the full three year term. In this role, she also collaborated with NGOs across India, including Action Aid, India, helping to raise awareness about sexual harassment and gender-based violence laws. Within the NGO sector, she has worked on researching access to justice for women subjected to domestic abuse, and supporting women affected by abuse, forced marriage, and so called ‘honour’ based abuse/violence. She has lead projects funded by UN Women, the European Integration Fund, UK Home Office, and the British Youth Council.
Severyna has publications in prestigious publications including Oxford University Press. Her human rights expertise is demonstrated by speaking on BBC News and BBC Radio about violence against women. She has been awarded a Teaching Award and was nominated for both Inspirational Teacher and Outstanding Academic Advisor awards. Severyna is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), member of the Berkeley Centre on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law Network (USA), and the European Reproductive Justice Network (EU).
Research
Research profile
Publications
- ‘Indian women’s struggle against sexual violence has had little support from the men in power’, The Conversation, 27/07/23.
- ‘The ‘Epidemic Within the Pandemic’: how a women’s organisation met the needs of racially minoritised women experiencing domestic abuse during Covid-19 pandemic’ Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 187-200.
- ‘Memory as Resistance: Oral Histories from Kashmir’ History Workshop Journal, OUP, (2022) Vol.93 (1) Spring 245-270 (co-authored with Sehar Iqbal) .
- ‘The Right to Privacy and access to abortion in a Post-Puttaswamy world’ University of Oxford Human Rights Hub Journal (2020) Vol.3 (2) 160-194.
- 'Smear Campaign Against Kashmiri Women Saying #MeToo an Attempt to Force Them into Silence', The Wire, New Delhi, India, October 2018.
- 'The Mahmood Farooqui v State Government of Delhi judgment confused consent and made prosecuting acquaintance rape harder', Oxford University Human Rights Hub, Oxford, UK, Nov. 2017.
Conference Papers (selected)
- 'Righting Wrongs: How the failure to protect migrant women within the UK's Domestic Abuse Act (2021) is inconsistent with the UK's existing human rights obligations' Socio-Legal Studies Association, Annual Conference 2023, Ulster University, Derry, April 2023.
- 'The ‘Epidemic Within the Pandemic’: how a minoritised women’s organisation met the needs of women experiencing domestic abuse during Covid-19' Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law, 9th Annual Conference 2022: Comparative Equality Law in A Post-Pandemic World, June 2022.
- 'How law is used to maintain patriarchal power: an application to FGM of experience in redress for sexual assault, domestic abuse & access to abortion' Kings College London, UK: Patriarchal Inscriptions: female bodies contested, invaded defended & owned, October 2020.
- 'Global Toolkits for Addressing Sexual Harassment/Violence at Schools, Colleges and Universities' Berkeley Law School, USA: Sexual Harassment in Education: A US and global comparative examination of harassment of students, staff and faculty at schools, colleges, and universities in the US and globally, Jan 2021.
- 'The UN’s Political Declaration for Universal Health Cover – Will it improve access to reproductive-health rights in India?' The Future of Human Rights: Socio-economic rights, equality and development (upcoming) AHRI (Association of Human Rights Institutes), September 2020.
- 'Learning Lessons from India’s Laws on Redressing Sexual Harassment of Women: How to Build an Effective Toolkit.' Global Resistance to Sexual Harassment & Violence, Berkeley Law School (May-June 2020).
- 'The Need for More Politics: Addressing the Rohingya Refugee Crisis Regionally' Women, Peace and Security Conference, Binghamton University, (April 2020).
- 'Unlocking the Potential of Human Rights: The Limitations of Domestic Courts in Adjudicating Domestic Abuse and Rape Crimes' Hard Cases: The Limits of Law, McGill University, Canada, (May 2018).
- 'Access to justice in Haryana for women seeking relief from domestic violence – a collection of interviews, case studies and evidence' presented at the LASSNET conference, organised by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) et. al., Delhi (December 2016).
Media experience
- Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Radio 5 Live, 27th October 2023.
- ‘India Video Outrage’, The Context, BBC News, 20th July 2023.