Conferences

Future Conferences

The 3rd Conference of the Law Society of England and Wales - 21-22 October 2011

Further details to be added soon. See details on past LSEW conferences

Recent Conferences

Right Skills for Rights Summer School - 20-23 June 2011

Choosing to study a postgraduate degree in human rights at the University of Essex includes the opportunity to undertake vocational human rights skills’ training in areas central to working in the professional human rights field. Every summer the Human Rights Centre organises the Right Skills for Rights programme in order to develop and extend our students’ professional human rights skills.

The 3-day workshops covered a wide range of vocational skills and were led by human rights professionals from organisations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, the UN Mission to Nepal and Peace Brigades International. The topics covered included how to develop an effective human rights campaign strategy, fundraising and grant-writing for human rights; techniques and strategies for managing human rights projects; techniques for working effectively in the field, particularly interviewing victims of human rights abuses, working as a UN arms monitor; an examination of the work of Peace Brigades International, establishing and running a non-governmental organisation, and how to prepare for and conduct a human rights fact-finding mission.

Right Skills for Rights Report 2011

HRC co-organises conference on ‘Access to Justice in Kosovo’, 14-15 June 2011

On 14-15 June at University of Prishtina, the HRC co-organised with the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research Development (KIPRED) and the Center for Political Courage at the University of Prishtina a conference on ‘Access to Justice in Kosovo’.  The conference provided a forum for focused discussion on the varied dimensions of the challenges and opportunities relating to access to justice in Kosovo. The conference brought together relevant officials, policy-makers, civil society representatives, advocates, academics and students interested or engaged in justice and human rights work in Kosovo and the related issues.  Among the topics addressed were: judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, governance and the rule of law, community rights, violence against women, and selected civil law issues. The conference was supported by the UK Embassy with funding from the Department for International Development.  It was opened by the Minister for Justice and Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, along with the UK Ambassador to Kosovo. 

International three-way video conference honoured the late Professor Kevin Boyle - 11 June 2011

An international conference took place on Saturday, 11 June 2011 at three universities where renowned human rights lawyer and activist Professor Kevin Boyle taught.

The conference in honour of Professor Boyle, who died in December, video linked between the University of Essex, the National University of Ireland at Galway and Queen’s University, Belfast.

Professor Boyle had worked at the University of Essex for more than 20 years, having started his academic career at Queen’s and, in 1978, become the first full-time staff member of the law school at Galway, where he subsequently founded the Irish Centre for Human Rights.

The novel tripartite video-conference recalled, recounted and explored some of the key areas of work and contribution made by Professor Boyle.

Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, Chair of the Human Rights Centre at Essex, opened the conference and chaired the first session exploring Professor Boyle’s role in advocating human rights in Northern Ireland.

The second session, Litigating before the Court of Human Rights, was chaired by
Professor Wiliam Schabas of the National University of Ireland at Galway. It included a contribution from Essex HRC Fellow Tony Fisher, Chair of the Law Society Human Rights Committee, who worked with Professor Boyle in bringing cases before the European Court.

Professor Brice Dickson, Director of the Human Rights Centre in the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast, chaired the final session, which featured Essex alumna Dr Corinne Lennox of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, who worked with Professor Boyle to develop undergraduate human rights studies at Essex.

[From Left to Right: Tony Fisher, Joan Boyle, Corinne Lennox, Nigel Rodley and Stephen Boyle]