Past conferences and seminars in the UK and abroad
In recent years, the Centre has organised a number of conferences and seminars in the UK and
abroad. These have included:
THE LAW SOCIETY OF ENGLAND AND WALES AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS
CENTRE
The Law Society represents solicitors in
England and Wales. Its activities include negotiating with and
lobbying the profession's regulators, government and others,
training and advice, protecting and promoting solicitors across
England and Wales. The Law Society has a number of Committees
covering different areas of law. The International Human Rights
Committee, chaired by Tony Fisher, was constituted to see upheld
human rights and the rule of law around the world, particularly
in relations to lawyers, their professional activities and the
upholding of international human rights standards.
Please View Programme
Please View Final Report
HRC co-organises conference on
‘Property Rights in Transition: challenges to the future development of
post-conflict Kosovo’, 6-7 July 2010
On 6-7 July 2010 at the Grand Hotel in Prishtina, the HRC co-organised
with the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (OMIK) a conference on property rights and
economic development. The conference
brought together international experts with Kosovar authorities and
representatives of interested groups, as well as representatives of the
international community, to review principal areas of concern.
These included:
Expropriation of Property, Infrastructure Development and Human Rights; Illegal
Land Occupation and Construction, Property Rights and Human Rights;
Privatization of Enterprises, Property and Development;
Land Use Strategies and Contested Records of Ownership; and Cultural Heritage,
Property Claims and Development. The contributors offered analyses and a number
of recommendations which were compiled by the organizers and a number conveyed
to relevant authorities. A selection
of presentations has been compiled and will be published in a multilingual book
and presented in Prishtina in autumn 2011.
Right Skills for Rights Summer School - 14 - 16 June 2010
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 Programme 2010
Right Skills for Rights Report 2010
H
uman Rights
in Asia Conference 2010
The annual one day Essex student led conference, "Human Rights in Asia”, was
held on June 7th. As in previous years, the event was organised by a committee
of students with a common interest and, in some cases, work experience in Asia.
Its chair was Yoko Maruta (MA '11 ). The full report of the Conference is
attached.
The conference was opened by Professor John Packer, Director of the Human
Rights Centre, and was addressed by several outside experts all linked to Essex:
Professor Ian Neary of the University of Oxford, and Fellow of the Human
Rights Centre; Ms Mervat Rishmawi (LLM '95), consultant on human rights in
the Middle East and North Africa; and Mr Paul Green (LLM '04), human rights
adviser in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The majority of contributors
were current students.
Asia accounts for over half the world’s population. It is a region of enormous
cultural diversity with great contrasts in wealth and poverty. It experiences
extremes of social and political conflict and severe human rights violations.
Improving our knowledge of all parts of Asia and the challenges facing human
rights in the region is important not only for a better future for Asia but also
for the world. In this sense, we hope that this conference has helped to enrich
the educational experience at Essex.
Click here for the full
Report
The Human Rights Centre hosted the first ever Symposium of
the Human Rights Section of the Law Society of England and Wales (LSEW)
in the Ivor Crewe Lecture Theatre at the University of Essex’s Colchester campus
on 11-12 September 2009. The Symposium presented an impressive programme
including a key note address by the President of the
Open Societies Institute and former
co-founder and long-time Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Mr. Aryeh
Neier – who is also a well-known international human rights lawyer. In addition
to a half dozen working sessions on specific topics of practice, the Symposium
offered also social activities including a presentation of the work and new book
by artist Robert Priseman entitled
“No Human Way to Kill”, a performance by Actors for Human Rights (http://iceandfire.co.uk/index.php/outreach)
of their play “The Rendition Monologues”, and a screening of the film “Dial
H-I-S-T-O-R-Y” .
Please view
final Report
Please view the
Human Rights Centre Director's Remarks
Right Skills for Rights Summer School 15-17 June 2009
On the 15th June 2009 the Human Rights Centre hosted the Right Skills for
Rights Summer School at the University of Essex.
In 2007 a group of postgraduate human rights students co-ordinated the Right
Skills for Rights - Catalyst 2007 a skilled-based conference for over 60
participants. This year's Summer School is based around this original idea.
The Right Skills for Rights programme offered our students an opportunity to
gain and enhance upon a selection of vocational skills for a successful career
in the human rights field.
Right Skills for Rights
Programme 2009
Making A Difference - One Day Conference 24 March 2009
Some 250 sixth formers from across Essex
visited the University to take part in a conference about how young people can
make a difference in society.
A packed programme at the Making a Difference conference
included talks from high profile speakers like the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP and
Doreen Lawrence, OBE, Founder and Director of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable
Trust.
The morning featured a presentation by Ann Oakes-Odger,
Founder of ‘KnifeCrimes.org’ and ‘Westley’s Weapons Awareness’. After lunch the
students attended breakout sessions on a number of ways to engage in the
community.
As part of the event, jointly organised by the Human Rights
Centre and the Colchester Sixth Form College the students also took part in a
citizenship debate chaired by the Chancellor, Lord Phillips of
Sudbury, who is also the President of the Citizenship
Foundation.
Report from the
MAD Conference 2009
In recent years, the Centre has organised a
number of conferences and seminars in the UK and abroad.
These are detailed on our past
conferences page.
25th Anniversary Alumni Conference Report
Top practitioners inspire students at 'RIGHT SKILLS FOR RIGHTS: CATALYST 2007'
The UN believes that 'Human Rights Education is about
acquiring not only knowledge of human rights standards and
mechanisms but also skills and the ability to apply them...
it involves learning about human rights through the practice
of human rights.' (UNESCO, 2007) With this in mind the
students of the LLM in International Human Rights Law and
the MA in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights set out on
a bold mission; to run a two day, student organised, student
led, skills-based conference with international speakers to
train them in the skills necessary for the effective global
promotion and protection of human rights.
The students set about raising money through
non-governmental organisations, the British Council and
Amnesty International, applying for support from their four
university departments and by running a fundraising concert.
They invited speakers from around the world. Bill O'Neill, a
renowned international lawyer with extensive experience
running UN field missions, agreed to come as their Keynote
Speaker and to run a workshop for participants. Tony Fisher
and Yvonne Spencer were invited from top strategic law firm
Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP Solicitors, Charmain Mohammed, a
Human Rights Watch researcher, Hannah Lily, a Refugee
Council lawyer, Doug Jewell, the Liberty Campaigns Manager,
Graham Massie, Director of Consultancy at the Centre for
Effective Dispute Resolution, Leticia Osorio, Legal Officer
for the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and Carolyn
Ennis representing the offices of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, all accepted invitations gladly,
knowing the reputation of the human rights students here in
Essex.
On the 28th and 29th of April seventy participants from
the very internationally composed human rights Modules
attended RIGHT SKILLS FOR RIGHTS: CATALYST 2007. The fruits
of several months hard preparation were being realised and
the event was a hit from the start. Brief introductions by
the organising student committee and senior academic staff
were followed by an inspiring keynote speech underlining the
importance of the human rights community relying upon highly
skilled human rights graduates. Over the weekend a series of
workshops run by the various contributing facilitators
focused on the skills that were necessary in the effective
promotion and protection of human rights, and participants
learnt, among other things, how to stay alive when
confronted by a child soldier with a machine gun, how to
interview victims of human rights abuses and how to develop
a strategy to change governments' misguided policies.
[Students attending a workshop on Field
Research Missions presented by Bill O'Neill,
independent legal consultant}
On the Saturday night the participants enjoyed a night of
delicious Asian cuisine and danced the night away with some
of the most prestigious human rights practitioners in the
world, only to start workshops again early on Sunday!
[Closing Session chaired by MA student
Will Tucker [far left], panel members [l-r] Graham Massie,
Director of Central Dispute Resolution, Leticia Osorio,
Legal Officer for COHRE, Carolyn Ennis, Evaluation Officer
for UNHCR and Doug Sewell, Campaign Officer for Liberty]
At the end of it all the participants were left exhausted
but inspired. One said: 'The overall experience was superb.
I have attended conferences organised by blue chip
multinationals, worldwide investment banks and universities.
This was the best I have ever been on." The visiting
speakers all left thoroughly impressed at the initiative and
the enthusiasm that the conference committee had taken in
organising the event and expressed their sincere hope that
in future years they would be able come back to Essex
to train more students; it is hoped by the committee that,
with the help of the Human Rights Centre and the university,
future students will be able to build on the success of this
fantastic student event.
Conference Organising Committee: Will Tucker, Anna
Protano-Biggs, Andrew Clark, Disha Bhatt, Jade Cochran,
Jyotsna Poudyal, Teddy Leposky and Troy Thomas.
Posted May 2007
International Conference on Conscientious
Objection, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey
On 27-28 January 2007 an International Conference was
held at the Istanbul Bilgi University in Istanbul, Turkey,
on the issues surrounding Conscientious Objection, from both
a Turkish and a world perspective. The Conference was
organised by a Committee of academics, legal experts and
activists, with contributors from organisations such as
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International Turkey, War
Resisters International and the European Bureau for
Conscientious Objectors.
The Conference was attended by over 550 participants from
different countries and backgrounds: NGOs, academics,
lawyers, EU officials, experts from the Council of Europe,
political party representatives.
The HRC was represented by its Director, Professor Kevin
Boyle, and HRC Fellow Tony Fisher, a partner of Fisher
Jones Greenwood Solicitors in Colchester. They were part of
the Essex based team of lawyers, which also included
Professor Françoise Hampson,
who litigated a large number of human rights cases from
South East Turkey before the European Court of Human Rights
in the 1990’s. Their presentation focused on the legal
dimension of conscientious objection, citing the history and
the current situation of the Osman Murat Ulke case in
particular.
The Conference raised public awareness of the right of
conscientious objection and the impact of military service
on human rights in society and politics. It also
encouraged governments throughout the world to recognise
conscientious objection as a human right.
A copy of the Opening Speech, as well as the Conference
Programme and details of the supporter organisations and
speakers can be accessed via the following links:
A publication resulting from the Conference is currently
being prepared and is due to be published in Turkish and
English in about 2 months time. It will be available
to view from the sava skarsitlari website
First posted March 2007
Human Rights Centre members were involved in no fewer
than four off-campus Conferences in September 2006:
A Human Rights Approach to
Social Justice
Clifford Chance, London, 4 September 2006
On 4 September the
Democratic Audit, the longest running Centre research
project, held a seminar hosted by Clifford Chance at
Canary Wharf London, to launch
Unequal Britain: a Human Rights Route to Social Justice.
The book reports on the status of economic, social and
cultural rights in Britain and has been written and edited by
Professor Stuart Weir, director of the Democratic Audit in
collaboration with Centre researchers.
The Conference was chaired by Lord Phillips,
president of the Citizenship Foundation and Chancellor of
Essex University. Mary Robinson, former United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, was a key speaker. The panel of
experts to debate the book’s research findings and
recommendations included Professor Paul Hunt, Essex, UN
Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Professor Keith
Ewing, King’s College London and Danie Brandt, a lawyer from
South Africa where social rights are entrenched in the
constitution. The seminar was organised jointly with
Charter 88.
Global Project Finance, Sustainable Development and Human Rights
Chatham House, London, 15-16 September 2006
What is the impact of foreign direct investment on
sustainable development and human rights? What in particular
is the impact of one of the more popular techniques for
financing in high risk situations? These were the questions
asked over two days in a lively meeting organized by
members of the Essex Human Rights Centre, the Departments of
Law and Accounting and Financial Management, and the
Institute of International Environment and Development.
The Conference was hosted by Chatham House and was
sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council, the
British Academy, and Barclays Bank. The event brought
together leading NGO’s, major public and private sector
lenders, multinational corporations, and lawyers. It had a
global reach, drawing participants from the EU, Argentina,
Ghana, South Africa, and Georgia. A report on the meeting
will form part of the larger ESRC research project that the
team is carrying out in this area.
The Essex research group is led by Professor Sheldon
Leader and includes Dr. Claudia Girardone and Stuart Snaith
from Accounting and Financial Management, and David Ong,
Rohan Kariyawasam, and Ozgur Can from the Law Department and
the Human Rights Centre. The economists Maryanne Grieg-Gran
and Annie Dufey from the International Institute for
Environment and Development are external partners in the
research.
Inter-Regional Conference on Justice Systems and Human Rights
Federal Parliament, Brasilia, 18-20 September 2006
A third conference in which the Centre was a partner along
with the British Council and the Brazilian Federal Justice
and Foreign Affairs Ministries took place at the
Federal Parliament, Palacio do Itamaraty in Brasilia from 18-20
September. This Inter Regional Judicial Conference brought together some 200 judges and others involved in the
administration of justice, from Latin America, India, South
Africa, and also the UK. It debated different judicial
approaches to common deep seated human rights problems. The
Conference was intended to launch a five year project to
strengthen South – South judicial networks and to facilitate
continuing judicial dialogue across world regions. Professor
Kevin Boyle, director of the Centre , was one of the organisers
of the Conference. The research papers for the event were prepared by Centre staff and Essex human rights
graduate alumni from all ten countries involved. A
Conference website can accessed via
the British Council, where video
footage of the Conference can be viewed.
Human Rights and Capitalism: A Multidisciplinary Perspective on Globalisation
Charterhouse Square, London, 18-19 September 2006
This Conference was hosted by the Centre for Commercial
Law Studies at Queen Mary’s College, London, as a follow-up
to the publication in February of a book of the same
name, edited by Janet Dine formerly professor of law at
Essex and now Director of CCLS. Her co editor and contributor
was Andrew Fagan,
Deputy Director of the Human Rights Centre. The majority of
the contributors to the book who spoke at the
Conference are members of the Essex Centre. The Conference
examined the complex relationship between human rights,
property rights and capitalist economies in the context of
globalisation.
First posted October 2006
Conference 4 May 2005
Islam and Human Rights in the Age of Democratisation and Terrorism
The Malaysian Society of University of Essex organised a
one-day conference entitled "Islam and Human Rights in the
Age of Democratisation and Terrorism" on 4 May 2005 at LTB2,
University of Essex.
The conference was co-funded by the British Council, Human
Rights Centre, Department of Government and the Student's
Union of University of Essex.
Seminar 4 May 2005
"Interrogation and Torture
The Human Rights Centre hosted a Seminar on
Interrogation and Torture from a policing perspective. The
context was a meeting of authors, Ralph Crawshaw and Tom
Williamson and editor Leif Holmstrom to work on the second
edition of their book Human Rights and Policing Standards
for Good Behaviour and a Strategy for Change".
The Seminar was Chaired by Professor Sir
Nigel Rodley, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Catalyst 2005 - 6 May 2005
Catalyst 2005 is a forum where leaders of the
global movement for women's human rights share their
strategies and insights on effective domestic implementation
of international human rights standards. It is an
opportunity for human rights advocates to learn practical
lessons on how to devise and implement enduring solutions to
the legal, political and practical human rights problems
faced by women the world over.
Type: On Friday, 6 May 2005, the University of
Essex hosted a full-day conference entitled: "Catalyst
2005: Global Perspectives on Successful Implementation of
Human Rights of Women". A brochure for the conference can be
found at Catalyst.
Director(s): Human Rights Centre students 2004-05.
Co-chairs: Kevin Boyle and Francoise Hampson -
leading international human rights advocates and professors
of human rights law at the University of Essex
This forum was about learning from those who
have been there and who know how to catalyze change
and transform lives. Speaker biographies can be
accessed on the Conference website at
www.essex.ac.uk/catalyst.
The Conference was supported by the Human
Rights Centre, the School of Law, the Department of Sociology and the
Human Rights Society (University of Essex), the
British Council, Sierra Leone and East of England .
The Conference brought together senior human rights
practitioners from 3 continents and 7 countries, including
international human rights scholar Christine Chinkin (LSE),
Abator Thomas (Minister of Health and President of the 50/50
Group in Sierra Leone), Dr. Hassan Hamidian (Head of the
Family Court in Tehran, Iran), Sara Hossain (barrister and
human rights advocate from Bangladesh), Jelena Djordjevic
(grass roots counter-trafficking advocate from Serbia and
Montenegro), Christina Curry (psychologist and Amnesty
International Researcher on Turkey), Jane Goldsmith
(Commissioner with the Women's National Commission, UK),
Marai Larasi (grass roots advocate for the rights of
domestic violence survivors in the UK), Andrea Coomber
(Equality Officer at Interights, UK), and Deirdre Fottrell
(barrister and lecturer in human rights of women at Essex
University).
EU-China Human Rights
Network Seminar 27-28 April 2004
Type: A seminar on the topic of the rights
to health and social security, as part of the EU-China Human
Rights Network.
Director: Professor Paul Hunt
The seminar involved the participation
of 25 academics from EU and Chinese universities who are
specialists on human rights.
The rights to health and
social security are a fundamental human right recognised in
international human rights law, including the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The seminar
discussed international human rights standards on the rights
to health and social security; domestic and regional
experience; the role and responsibilities of health
professionals and health professional associations;
HIV/AIDS; public health emergencies; the relationship
between the right to health and the right to social
security; and the right to health of women.
For more information on the
EU-China Human Rights Network
National Human Rights Institutions: What Makes Them
Effective?
Organised by the Centre for Civil and Constitutional
Rights, Notre Dame University Law School, the Human Rights
Centre, Queen's University of Belfast & the Human Rights
Centre, University of Essex
Saturday 1 November 2003
University of Notre Dame, London Law Centre, 1 Suffolk
Street, London, SWIY 4HG
About the Conference
The idea of national human rights institutions such as human
rights commissions and ombudsmen is one that has been gaining
prominence throughout the world. The United Nations clearly sees
the creation of such institutions as making a valuable
contribution to the more effective protection of human rights.
However a seminal question is how can we best ensure that these
institutions promote and protect human rights. This is the theme
of the conference as it draws upon international experience and
the findings of an 18 month research project funded by Nuffield
Foundation, evaluating the Northern Ireland Human Rights
Commission with comparison from the South Africa Human Rights
Commission.
In the module of the research, the research team have
conducted a wide range of interviews with commissioners, staff,
government officials, politicians, NGOs, community and voluntary
sector, churches, statutory organisations, trade unions,
business groups, the legal profession, law enforcement agencies,
academics and the media in Northern Ireland, Ireland, England,
Scotland, South Africa and at the United Nations in Geneva. The
research findings will be discussed alongside other key topics
as to what makes national human rights institutions effective.
Topics included:
- Benchmarks for effective national human rights
institutions
- Independence and Accountability
- Relationship of a national human rights institution with
other stakeholders
- Powers and structure.
In addition to this conference we also have an event in
Belfast on October 31 focusing on the Northern Ireland Human
Rights Commission and discussing the findings of the research
project.
[More details and
programme agenda...]
Association of Human Rights Institutes - Annual
Conference
Type:UN Human Rights Reform
Enhancing the Working Relationships Between
Treaty-Bodies and Charter-Bodies. (University of Essex,
September 2003.)
Director: Professor Paul Hunt
Democratic Futures
Type: Democratic Audit Seminar (London, 2003)
Director: Professor Stuart Weir
Human Rights and Poverty Reduction Strategies
Type: informal consultations (London 2002, co-organised with
Minority Rights Group and Overseas Development Institute)
Director: Paul Hunt
Organiser: Judith Bueno de Mesquita (HRC), Corinne Lennox (MRG),
Andy Norton (ODI)
Human Rights in Brazil
Type: student-run conference (University of Essex, 2002)
Funder: British Council
Organiser: Eduardo Pannunzio
Human Rights in Situations of Acute Conflict
Type: seminar (London, 1998)
Funder: Department for International Development
Director: Nigel Rodley
Organisers: Alison Jolly/Anne Slowgrove
Consolidating Democracy II
Type: seminar (1998)
Funder: British Council
Director: Kevin Boyle
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Type: Special Graduate Seminar (University of Essex, 1997)
Director: Kevin Boyle
Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Egypt - second annual
conference
Type: conference (Cairo, 1997)
Funder: The British Council
Director: Kevin Boyle (HRC), Adel Omar Sherif (Supreme Court)
Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Egypt - first annual
conference
Type: conference (Cairo, 1996)
Funder: The British Council
Director: Kevin Boyle (HRC), Adel Omar Sherif (Supreme Court)
Consolidating Democracy
Type: seminar (Essex, January 1996)
Funder: British Council
Directors: Kevin Boyle, Stuart Weir
Organiser: Alison Jolly
Gross Human Rights Violations (International Political
Science Association Human Rights Committee)
Type: conference (Essex, 1996)
Funder: self funded
Director: Michael Freeman
Organiser: Alison Jolly
Monitoring Political Freedom
Type: conference (London, September 1996)
Funder: from Democratic Audit grant
Director: Kevin Boyle
Organiser/Secretary: Alison Jolly
Northern Ireland seminar
Type: conference (in partnership with the Fortnight
Educational Trust)
Funder: Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust
Director: Chris Moffatt (Fortnight)
Democratic Audit conference
Type: conference (New Delhi, March 1995)
Funder: The Rajiv Ghandi Foundation
Director: Kevin Boyle, Stuart Weir
Freedom of Religion and Belief and the UN Year for Tolerance
Type: conference (London, September 1995)
Funder: Corporation of London, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Director: Kevin Boyle
Disillusionment with Democracy
Type: conference (Colchester, July 1993)
Funder: Council of Europe
Director: Kevin Boyle (HRC), Guiseppe Guarneri (CoE)
Organiser: Susan Rhodes (HRC), Francoise Mantion (CoE)
Freedom of Religion and Belief: south east Asia regional
workshop
Type: conference (Osaka, July 1994)
Funder: International Movement Against Racism and Discrimination
Director: Kevin Boyle
Organiser: Alison Jolly
Freedom of Religion and Belief: Middle East regional
workshop
Type: conference (London, December 1994)
Funder: from main World Report grant
Director: Kevin Boyle
Universal Human Rights and Cultural Diversity
Type: conference (University of Essex)
Director: Michael Freeman
Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law
Type: conference (University of Sofia, Bulgaria)
Director: Michael Freeman