In fond memory of Lord Kerr JSC
6.15pm Thursday 23 March 2021
Online event
A recording of this event is available here
Please join the Human Rights Lawyers Association in celebrating the life and career of Lord Kerr, former law lord and retired Supreme Court justice, who passed away in December 2020. He was the longest-serving Supreme Court justice and a former lord chief justice of Northern Ireland. He has been described as “an ardent defender of the individual citizen’s human rights” and “was renowned for his impish humour and warm-hearted informality”. Determined to right wrongs where he could, he was known as the “conscience of the court”, and this event aims to pay tribute to him and his considerable contribution to human rights law.
We will be joined by a stellar panel of lawyers, many of whom knew Lord Kerr closely and many who frequently appeared before him:
Angela Jackman
Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC
Darragh Mackin
Dinah Rose QC
Hugh Southey QC
Karon Monaghan QC
Margherita Cornaglia
Raza Husain QC
Ronan Lavery QC
Sonali Naik QC
Tom Hickman QC
Manjit S Gill QC
Chaired by:
Aswini Weereratne QC
Introduced by:
Shoaib M Khan
We are extremely grateful to Hogan Lovells for their support for this event.
The right to have rights? Perspectives on statelessness in the UK and beyond
Thursday 22nd April 2021
5.30pm – 7.15pm
A recording of this event is available here
We invite you to join the Human Rights Lawyers Association on 22 April 2021 to hear an expert panel share their insights into the human rights implications of statelessness.
The year 2021 marks both the centenary of the 1921 decree denationalising certain Russian citizens abroad and 80 years since the 11th decree of 1941 under the Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews outside German territory of their citizenship. Today it is estimated that at least 10 million people in the world are stateless. Statelessness can arise in a multitude of contexts, from state dissolution to the application of patriarchal nationality laws and severe “citizenship-stripping” measures. There are common themes that emerge, such as a disproportionate impact on minoritised groups, and difficulty in accessing fundamental rights, and services.
In the UK and around the world, activists, lawyers, academics, and others are working to develop the legal protections available to stateless persons, to tackle the root causes of statelessness, and to empower those affected by it. This event examines contemporary issues in the UK and beyond, such as efforts to have statelessness recognised as a human rights matter, and the issues hindering the protection of stateless persons in the UK, identified in UNHCR’s 2020 report on the UK’s dedicated statelessness determination procedure. We will also explore the responsibility of legislators against the backdrop of the recent judgment of the Supreme Court in the UK in the case of Shamima Begum, which placed a spotlight on the precarity of citizenship, as well as other topics. Drawing on the wide-ranging expertise of our panel, we will consider the impact of statelessness on individuals’ lives, specific challenges to accessing rights, and the way forward for legal work and activism in this field.
Speakers:
Amal de Chickera is a co-director and co-founder of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, the sole human rights organisation dedicated to working on statelessness and the right to a nationality globally. Amal has been researching, writing, speaking, and serving as an expert on statelessness and related issues for the UN, NGOs, and academia since 2008. Amal is a human rights lawyer and member of the Sri Lankan Bar. He currently teaches a postgraduate course on statelessness and the right to nationality at Middlesex University London.
Christiana Bukalo is a stateless activist based in Germany and Senior Program and Business Development Manager at Global Digital Women. Christiana is currently building a ground-breaking online platform called Statefree.world aiming to bridge the communication gap between those working on statelessness and those experiencing it. Christiana has worked closely with the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and is a trustee of the European Network on Statelessness.
Eric Fripp is a barrister at The 36 Group specialising in refugee law, immigration, nationality, and human rights law. Eric has appeared in numerous leading cases and undertakes advocacy at all levels of domestic and international court or tribunal, as well as advisory work. He is recognised internationally as an expert on nationality and statelessness and their interaction with international human rights instruments. Eric’s publications include Nationality and Statelessness in the International Law of Refugee Status (2016) and The Law and Practice of Expulsion and Exclusion from the United Kingdom (2014).
Johanna Bezzano is a lecturer at the University of Liverpool and solicitor at the Liverpool Law Clinic. She has wide-ranging expertise in assisting stateless people in the UK to secure immigration status and co-authored the report ‘Statelessness in Practice: Implementation of the UK Statelessness Application Procedure’ (2018)’. Jo previously worked in immigration and asylum law specialising in representing unaccompanied children seeking asylum and has also worked in the Solomon Islands as a lawyer and for the Department of International Development in the UK.
Judith Carter is a lecturer at the University of Liverpool and solicitor at the Liverpool Law Clinic, where she works on applications by individual clients for a statelessness residence permit through the UK’s statelessness determination procedure. Judith has extensive experience of advocacy in this field and co-authored the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association’s guide ‘Statelessness and applications for leave to remain: a best practice guide’ (2016). She also engages in training students and legal practitioners.
Khadija Badri is the Advocacy and Communications Officer at the European Network on Statelessness, a civil society alliance of over 160 organisations and experts in 41 countries dedicated to ending statelessness. Khadija works on advocacy and ENS’ direct engagement with stateless people. She has been at the forefront of ENS’ work on childhood statelessness and previously worked for Save the Children. Khadija holds a master’s degree in Migration and Development from SOAS and has volunteered with various organisations assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
There will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions.
This event is organised by Camila Zapata Besso, Marianne Schönle, and Rebecca Hacker, members of the Executive Committee and Young Lawyers Committee of the HRLA.
The HRLA is grateful to One Pump Court, who will kindly be hosting this event on Zoom.
In Conversation with Nani Jansen Reventlow, Digital Rights: Developments at Home and Abroad.
6.00pm Wednesday 9th June 2021
A recording of this event is available here
In modern times, digital technologies have increasingly come to dominate every area of our lives, from the ways in which we communicate and consume information, to business, banking and even the operation of our criminal justice systems. With the growing use and deployment of digital technologies in society, the issue of the protection of our human rights in the digital sphere has taken centre-stage.
In this conversation, with leading digital rights expert Nani Jansen Reventlow, we will explore the latest developments in the digital rights field, both in the UK and internationally. We will touch on such topics as the increasing threat to digital rights posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue of A.I “automating bias” and discuss the “Decolonisation” of the digital rights field.
This event is chaired by Aswini Weereratne QC and Tetevi Davi
Speakers:
Nani Jansen Reventlow is the founding director of the Digital Freedom Fund, which supports partners in Europe to advance digital rights through strategic litigation. She is a recognised international lawyer and expert in human rights litigation responsible for standard-setting freedom of expression cases across several national and international jurisdictions. Nani is also a lecturer at Columbia Law School and an Associate Tenant at Doughty Street Chambers.
Moderators:
Aswini Weereratne QC is Chair of the HRLA and a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers. She focuses on the protection of adults and young people in vulnerable situations and utilises her skills in a wide range of practice areas concerning public and private law issues and international law. She also has a strong background in investigatory and regulatory work as well as independent/neutral chairing. Aswini is also a qualified mediator and part-time judge (First-tier Tribunal and Court of Protection).
Tetevi Davi is an Executive Committee member of the HRLA and pupil barrister at 25 Bedford Row. He is developing a practice in all areas of criminal defence including international crime and extradition as well as in domestic and international human rights law. He also writes on transitional justice and is a rapporteur for Oxford International Organizations.
The HRLA thanks Doughty Street Chambers for their generosity in hosting this online event
Human Rights Careers Week
2021
Monday 18th – Saturday 23rd October 2021
SIGN UP NOW!
This event is free however places are limited,
to register please click here
The best careers event of the year for budding human rights lawyers is back – and it’s bigger than ever before! This year, the careers events will span a whole week and will be held online (platform to be confirmed) so that as many people as possible can attend. It’s not to be missed – you can sign up now either for the whole week or for any of the individual sessions which take your fancy!
Careers Week is aimed primarily at university students, recent graduates and those just starting out on a career in human rights law. Our sessions will address pathways to a career in human rights law, accessibility and diversity in the profession and current topical issues, including lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, how to be a campaigning human rights lawyer and working in a profession under threat.
Careers Week will launch with a keynote speech from Adam Wagner on Monday 18 October 2021 (7pm), which will cover his own pathway to a career in human rights law, some of his ground-breaking work during the COVID-19 pandemic and his tips for aspiring human rights lawyers. Like all of our sessions, Adam’s speech will be followed by a Q&A session.
You can read an introduction to Adam Wagner here.
The full timetable of events can be found on the flyer below. Don’t miss out – and please share this page so your friends don’t miss out either!
To register for this free event please click here
Further Details can be found in our Event Week Programme
The HRLA are enormously grateful to Hogan Lovells for their support of our 2021 Careers Week
Do We Need a Legally Enforceable Right to Food?
Tuesday 16 November 2021
Online event
To register for this free event please click here
The UK’s food poverty rate is among the highest in Europe. According to a report from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee, nearly six million adults and 1.7 million children were struggling to get enough food between September 2020 and February 2021. The Committee also urged the Government to consult on a ‘right to food’ in England, echoing calls by NGOs and campaigners who want to see more action to tackle food insecurity.
This panel will bring together a range of speakers to share their experiences and discuss the concept of a “right to food”, whether having such a legally enforceable mechanism would help to tackle food poverty in Britain, how it could be enforced, and broader questions around socio-economic rights in the UK.
Panel:
Professor Geraldine van Bueren QC, Doughty Street
Dee Woods, Granville Community Kitchen and the Food Ethics Council
Clive Baldwin, Human Rights Watch
Other panellists to be confirmed
The panel discussion will be followed by closing remarks by Yasmine Ahmed (UK Director of Human Rights Watch) and audience Q&A
This online event is kindly co-hosted by Human Rights Watch, authors of a 2019 report entitled “Nothing Left in the Cupboards: Austerity, Welfare Cuts, and the Right to Food in the UK”, available to read here: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/uk0519_web3.pdf
Human Rights Review of the Year 2021
Thursday 27 January
Online from 6pm
followed by
The Human Rights Lawyers Association
Annual General Meeting
The Human Rights Lawyers Association is delighted to invite you to our annual Round Up event, a panel discussion looking at the major human rights developments over the course of the last year. The panel will be composed of:
Panel:
Raj Chada (Hodge Jones and Allen)
Toufique Hossain (Duncan Lewis)
Sara Lomri (Public Law Project)
Chair: Zehrah Hasan (Garden Court)
This year our event will be followed by our HRLA Annual General Meeting for 2021, members and friends are welcome to stay on to hear about our activities over the course of the year and the plans we have for 2022.
The Annual General Meeting of the Human Rights Lawyers Association, which will include the election of a new Executive Committee and new Young Lawyers Committee will be an online event taking place on Thursday 27th January 2022.
The AGM is a great opportunity to gain insight into the HRLA’s work over the past year and take part in the shaping of the work ahead. So even if you don’t intend to stand for election, please do join us for the evening.
This year the number of nominations received did not exceed the number of places available so no election will be taking place, the members of the Executive Committee and the Young Lawyers Committee for 2022 will be confirmed at the AGM on the 27th January 2022. The agenda for the AGM can be seen here.
A copy of the HRLA Constitution is available on the HRLA website:
http://www.hrla.org.uk
Ukraine and Afghanistan: The UK Refugee Response
6.00pm Wednesday 4 May 2022
The Bingham Room, Gray’s Inn
The ongoing situation in Ukraine and Afghanistan has brought the crisis in refugee protection in the UK into sharp relief. How can and should the UK respond? Join HRLA for a discussion on the key human rights issues arising and the role the legal community can play.
Panellists:
Sonali Naik QC, Garden Court Chambers
Simon Cox, Doughty Street Chambers
Rehana Popal, 33 Bedford Row
Alison Pickup, Asylum Aid
Raza Husain QC, Matrix Chambers
Speaker to be confirmed, Advocate
The HRLA thanks Gray’s Inn for their generosity in hosting this event
If you would like to see the thread from the live Tweeting to coincide with this event please follow this link
Joint HRLA/ALBA event:
When does Art. 8 ECHR make a difference in public law cases?
5.30 pm Tuesday 24 May 2022
at No.5 Chambers, Savoy Place
Registration from 5.15pm, the event will be followed by a drinks reception
To register your place please click here
Please note this is a hybrid event and will also be hosted on Zoom. If you wish to attend via Zoom rather than in person please email administrator@adminlaw.org.uk to be sent a Zoom link.
Speakers
Chaired by Mr Justice Fordham
Ben Jaffey QC (Blackstone Chambers)
Sarah Hannett QC (Matrix Chambers)
Steve Broach (39 Essex Chambers)
Shu Shin Luh (Doughty Street Chambers)
Disability and the Human Rights Act
Tuesday 19th July 2022
A recording of this event is available here
A transcript for this event is available here
A reading list of texts mentioned during the event is here
Online event
The UK Government is proposing to “replace the Human Rights Act (HRA) with a modern Bill of Rights” and the issue is currently under consultation. The HRA is a unique piece of legalisation because it provides direct access to the European Convention of Human Rights through British courts. Public bodies also must consider human rights. The HRA has played a significant role in safeguarding the rights of disabled people who find themselves under the protection of the state, whether that be through mental health provisions, health and social care or the criminal justice system.
July is Disability Pride Month, which is an apt reminder of the need for acceptance, the removal of disabling practices and the protection of rights. This Disability Pride Month, we will explore the role of the HRA on the lives of disabled people, the consequences of repealing it and the opportunities that could follow.
Speakers:
Daniel Holt
Daniel is a future Pupil Barrister at 39 Essex Chambers. He is also the Founding Chair of the Association of Disabled Lawyers (‘ADL’), which was the first independent, pan-profession organisation of people working in and studying law with impairments and physical and mental health conditions. The ADL is a community and network raising awareness of the fact that disabled people and people with health conditions can study and practice law. It also champions the welfare and rights of disabled people and people with health conditions in wider society. It achieves its aims through engagement, events, campaigning and research.
Daniel was educated in special needs schools and is a seasoned disability rights activist. He has engaged with the Bar Standards Board, Legal Services Board, Solicitors Regulatory Authority, and many other organisations to help improve the experiences of lawyers and students with health conditions. He was a Disability Rights UK Trustee until 31st December 2019 when his second term came to an end. Daniel was ‘highly commended’ at the European Diversity Awards 2018 and is a recipient of Middle Temple’s Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Award, Blackstone Exhibition Award and Certificate of Honour. He had previously received a Campaign of the Year Award for his work on improving accessibility.
Svetlana Kotova,
Svetlana is a disabled lawyer who has spent many years fighting for the rights of Disabled people. She currently works for Inclusion London and managed their Disability Justice Project, and now leads the Policy, Campaigns and Justice team. Over the last 12 years she has worked in various advice and policy roles, enabling Disabled people to fight for their rights at local and international level. Svetlana is passionate about ensuring Disabled people have equal rights and can use the law effectively to tackle discrimination and social injustice.
Kamran Mallick
Kamran Mallick joined Disability Rights UK as its Chief Executive in July 2017. He is the former Chief Executive of Action on Disability, the Hammersmith-based disability organisation, where he worked for 13 years. Kamran has also worked for the spinal injury charity Aspire as well as running his own training and consultancy business. He serves on the boards of the Lyric Hammersmith, Wheels for Wellbeing and Lloyds Bank Foundation. He is a former chair of Candoco dance company and board member of Inclusion London. He is also a member of Gatwick Airport Passenger Experience Group and a former member of Transport for London’s Independent Disability Advisory Group. Kamran was included in the Shaw Trusts Powerlist 100 – Most influential disabled people in 2018 and was in the top 10 in 2020.
More speakers to be confirmed.
Reasonable Adjustments
British Sign Language interpretation will be provided. Please do let us know on administrator@hrla.org.uk if we can provide other adjustments that remove barriers to your full enjoyment and participation.
Lord Kerr Essay Competition Event
6.00pm Monday 5th September 2022
This is a hybrid event that can be attended in person at CMS Law or online.
To register for this free event please click here
Celebrating the Winners of the inaugural Lord Kerr Essay Competition
Lord Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, PC, was a Northern Irish barrister and a senior judge who was Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and then a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving Supreme Court Justice and the last original member of the Court. Lord Kerr was an energetic courtroom interrogator who became an ardent defender of individual citizens’ human rights. He was a progressive figure whose rulings advanced the rights of women and children and resolved controversies from the Troubles. He was most proud of the court’s 2018 ruling that eventually led to the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. With other justices, he concluded that the Northern Ireland assembly’s law on abortion was incompatible with human rights.
Following his passing, the Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA) received a gift donation from his family to create an opportunity that celebrates the formidable legal career that Lord Kerr had through his influential judicial understanding of human rights and the law. From this gift, the HRLA and the Young Lawyers’ Committee (YLC) have created an essay competition that focuses on a contemporary human rights issue.
In the first year of the competition we received a substantial number of submissions which answered the question, “Is eco-anxiety capable of amounting to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, within the meaning of Article 3 ECHR?”
We now invite you to attend this hybrid event to celebrate the winner, Cidalia Lewis-Lettington and the two runners-up, Martyna Hanak and Jonathan Rutherford. We will also have the opportunity to further discuss the essay question following a brief and topical lecture and hear directly from a youth climate activist. You can read the winning essay on the UKSC Blog and the essay of the runners-up on the HRLA blog in the coming weeks.
Speakers:
Patrick Kerr
Patrick Kerr is a barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk. Thanks to his generous donation, time and ongoing support the YLC has been able to develop this competition and host this event.
Sylvie Gallage-Alwis
After 10 years practicing in a major international law firm, Sylvie became one of the founding partners of the Paris office of Signature Litigation and heads its product liability / industrial risk practice.
Sylvie is both an Avocat à la Cour in France and a Solicitor in England & Wales. She is specialised in all cutting-edge complex disputes linked to products, namely product liability, product safety, toxic tort, mass litigation/class action, regulatory compliance, and environment. She is involved in several very high-profile French industrial disaster pending cases.
Sylvie is further known in the French market as a leading toxic tort / mass litigation lawyer. As such, she has been involved in most pro-company case law rendered in recent years, notably in asbestos-related cases, with some cases mentioned in the French Civil and Social Security Codes because of the significant reversal in case law they represent.
Sylvie has explored the legal implications of eco-anxiety in a piece published by the Environmental Journal, which can be found here.
Meg Watts
Meg Watts is a young writer, artist and activist. She talks about environmentalism, climate justice, nature, mental health, and life as an LGBTQ+ person. Meg is an environmental campaigner who recently graduated with first class honours in BA Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. She has written for the The Tab, Concrete, and recently won an Oxford Union debate on the topic of capitalism.
Accessibility Needs
On-screen captions/live transcript will be available for those joining us online. Please do let us know if we can provide other adjustments that remove barriers to your full enjoyment and participation.