News

Fiddling while Rome burns?

Essex honorary graduate and human rights campaigner, Shami Chakrabarti will give the Essex Law Lecture next month.

Shami Chakrabarti will give the 2007 Essex Law Lecture

Shami Chakrabarti became Director of Liberty, one of the UK’s leading human rights and civil liberties organisations, in 2003. She was previously an active member of the Social Democratic party and worked as a barrister at the Home Office before joining Liberty in 2001. Shami spent the next two years campaigning against increasingly severe anti-terrorist measures that followed 9/11 and is a prominent opponent of recent counter-terrorism legislation.

Shami’s lecture, ‘Human rights or ‘home grown rights’. Fiddling while Rome burns?’ will be held at the University’s Colchester Campus on Thursday 8 March at 7pm in the New Lecture Hall. Admission is free and open to the public but entry is by ticket only. Please e-mail annw@essex.ac.uk or telephone 01206 873484.

Holocaust victims remembered

The first Holocaust Memorial Week at the University saw staff, students and members of the Colchester community attend events focused on the theme of remembrance.

As part of the week, Dr Rainer Schulze, Head of the Department of History, spoke about his work to establish a permanent exhibition at the site of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp - and announced news of a major new find.

Dr Schulze explained: ‘More than 120,000 people are believed to have died at Bergen Belsen, many of whom remain unnamed. Our priority has been to give back some individuality to the victims of the camp - by naming the nameless.’

This task was greatly assisted by the chance discovery, in New York, of a 70-page notebook. He continued: ‘This fragile document, much of it scribed with a quill feather over 60 years ago, contained details of around 3,000 individuals who perished at the camp. This major find will help us identify, and remember, many more who died.’

Holocaust Memorial Week activities focused on remembering the victims of all genocides, a theme reflected at the Colchester and District Jewish Community’s annual Memorial Service at the end of the week. Almost 90 people attended the Service, which included a talk by Holocaust survivor Dora Love. Dora survived the Stutthof concentration camp and spoke about her work to establish a home for Jewish children at Blankenese, which saw nearly 200 children pass through its doors.

Plans are in progress to mark National Holocaust Memorial Day next year.

Pupils on trial

Pupils from three Essex schools took part in a mock trial competition at the University this month. This was organised by Essex Street Law, the University’s award-winning volunteer project, supported by international law firm Eversheds.

The competition required schools to submit a team of 12 and encouraged students to think in the heat of the moment, taking on roles as barristers and even as the defendant. They tackled real cases including a death involving the use of drugs and a fight in an army barracks. The aim was to give students a fun taste of the legal world and a chance to see what university life is like.

The winning team from Colchester Royal Grammar

In the final, Colchester Royal Grammar defeated the team from St Benedict’s.

Alongside the main competition, Essex Street Law ran interactive lessons on areas of law relevant to the Citizenship Programme as part of the National Curriculum. These increased students’ understanding of their rights and responsibilities under the law.

The Essex Street Law project currently teaches lessons in many local secondary schools. Mock trials have proved popular and helped students gain a better understanding of how the law works.

Managed by volunteer second and third year students, under the supervision of the University’s Department of Law, Essex Street Law gives law students the opportunity to practice legal research skills and develop confidence in public speaking.

Also in the printed February edition of Wyvern:

• Student surveys underway
• Poet Laureate to recall Essex childhood
• Evaluating Russian HR reform
• Southend success with i-Labs
• Award to research children's rights in India
• Climbers reach Everest 'summit'
• Christmas cycling for charity
• Memory book for Essex students