The Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research hosts and participates in a range of events, including seminars, conferences, roundtable discussions and doctoral debates.

Find out more about our past events and activities below.

The Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research Seminar Series includes a range of events, including external speakers, work in progress seminars, brainstorming sessions, and doctoral debates.

Autumn 2023 Rights Research Series

Wednesday 15 November 2023, Marianna IIiadou, Surrogacy Before the Strasbourg Court: A Blend of Genetic Obsession,  Gender Discrimination and Vague Application of the Child's Best Interests

Title: Marianna Iliadou, 'Surrogacy Before the Strasbourg Court: A Blend of Genetic Obsession, Gender Discrimination and Vague Application of the Child’s Best Interests'

Date: Wednesday 15th November 2023

Time: 4-5pm

Venue: Freeman F40 and online

Wednesday 15 November 2023, SCHRR AGM

Title: SCHRR AGM (for Sussex academic staff and PhD students)

Date: Wednesday 15th November 2023

Time: 5-6pm

Venue: Freeman F40 and online

Wednesday 22 November 2023, Jo Wilding, Conceptualising Justice Chauvinism

Title: Jo Wilding, 'Conceptualising Justice Chauvinism'

Date: Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Time: 4-5pm

Venue: Freeman F22 and online

Wednesday 22 November 2023, Research Cafe

Title: Research Café

Date: Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Time: 5-6pm

Venue: Freeman F22

Wednesday 27 November 2023, Anne-Mai Flyvolm, Prejudice-based trust violations: understanding the wider impacts hate crime

Title: Research Cafe, Anne-Mai Flyvolm (Visiting PhD Student) 'Prejudice-based trust violations: understading the wider impacts hate cime'.

Date: Wednesday 27th November 2023

Time: 12-1pm

Venue: Freeman F39 and online

Wednesday 27 November 2023, Research Cafe

Title: Research Café

Date: Wednesday 27th November 2023

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Freeman F39

Tuesday 5 December 2023, Roundtable on Surpreme Court Rwanda Decision

Title: Roundtable on Supreme Court Rwanda Decision

Date: Tuesday 5 December 2023

Speakers: Bal Sokhi-Bulley, Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira, Lindsay Stirton, Jo Wilding

Time: 11am-12.30pm

Venue: Freeman Moot Room and online

Spring 2023 Rights Research Series

Wednesday 8 February 2023, Book Launch Dr Benjamin Thorne (University of Kent) The Figure of the Witness in International Criminal Tribunals: Memory, Atrocity and Transitional Justice (Routledge London, 2022)

Book Launch Dr Benjamin Thorne (University of Kent) The Figure of the Witness in International Criminal Tribunals: Memory, Atrocity and Transitional Justice (Routledge London, 2022)

Date: Wednesday 8th February 2023

Time: 4-6pm

Venue: Freeman and online via Zoom

Speakers: Dr Nicola Palmer (Reader in Criminal Law, Kings College London) as external discussant and Dr Josh Bowsher (Lecturer in Sociology, University of Sussex) as internal discussant.

Abstract of the book:

This book analyses how international criminal institutions, and their actors – legal counsels, judges, investigators, registrars – construct witness identity and memory.

Filling an important gap within transitional justice scholarship, this conceptually led and empirically grounded interdisciplinary study takes the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) as a case study. It asks: How do legal witnesses of human rights violations contribute to memory production in transitional post-conflict societies? Witnessing at tribunals entails individuals externalising memories of violations. This is commonly construed within the transitional justice legal scholarship as an opportunity for individuals to ensure their memories are entered into an historical record. Yet this predominant understanding of witness testimony fails to comprehend the nature of memory. Memory construction entails fragments of individual and collective memories within a contestable and contingent framing of the past. Accordingly, the book challenges the claim that international criminal courts and tribunals are able to produce a collective memory of atrocities; as it maintains that witnessing must be understood as a contingent and multi-layered discursive process.

Contributing to the specific analysis of witnessing and memory, but also to the broader field of transitional justice, this book will appeal to scholars and practitioners in these areas, as well as others in legal theory, global criminology, memory studies, international relations, and international human rights.

Friday 24 Feb 2023, SCHRR Work in Progress seminar, on Ceylan Begum Yildiz, 'The Muderer State will be Held to Account: The myth of the state and its violence'.

Title: SCHRR Work in Progress seminar, on Ceylan Begüm Yıldız, 'The Murderer State will be Held to Account: The myth of the state and its violence'.

Date: Friday 24 Feb 2023

Time: 2-3pm

Wednesday 08 March 2023, Dr Elizabeth Craig, 'Re)appraising the Council of Europe's Approach to Minority Rights in the Context of War in Ukraine'.

Dr Elizabeth Craig, ‘Re)appraising the Council of Europe’s Approach to Minority Rights in the Context of War in Ukraine.’

Date: Wednesday 08 March 2023

Time: 4-5pm, 

Over a year has passed since the 2022 Russian invasion of the Ukraine, and over eight years since the Maidan Revolution, the annexation of Crimea and the taking of control by Russian separatist groups of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the Donbas. Unlike earlier wars in Europe, such as those in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo in the 1990s, the decades leading up to the war also witnessed the adoption and subsequent consolidation of European minority rights standards. These standards focused on the protection of national minorities rather than their empowerment, and the story of monitoring and the development of a ‘constructive dialogue’ is ultimately one of failure when seen in the context of the protection of minority and indigenous rights in Ukraine and prevention of violations based on membership of a minority or indigenous groups. This paper aims to explore what went wrong not by focusing on the State or even minorities themselves as the key actors, but rather by focusing on the role of the bodies responsible for monitoring implementation of these new standards. Whilst Ukraine’s initial minority rights trajectory was a fairly standard one for a newly independent States in transition, the last decade has witnessed the almost tangible fear of the monitoring bodies to present a robust challenge to Ukraine on minority rights given the ever-increasing threat and looming presence of the aggressor State.

Venue: Freeman G22 and online 

Followed by a Research Café 5-5:30pm

Tuesday 14 March 2023, Dr Qingxiu Bu, Automated Facial Recognition (AFR) and Human Rights/Privacy Implications

Title: Dr Qingxiu Bu, Automated Facial Recognition (AFR) and Human Rights/Privacy Implications

Date: Tuesday 14 March 2023

Time: 3-4pm

Venue: Freeman F39 and online

Thursday 23 March 2023, PhD work in Progress 

PhD work in Progress. Matilde Rocca (PhD researcher University of Padova, visiting PhD student at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. Sussex alumni): 'Assessing the legality of State interference with private rescue operations at sea'

Sophia Taha (PhD researcher Keele University), 'Postcolonial Resistance to U.K. Bureaucracy: Centring Migrant Women as they navigate ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’'

Date: Thursday 23 March 2023

Time: 2-3:30pm

Venue: Freeman Moot Room and online

Thursday 11 May 2023, Minority Rights Solidary Network in conjunction with SCHRR workshop 'What Next? 30 Years After the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities'

Title: Minority Rights Solidary Network in conjunction with SCHRR workshop 'What Next? 30 Years After the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities'

Date: Thursday 11th May 2023

Time: 

Venue: Freeman G22 and online

Autumn 2022 Rights Research Series

Friday 09 September 2022, MinorityRights@Sussex Scoping Workshop

Title: MinorityRights@Sussex Scoping Workshop

Date: Friday 09 Septmebr 2022

Time: 10:30am -4pm

Joining Instructions: Invitation only event

This scoping workshop will bring together academics working in the field to discuss the added value and significance of minority rights in the 21st century, with the aim of fostering connections, finding common ground/synergies and exploring the potential for future collaborations. 

Wednesday 26 October 2022, WIP Session

WIP Session

Rights Research Series 2022/23

Date: Wednesday 26^th October 2022

Time: 12.00-1.30pm

Venue: Freeman G16 

‘Seeking Agency in Transitional Justice: The Case of the Saturday Mothers in Turkey’

Güneş Daşli

PhD Researcher, Jena Centre for Reconciliation Studies, Friedrich Schiller Universtät, Germany. 

Wednesday 26 October 2022, Research Cafe

New - Research Café

Date: Wednesday 26th October 2022

Time: 1.30-2pm

Venue: Freeman G16 (after Güneş Daşli’s WIP session)

Wednesday 16 November 2023, Annual General Meeting and Research Cafe

2022/23 Annual General Meeting and Research Café

Date: Wednesday 16th November 2022

Time: 12-2pm

Venue: Freeman G16

Wednesday 23 November 2022, WIP Session

WIP Session

Rights Research Series 2022/23

Date: Wednesday 23 November 2022

Time: 2-4pm

Venue: Ashdown House G5 and online

'Imagining the Possibilities: Reconceptualizing Reproductive Freedom'

Laurenne Abisioye Ajayi (PhD Researcher, Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research)

with Dr Mary Frances Lukera @SussexLaw as discussant

'Settler Colonialism, Drones and Law: The Case of Israel/Palestine'

Yaar Dagan (PhD Researcher, Keele School of Law, Keele university)

Friday 2 December 2022, Book Launch: 'Black Iconography and Colonial (Re)production at the International Criminal Court: Independence Char Cha by Dr Stanley Mwangi Wanjiru

Book Launch: 'Black Iconography and Colonial (Re)production at the International Criminal Court: Independence Char Cha' by Dr Stanley Mwangi Wanjiru

Date: Friday 2^nd December 2022

Time: 12-2pm

Venue: Freeman F22 and online

Speaker: Dr Sara Kendall (Reader in International Law, University of Kent)

About the book: 

This book explores the reproduction of colonialism at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and examines international criminal law (ICL) vs the black body through an immersive format of art, music, poetry, and architecture and post-colonial/critical race theory lens.

Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, the book interrogates the operationalisation of the Rome Statute to detail a Eurocentric hegemony at the core of ICL. It explores how colonialism and slavery have come to shape ICL, exposing the perpetuation of the colonial, and warns that it has ominous contemporary and future implications for Africa. As currently envisaged and acted out at the ICC, this law is founded on deceptive and colonial ideas of ‘what is wrong’ in/with the world. The book finds that the contemporary ICL regime is founded on white supremacy that corrupts the law’s interaction with the African. The African is but a unit utilised by the global elite to exploit and extract resources. From time to time, these alliances disintegrate with ICL becoming a retaliatory tool of choice. What is at stake is power, not justice. This power has been hierarchical with Eurocentrism at the top throughout modern history. Colonialism is seen not to have ended but to have regerminated through the foundation of the ‘independent’ African state. The ICC reproduces the colonial by use of European law and, ultimately, the over-representation of the black accused. To conclude, the book provides a liberated African forum that can address conflicts in the content, with a call for the end of the ICC’s involvement in Africa. The demand is made for an African court that utilises non-colonising African norms which are uniquely suited to address local conflicts.

Multidisciplinary in nature, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of international criminal law, criminal justice, human rights law, African studies, global social justice, sociology, anthropology, postcolonial studies, and philosophy.

Spring 2022 Rights Research Series

Wednesday 23 February 2022, Book Launch, Dr Giorgia Baldi - Un-Veiling Dichotomies: European Secularism and Women's Veiling

Title: Book Launch, Dr Giorgia Baldi - Un-Veiling Dichotomies: European Secularism and Women's Veiling

Date: Wednesday 23 Feb 2022

Time: 12:30 to 2pm

Speaker: Dr Giorgia Baldi 

About the book: This book analyzes the implication of secular/liberal values in Western and human rights law and its impact on Muslim women. It offers an innovative reading of the tension between the religious and secular spheres. The author does not view the two as binary opposites. Rather, she believes they are twin categories that define specific forms of lives as well as a specific notion of womanhood. This divergence from the usual dichotomy opens the doors for a reinterpretation of secularism in contemporary Europe. This method also helps readers to view the study of religion vs. secularism in a new light. It allows for a better understanding of the challenges that contemporary Europe now faces regarding the accommodation of different religious identities. For instance, one entire section of the book concerns the practice of veiling and explores the contentious headscarf debate. It features case studies from Germany, France, and the UK. In addition, the analysis combines a wide range of disciplines and employs an integrated, comparative, and inter-disciplinary approach. The author successfully brings together arguments from different fields with a comparative legal and political analysis of Western and Islamic law and politics. This innovative study appeals to students and researchers while offering an important contribution to the debate over the role of religion in contemporary secular Europe and its impact on women’s rights and gender equality. More details available here
About the Author: Dr Giorgia Baldi is Lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex, UK. Between 2013-17 she worked at Birkbeck, University of London, School of Law, as Associate Lecturer, teaching a variety of law related modules. Previously, she has worked for several years in the field of International Cooperation and Development, playing leading roles in women’s rights related programmes in the Middle East (2004-2011). Her research interests are state-religion relations, Gender and Religion, Women’s Rights and Human Rights, political theory, feminist theory etc.

Hosted by: Sussex Law School Research Seminar Series

Wednesday 30 March 2022, SCHRR WiP by Elizabeth Craig, 'There is nothing new under the sun': European Minority Rights (re)appraised

Title: SCHRR WiP 

Speaker: Elizabeth Craig 

Date: Wednesday 30 March 2022

Time: 2pm

Wednesday 11 May 2022, What is Progress on 'work-in-progress'? Writing a monograph which reconnects activism and constitutionalism, two steps forward and one step back' 

Title: 'What is Progress on 'work-in-progress'? Writing a momograph which reconnects activism and constitutonalism, two steps forward and one step back'

Speaker: Charlotte Skeet

Date: Wednesday 11 May 2022

Time: 1-2pm

Wednesday 25 May 2022, PhD WiP, Elif Demirbas and Christina Miliou-Theocharaki, 'Looking at he EC -Turkey Deal: The Implications for Migrants in Greece and Turkey' 

Title: PhD WiP, Elif Demirbas and Christina Miliou-Theocharaki, 'Looking at the EU-Turkey Deal: The Implications for Migrants in Greece and Turkey'

Speakers: Elif Demirbas and Christina Miliou-Theocharaki

Date: Wednesday 25th May

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Online

Tuesday 31 May 2022, SCHRR Book Launch: Matt evans (ed), Beyond Transitional Justice: Transformative Justice and the State of the Field (or non-field) (Routledge 2022)

Title: Matt Evans (ed), Beyond Transitional Justice: Transformative Justice and the State of the Field (or non-field) (Routledge 2022).

Date: Tuesday 31 May 2022

Time: 12-2pm

With contributors:
Prof Christine Bell, University of Edinburgh;
Dr Lauren Dempster, Queen's University Belfast;
Dr Rachel Killean, Queen's University Belfast;
Dr Dáire McGill, Pembroke College, University of Oxford.
As well as 2 discussants: Our own Dr Aisling O'Sullivan and Dr Colin Luoma from Brunel University.

Autumn 2021 Rights Research Series

Tuesday 20th October 2021, 'Facilitating Minority - Refugees' Access to Refugee Rights: An intersection Approach

Date: Wednesday 20th October 2021

Time: 2pm to 3pm

Title: 'Facilitating Minority-Refugees' Access to Refugee Rights: An Intersectional Approach’

Speaker: Isilay Taban, University of Brighton

Venue: Freeman F40 and online

Venue: Book via Eventbrite here

The zoom link will be distributed ahead of the event.

Abstract

Host States are under an obligation to allow refugees to enjoy basic refugee rights equally without discrimination under international human rights law. In the implementation of these rights, however, they often adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach that has the potential to undermine this obligation. This approach perceives refugees as a homogenous group, failing to acknowledge the unique forms of disadvantage that they experience as a result of the intersection of their distinct identity groups. This paper illustrates the negative consequences of this approach through the example of minority-refugees. Drawing on intersectionality, it highlights the specific challenges that minority-refugees face in the enjoyment of their rights as a result of the intersection of their minority and refugee status. By failing to appreciate this intersection, host States run the risk of not only discriminating against them in their enjoyment of the right to housing and the right to health, but also violating the principle of non-refoulement. This paper argues that if host States are to achieve their commitment under international human rights law to ensure that refugee rights are accessible to all refugees, including minority-refugees, and enjoyed equally, it is essential that they adopt an intersectional approach to the implementation of these rights.

To watch a recording of the talk click here

Wednesday 27th October 2021, Intersections in Research: Coffee and Chat

Date: Wednesday 27th October 2021

Time: 12:30pm to 2pm

Title: Intersections in Research: Coffee and chat, joint session with the Critical Theory Research Cluster

Wednesday 3rd November 2021, 'Domestic Abuse during the COVID-19 Pandemic- International Rights Responses'

Date: Wednesday 3rd November 2021

Time: 1pm to 2pm

Title: 'Domestic Abuse during the COVID-19 Pandemic - International Human Rights Responses'

Speaker: Ronagh McQuigg, School of Law, QUB

To watch a recording of the talk click here

Friday 12th November 2021, 'Fragmentation in the Field of Cultural Rights: Ways Froward'

Date: Friday 12th November 2021

Time: 2pm to 3:30pm

Title: 'Fragmentation in the Field of Cultural Rights: Ways Forward'

Speaker: Alexandra Xanthaki, Brunel Law School

Event: Online and in-person

To watch a recording of the talk click here

FRiday 19th November 2021, PhD work in progress

Date: Friday 19th November 2021

Time: 2:30pm to 3:30pm

Event: Online

Speaker: Cecilia Manzotti, Sussex Law School,

Title: 'The role and relevance of nationality status determination in asylum procedures under the CEAS and the potential impact of the “New Pact on Migration and Asylum”’

Speaker: Isabella Leroy, Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law

Title: ‘Exceptionalism in action? The legal impacts of the COVID pandemic on the Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes of Melilla.

Tuesday 30th November 2021, Co-sponsored Event with the Co-Chairs of "The PEople's Review of Prevent" and Dr Thomas Martin of the Open University

Date: Tuesday 30th November 2021

Time: 5pm to 6pm

Event: Online

Speakers: Dr Layla Aitlhadj is the Director and Senior Caseworker at Prevent Watch where she supports people adversely impacted by the Prevent Duty. Layla has published extensively on Prevent and the broader Counter-Terrorism legislation across multiple platforms. She has edited lengthier academic reports and led more in-depth advocacy-based research.

Prof John Holmwood is Professor Emeritus in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham. Professor Holmwood has served as expert witness for the defence of the teachers accused in the Birmingham – ‘The Trojan Horse Affair’.

Dr Thomas Martin is a Lecturer in International Studies at the Open University. He researches UK security policy and practice, and he has published widely on the ‘Prevent’ policy, including a book with Manchester University Press, Counter-Radicalisation Policy and the Securing of British Identity: The Politics of Prevent.

Event Description:

‘Prevent’ - a government programme aimed at preventing ‘radicalisation’ of ‘vulnerable’ individuals and the risks of them becoming ‘drawn into terrorism’ has been an integral part of UK counter-terrorism policy for over a decade. During this time, it has come under serious critique by critical academic scholarship on political violence and counter-terrorism, by civil society, and by citizens themselves (differentially) affected by its ever-expanding operations in political, civic and private life. Such has been the concern over ‘Prevent’ that The Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act of 2019 acknowledged the need for an ‘independent review’ of it. Intense controversy over the figures appointed to lead it (first Lord Carlile, then William Shawcross), has led to its boycott by civil society organisations and calls for a ‘People’s Review of Prevent’, now underway.
The Co-Chairs of the ‘People’s Review’ join us for a session to discuss the failings of reviews and other forms of scrutiny and the parameters and aims of their call as an alternative to the Government’s own process. The session will include a Q&A.
The event is co-sponsored by the Centre for Rights and Anti-Colonial Justice, the Sussex Critical Theory Research Group, and the Sussex Centre for Conflict and Security Research.

Cancelled - to be rescheduled for the new year -Wednesday 1st December 2021, 'Looking Beyond Internalisation: European Minority Rights in Question'

Date: Wednesday 1st December 2021 - Cancelled to be rescheduled for the new year

Time: 1pm to 2pm

Event: Online and in-person

Speaker: Elizabeth Craig, Sussex Law School

Title: ‘Looking Beyond Internalisation: European Minority Rights in Question’

Tuesday 7th December 2021- SOGICA Book Launch and end of term celebration

Stephanie Berry is delighted to announce that on 7th December 11am-1pm, the Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research will host a book launch for SOGICA.

Time: 11am to 1pm

The event will be hybrid

Online: Register here via Eventbrite

The SOGICA project carefully studied the legal and social experiences of people claiming international protection in Europe on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI) between 2016 and 2020. The project’s main outcome has been a two-volume open-access book published by Springer in 2021. The book offers a theoretically and empirically-grounded analysis that shows how European asylum systems might and should treat asylum claims based on people’s SOGI in a fairer, more humane way. Through a combined comparative, interdisciplinary (socio-legal), human rights, feminist, queer and intersectional approach, the authors analyse how SOGI-related claims are adjudicated in different European frameworks (European Union, Council of Europe, Germany, Italy and UK) and offer detailed recommendations to adequately address the intersectional experiences of individuals seeking asylum.

In this book launch, the authors will discuss the book with several stakeholders from across the three country case studies adopted in the SOGICA project and consider what the future holds in this field:

• Dr Francesca Ammaturo (Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Human Rights, University of Roehampton London, UK)
• Marsha Ennis (Human Rights Activist and S.O.G.I.C.A Immigrant, Germany)
• Dr. Petra Sußner (Co-Investigator & Post Doc Researcher, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany)
• Denise Venturi (Reporting Associate, UNHCR Italy)
• Leila Zadeh (Executive Director, Rainbow Migration, UK)

Please join us to celebrate the achievements of Carmelo, Moira, Nuno and Nina! 

Summer 2021 Rights Research Series

Wednesday 09 June 2021, Ecologies of Remembrance: Situating the Afterlives of Migrant Dead at Sea in Italy (1997-2019)

Date: Wednesday, 9 June 2021

Time: 1-2pm

Speaker: Professor Vanessa Grotti

Title: Ecologies of Remembrance: Situating the Afterlives of Migrant Dead at Sea in Italy (1997-2019)

Abstract

This presentation is based on data I collected in collaboration with Naor Ben-Yehoyada (Anthropology, Columbia University) and Marc Brightman (Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna) for a small, multi-sited ethnographic research project funded by the Wenner-Gren foundation which started in 2018 and will end later this year. Our aim is to analyse anthropologically the maritime, forensic and mortuary practices (performed at sea and on land) linked to the material, social and ritual management of unidentified migrant human remains in Italy. I will introduce the regional migration context, and the reasons why focusing on the receiving, ‘host’ country raises interesting questions for anthropology of kinship, death and materiality. I will then present the specific maritime tragedies which frame the project (with a specific focus on my field research in southern Italy and Albania) and how they are connected, before reflecting on how these different fields converge and participate in contemporary regional and national processes of memorialisation and patrimonialisation in the Mediterranean.

Biography

I am Associate Professor in Anthropology at the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Bologna (Ravenna Campus). I am a social and medical anthropologist, Principal Investigator of an ERC-funded project entitled EU Border Care (2015-2021) which examines migration, maternity care and reproductive health in European borderlands. Together with Marc Brightman (Unibo) and Naor Ben-Yehoyada (Columbia University) I am also co-investigator on a collaborative project which studies migrant death, mourning and memorialisation in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, ‘Ecologies of Remembrance: The Moral Afterlives of Migrant Human Remains Along the Central Mediterranean Route’ (2018-2021). I have been conducting long-term ethnographic fieldwork in north-eastern Amazonia since 2002 and in the Mediterranean since 2015. I have published on medicine and colonialism, kinship and gender, personhood, animism and material culture, migration and borderlands, and history and memorialisation.

Wednesday 16 June 2021, European Citizenship: The Long Roads to Inclusion

 Date: Wednesday, 16 June 2021 

Time: 1-2pm UK time 

Speaker: Dr Julia Bradshaw, Senior Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University (see bio below) 

Title: European Citizenship: The Long Roads to Inclusion

Abstract: 

This presentation will focus on a book proposal that is currently in progress. The monograph is based on my PhD thesis, which was completed in 2012 under a similar title, but which she is revising and updating. The book focuses on citizenship in Europe: ‘Europe’ here is broadly defined, temporally, geographically and politically. It explores themes of identity and belonging, examining models of citizenship from across European history and territory to determine how a modern understanding of the scope and nature of citizenship has been arrived at. It explores the origins and development of supranational citizenship in the Europe, beginning with Jean Monnet’s involvement in the Franco-British joint citizenship during World War II and then in the creation of the ECSC/EEC, particularly focussing on the role of the ECJ in expanding the scope of rights and protections that pre-EU citizens enjoyed, before turning to the creation of a formal supranational entity and what it really means. Where there are strengths, there are also weaknesses inherent in the supranational model: here, Jules considers its inability to determine the scope of membership and extension of rights autonomously (here she considers the significant problems faced by the stateless in Europe and, inevitably, the consequences of Brexit). Jules' aim in this presentation is to explore the scope of the monograph, particularly its final chapter(s), where - both outlining and in response to the shortcomings outlined above - she will endeavour to propose a new (theoretical, rather than practical) model of citizenship that is more flexible, inclusive and rights-giving than the current European conception: this element of the monograph remains at a rough stage and she would welcome thoughts and feedback to help her to solidify her ideas. 

Speaker Bio: 

Julia Bradshaw is a Senior lecturer in Public and European Law at Liverpool John Moores University. Her research areas principally lie in the fields of citizenship, Statelessness, identity and belonging and she tends to approach her work from a historical and Arendtian philosophical basis. Julia has published on these issues and is looking to expand her research to consider citizenship modelling and developing rights/legal identity access for the stateless.

Tuesday 22 June 2021, 'A right to nutrition' in it's social, legal and political context: how international rights translate to Zambian realities

Date: Tuesday 22 June 2021

Time: 12:00 to 13:00 UK time

Title: 'A right to nutrition' in it's social, legal and political context: how international rights translate to Zambian realities

Speakers: Jody Harris, Institute of Development Studies; and Ruth Stirton, University of Sussex Law School. (See bios below)

Abstract

Among approaches to addressing malnutrition, the language of human rights is notably present in international nutrition discourse and national policy and covenants, but the conceptualisation, implications and utility of human rights for nutrition practice are contested. This seminar will present research exploring how the utility of a ‘right to nutrition’ is perceived by different actors – across policy, legal and development sectors; and global, national and local levels, with a focus on Zambia – and how differences in interpretation of rights affect their potential for reducing malnutrition.

Speaker bios

Jody Harris is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies with a research interest in the politics and ethics of food systems and nutrition policy. She conducts research into power in societies, power in policy processes, and power in international nutrition and food systems, as well as the ethics of intervention into these spaces.

Ruth Stirton is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sussex Law School, approaching legal research in light of social and political context and exploring the gap between law and policy as written and the way in which it is implemented on the ground, as well as the limits of the law.

Spring 2021 Rights Research Series

Wednesday, 17 March 2021, 1-2pm Dr Ruvi Ziegler Political rights of 'aliens' under the ECHR 

Date: Wednesday, 17 March 2021

Time: 1-2pm

Title: Political rights of 'aliens' under the ECHR

Speaker: Dr Ruvi Ziegler

Abstract:

In a forthcoming chapter (Brill, 2021), I consider challenges related to restrictions on the exercise of political rights by non-citizens under the ECHR. The chapter sheds contemporary light on the peculiarities of Article 16 (arguing that it has fallen into desuetude); queries the appropriate role of supranational scrutiny and standard setting in this area; and appraises the extent to which political communication rights (Articles 10, 11 of the ECHR) is - or should be - aligned with political participation rights (the right to vote in Article 3 of Protocol 1).

Short bio:

Dr. Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler is Associate Professor in International Refugee Law at the University of Reading, School of Law, where he is the Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes and co-Chair of the LGBT+ staff network. Ruvi is an Associate Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple; Research Associate of the Refuge Studies Centre, University of Oxford; Editor of the Reporter and Co-convenor of the Migration and Asylum Section of the Society of Legal Scholars; Senior Research Associate of the Refugee Law Initiative (Institute for Advance Legal Study, University of London) and Editor-in-Chief of its Working Paper Series. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Ruvi's public engagements include serving as Chair of the Board of Trustees of New Europeans Association UK; Chair of the Oxford European Association; A Britain in Europe academic expert; and an advisory council member of Rene Cassin. Previously, Ruvi was a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School’s Immigration and Refugee Clinic and with the Human Rights Program; and a Tutor in Public International Law at Oxford. Ruvi is the author of Voting Rights of Refugees (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Ruvi's areas of research interest include International Refugee Law, Electoral Rights and citizenship, Comparative Constitutional Law, and International Humanitarian Law. Ruvi holds DPhil, MPhil, and BCL degrees from Oxford University. Follow Ruvi on twitter @ruviz

Wednesday 21 April 2021, Why was the U.S. ban on female genital mutilation ruled unconstitutional and what does this have to do with male circumcision?

Date: Wednesday 21 April 2021

Time: 3pm to 4pm

Speaker: Brian D. Earp

Title: Why was the U.S. ban on female genital mutilation ruled unconstitutional, and what does this have to do with male circumcision?

Abstract:

There are now legally prohibited forms of medically unnecessary female genital cutting—including the so-called ritual nick—that are less severe than permitted forms of medically unnecessary male and intersex genital cutting. Attempts to discursively quarantine the male and female forms of cutting (MGC, FGC) from one another based on appeals to health outcomes, symbolic meanings, and religious versus cultural status have been undermined by a large body of recent scholarship. Recognizing that a zero-tolerance policy toward ritual FGC may lead to restrictions on ritual MGC, prominent defenders of the latter practice have begun to argue that what they regard as “minor” forms of ritual FGC should in fact be seen as morally permissible—even when non-consensual—and should be legally allowed in Western societies. In a striking development in late 2018, a federal judge ruled that the longstanding U.S. law prohibiting “female genital mutilation” (FGM) was unconstitutional on federalist grounds, while separately acknowledging the logical relevance of arguments concerning non-discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. In light of such developments, feminist scholars and advocates of children’s rights now increasingly argue that efforts to protect girls from non-consensual FGC must be rooted in a sex and gender-neutral (that is, human) right to bodily integrity, if these efforts are to be successful in the long-run.

Short bio:

Brian D. Earp works at the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology, Yale University. He is an Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics & Health Policy, and a Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford. He has recently published the book ‘Love Drugs: The Chemical Future of Relationships’, available from Stanford University Press and Manchester University Press.

Wednesday 28 April, Questioning legal personhood in the Common European Asylum System

Date: Wednesday 28 April 2021

Time: 12:00 to 13:00

Title: Questioning legal personhood in the Common European Asylum System

Speaker: Dr Samantha Velluti

Abstract:

Using the lens of asylum, the paper questions orthodox understandings of ‘legal personhood’ - a conceptual scheme deeply embedded in Western legal thought. The status of person in law is granted to beings designated by the law as ‘right-holders’ even though in certain circumstances those same persons become ‘objects of rights’ or ‘objects of obligations’ held by other persons in law. However, being merely an object of rights or duties ascribed to others does not (or should not) qualify (the moral worth of) a person or entity as such. Legal personhood conceived in this way is thus problematic for a number of reasons, asylum being a case in point. The paper looks at the role of law and, in particular, at how legal constructions of personhood create hierarchies of legal personality setting the grounds for the exploitation of vulnerable groups and individuals in society.
The paper seeks to develop a new understanding of legal personhood using human dignity as the interface between legal personhood and human rights in order to address the dual-faceted and opposing reality of asylum-seekers in relation to their ‘equality’ as humans in the order of nature and their ‘inequality’ within the social/political order of Europe, where they are subjected to a constant process of de-personification and reification. This revisited notion of legal personhood not only seeks to remove the debasement and dehumanization that characterizes European Union (EU) asylum law and policy but also intends to address the Common European Asylum System’s (CEAS) failure to constitute a valid platform for translating its own self-proclaimed commitment to human rights into justiciable normative claims.

 

Autumn 2020 Rights Research Series

21 October 2020 Panel event on Human Rights and Climate Change

21st October 1-3pm: Panel event on Human Rights and Climate Change

Speakers: Dr Annalisa Savaresi, University of Stirling; Carl Söderbergh Minority Rights Group International; Dr Simon Behrman, Royal Holloway, University of London.

28 October 2020, Research Seminar on Dr Julie Fraser recently published monograph

28th October 1-2pm Research Seminar on Dr Julie Fraser recently published monograph

'Social Institutions and International Human Rights Law Implementation - Every Organ of Society'  (CUP 2020)

11 November 2020, Julia Winstone, University of Sussex Work in Progress Seminar

11th November 2020, 1-2pm Julia Winstone, University of Sussex Work in Progress Seminar - Phd Research

9 December 2020, Dr Ilias Trispiotis University of Leeds Work in Progress Seminar

9th December 2020 1-2pm Dr Ilias Trispiotis, University of Leeds. Work in Progress Seminar on IIias' forthcoming monograph on religious discrimination. 

Spring 2019 Rights Research Series

28 Febuary 2019, Prof Ratna Kapur: Gender, Alterity and Human Rights: Freedom in a Fishbowl

28th February at 5pm in Fulton A lecture theatre

Professor Ratna Kapur , Queen Mary University of London and Senior Core Faculty, International Global Law and Policy Institute, Harvard Law School. Her talk will present a fascinating critique of mainstream human rights and freedom and interrogate the potential of non-liberal registers of freedom in the futurity of human rights. The talk will be based on work for her recently published book, Gender, Alterity and Human Rights: Freedom in a Fishbowl, Edward Elgar, 2018. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gender-alterity-and-human-rights.

The event is supported by the Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research http://www.sussex.ac.uk/schrr/, the Sussex Rights and Justice Research Centre http://www.sussex.ac.uk/justice/, and the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Sussex http://www.sussex.ac.uk/gender/

The event was attended by over 100 people.

8 March 2019, Sussex Salon - Gender Pay Gap Myths and Realities

SCHRR co-director Charlotte Skeet chaired this event at The Dome, in Brighton, exploring women’s rights and UK policy on Equal Pay and Pay Gap reporting: https://brightondome.org/event/22489/sussex_salon/

3 April 2019, SCHRR Work in Progress seminar

Wednesday 3rd April 1-2:30pm, Freeman F22 SCHRR work in progress seminar, with presentations from 3 current PhD students.

Ebru Demir, Women, Peace and Security Resolutions under International Law: Looking at the Resolutions with Gender Transformative Justice Approach

Abstract: Ebru looks at the UN Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security agenda, in specific Resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008) and 2242 (2015). By bringing the fault lines in the resolutions forward, Ebru discusses the extent to which the agenda provides gender transformative justice.

Moheb Mudesser, International Legal Frameworks and  Accommodation of Minorities in Divided Societies

Stanley Mwangi Wanjiru, ICL and  Representations of the black body: A post colonial perspective

10 April 2019, Elham Saudi: Fortress Europe - Threatening the Human Rights of Migrants

10 April 2-3pm in Freeman F22, Elham Saudi from Lawyers for Justice in Libya, on 'Fortress Europe: Threatening the Human Rights of Migrants'. Organised by SCHRR Doctoral Working Group.

Elham will discuss the role of EU Member States in the so called "migration crisis" and how EU policies threaten the human rights of those in Libya.

Elham Saudi is the co-founder and Director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya. She is a solicitor with expertise in human rights and international humanitarian law. She has advised a number of Libyan, European and international bodies in relation to the Libyan conflict. Prior to founding LFJL, Elham practised commercial law at Slaughter and May from 2003 to 2010 for clients including Arsenal Football Club, Cadbury plc, the Reuters Foundation, and the World Bank. Elham holds a degree in Arabic and Modern Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oxford and an LLM in International Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She is an Associate Fellow in the International Law Programme at Chatham House and Visiting Professor at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice.

14 May 2019, Getting your PhD published as a monograph

14th May 2-3pm Freeman F40 Katerina Galai 'Getting your PhD published as a monograph' (PhD event)

14 May 2019, Book Launch: Regulating Private Military Companies: Conflicts of Law, History and Governance

14th May 3:30-5pm Freeman F40 Katerina Galai

Book Launch. 'Regulating Private Military Companies: Conflicts of Law, History and Governance'

https://www.routledge.com/Regulating-Private-Military-Companies-Conflicts-of-Law-History-and-Governance/Galai/p/book/9781138610057

Autumn 2018 Rights Research Series

19 September 2018, Book launch w/ Dr Matthew Evans

Wednesday 4-6pm in Freeman F22: Book launch of Dr Matthew Evans' monograph: Transformative justice: remedying human rights violations beyond transition. 

Discussant: Dr Padraig McAuliffe from the University of Liverpool.

17 October 2018, Work In Progress Seminar w/ Silvina Alvarez Medina

Wednesday 17th October 1-2pm Freeman F22  Work in progress: Senior Visiting Fellow, Silvina Alvarez Medina. 

Emerging Human Rights in the Decisions of the ECHR: private and family life'. 

28 November 2018, Human Rights Seminar w/ Emma Nottingham, Helen Ryan and Marion Oswald 

Joint SCHRR and CIRCY seminar

Wednesday 28th November 1-2pm Freeman G16 on 'Critically ill children in the Age of Social Media: How can we protect 'General Tagged?'', Emma Nottingham, Helen Ryan and Marion Oswald from the University of Winchester. 

5 December 2018, Work In Progress Seminar w/ Thomas Ebbs 

Wednesday 5^th December 12-2pm Freeman F22 Work in Progress seminar:

Thomas Ebbs (PhD student) ‘“Configuring Governance Feminist Legal Responses to Transactional Sex through the Civil Society Organisation - A Methodology in Progress"’.

13 December 2018, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Documentary Preview

Dr Kimberley Brayson and Dr Charlotte Skeet joined an expert panel discussion at a film preview of RBG, focussed on the development of women’s rights in the US: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/47628

Spring 2018 Rights Research Series

14 February 2018, Human Rights Seminar w/ Michael Kearney

Wednesday 14 February 2018, 1-2pm, Freeman G22

Michael Kearney: ‘The archipelagic pivot of international law: 2018 and the right to self-determination at the International Court of Justice’

1 March 2018, Human Rights Seminar w/ Julija Sardelic

Thursday 1 March 2018, 3-4.30pm, Freeman Moot Room

Julija Sardelić, (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, LINES – Leuven International and European Studies, University of Leuven (KU Leuven)): ‘Invisible Edges of Citizenship: Re-Addressing the Position of Roma from a Global Perspective’

Roma are the largest, but also the most marginalized ethnic minority in Europe. Despite the action taken to counter discrimination against them both on the EU as well as national level, their position does not seem to be improving. Different policy makers as well as scholars have argued that Romani minorities in Europe represent an ‘exceptional puzzle’, when it comes to the question of minority protection.

This lecture aims to explore the position of Roma from a different perspective: instead of arguing that Roma are an exceptional case, it focuses on the so-called  ‘invisible edges of citizenship’ that create a position of marginalized minority. To underline the invisible edges of citizenship, in the first part the lecture focuses on the ECtHR and CJEU court cases, in which applicants were Romani individuals.

In the second part, it draws a parallel with the similar invisible edges of citizenship that other marginalized minorities around the globe face. The lecture ends with a conclusion that in order to improve the position of Roma policy makers should stop constructing the exceptionalism of Romani minorities, but rather start addressing the invisible edges of citizenship both the society and law create to marginalise them.

14 March 2018, Human Rights Seminar w/ Moira Dustin

Wednesday 14 March 2018, 1-2.30pm, Freeman G31

Moira Dustin: ‘Neoliberal agendas and asylum for women and sexual minorities’

Discussant: Nina Held

11 April 2018, Human Rights Seminar w/ Charlotte Skeet

Wednesday 11 April 2018, 1-2.30pm, Freeman G16

Charlotte Skeet: ‘The 1990s – A Lost ‘Constitutional Moment’ for Equality’ (Book proposal)

Discussant: Lindsay Stirton

18 April 2018, Human Rights Seminar w/ Matteo De Bellis

Matteo De Bellis, (Amnesty International), ‘Research for change: Amnesty International’s work for the rights of refugees and migrants in the central Mediterranean'

25 April 2018, Doctoral Seminar w/ Julia Winstone

Wednesday 25 April 2018, 1-2pm. Freeman G16

Julia Winstone: Children’s Rights and Restorative Justice

9 May 2018, Doctoral Discussion

Wednesday 9 May 2018, 5-7pm

Is Dignity Culturally Relative in the Context of Human Rights?

Autumn 2017 Rights Research Series

4 October 2017, SCHRR Annual General Meeting and Social Event

Wednesday 4 October 2017, 4-6pm, Freeman F22

18 October 2017, Human Rights Seminar w/ Judith Townend and Maria Moscati

Wednesday 18 October 2017, 1-2pm, Freeman G22

Judith Townend: 'Positive free speech and public access to courts'

Discussant: Maria Moscati

1 November 2017, Human Rights Seminar 

Wednesday 1 November 2017, 1-2.30pm, Freeman G22

Bal Sokhi-Bulley, ‘'Repairing' the Migrant Crisis: Counter-Solidarity and Friendship’

8 November 2017, External Speaker

Wednesday 8 November 2017, 1-2pm, Freeman G22

Paola Uccellari, Equality and Human Rights Commission

‘Bridging the divide between academia and decision-makers: Using human rights to influence law, policy and practice’

15 November 2017, Human Rights Seminar w/ Elizabeth Craig and Ebru Demir

Wednesday 15 November 2017, 1-2.30pm, Freeman G22

Elizabeth Craig: 

Ebru Demir: 'Feminist perspectives on transitional justice process in Bosnia and Herzegovina: observations from the field'

8 December 2017, Human Rights Seminar w/ Stephanie Berry

Wednesday 29 November 2017, 1-2pm, Freeman G22

Stephanie Berry: 'The securization of Islam in the European Court of Human Rights'

29 December 2017, Doctoral Human Rights Debate

Wednesday 13 December 2017

Spring 2017 Rights Research Series

14 February 2017, Human Rights Seminar 

Tuesday 14 February, 1-4 pm, Freeman G16 

With a representative of the human rights ngo Al-Marsad - Arab Human Rights Centre in the Golan Heights.

We saw a presentation on the human rights situation in the Golan Heights, a part of Syria under Israeli occupation, with an emphasis on how Al-Marsad uses international (human rights) law as the basis for its advocacy before international bodies such as the EU and the UN.

15 February 2017, Human Rights Seminar w/ Bal Sokhi-Bulley

Wednesday 15 February, 3-4 pm, Freeman F40

Bal Sokhi-Bulley - Book Project - 'Governing (Through) Rights’

22 February 2017, Human Rights Doctoral WiP Seminar w/ Benjamin Thorne and Gizem Guney

Wednesday 22 February, 1-2 pm, Freeman Moot Room

Benjamin Thorne, ‘Legal witnessing and mass human rights violations: remembering atrocities’

Gizem Guney, ‘The Istanbul Convention: To what extent does it constitute a feminist instrument in the struggle with domestic violence against women?’

8 March 2017, Human Rights Doctoral WiP Seminar w/ Kimberley Brayson

Wednesday 8 March, 1-2pm, Freeman F40

Kimberley Brayson, ‘Of Bodies and Burkinis: Institutional Islamaphobia and Islamic Dress’

22 March 2017, Human Rights Seminar w/ Merris Amos

Wednesday 22 March, 5-7pm, Freeman Moot Room

Merris Amos (QMUL), ‘The Human Rights Implications of Brexit’

5 April 2017, Human Rights Seminar w/ Hugh Tomlinson QC

Wednesday 5 April, 1-2:30pm, Ashdown House 101

Hugh Tomlinson QC (Matrix Chambers), 'Free Speech and Protecting Privacy: Balancing Two Human Rights’

3 May 2017, Doctoral Human Rights Debate

Wednesday 3 May, 5-7pm, Freeman F40

Topic: How does the rise of conservative populism affect women's rights?

11 May 2017, Human Rights Conference

Thursday 11 May until Friday 12 May, Fulton 

'The Occupation at 50: Pasts, Presents, Futures'

Autumn 2016 Rights Research Series

12 May 2016, Human Rights Roundtable: Academic Freedom, International Law, Prevent, and 'Balance'

Thursday 12 May, 9.30-15.00, The Meeting House, University of Sussex

Sussex Centre for Human Rights Roundtable: Academic Freedom, International Law, Prevent, and 'Balance'

The purpose of this roundtable was to facilitate discussion on various threads of controversy and contest within higher education falling under the freedom of expression label. The intention was to promote some critical reflection and discussion as to what this labelling tells us about the role of the university and of scholarship in light of contemporary politics.

The University of Southampton's cancellation of a conference on Israel and International Law was the prompt for this event, but only in so far as it coincided with the government's Prevent legislation and the ongoing furore in popular discourse about safe spaces, trigger warnings, and no-platforming.

Also in the background are student campaigns such as Rhodes Must Fall, and broader political campaigns such as the BDS movement, which have prompted critique and condemnation to the effect that these activists, along with their logic and speech, fall outside the scope of academic freedom of expression given their lack of balance, their uncivil nature, and their tendency to divisiveness.

If the notion of 'safe spaces' allow media commentators an opportunity for cheap laughs at the expense of 'fragile' students, our political debate is showing increasing signs of an overt ethnic and racial turn, whether Islamophobic or anti-semitic, or in the scope and nature of anti-refugee discourse.

In seeking to untangle the various issues, and in framing debates on the notion of freedom of speech in terms of university governance, of broader democracy, as well as culture, philosophy, and technology, the roundtable provided an invigorating, provocative, and hugely rewarding discussion amongst panellists and audience.

First session: Managerialism 09.45 -11.00

Dr Michael Kearney, Sussex Law School (welcome)

Oren Ben Dor, Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Southampton, discussed the cancellation (postponement) of the conference he had been helping organise on Israel and International Law, and spoke about the uniqueness of the academic space, as well as the nature of human rights law’s ’logic of weighing’ and proportionality, questioning the nature of the freedom to philosophise as a characteristic of the university.

Matt Waddup of the University and College Union reflected, in a personal capacity, on the retreat of the public intellectual, the various de facto regulatory functions served by concepts such as the REF and TEF, the impact of technology and social media on the life and work of academics, as well as the ideal of a university as place where students can be challenged rather than infantalised.

Chair: Dr Elizabeth Craig , Sussex Law School

Second Session: Extremism? 11.15-12.45

Eric Heinze, Professor of Law and Humanities, Queen Mary University London, presented on the distinction between human rights and democracy as elements of the state, and his theory of the ‘citizen prerogative of non-viewpoint punitive expression within public discourse’, with Dr Amir Paz-Fuchs of Sussex Law School as chair.

Third Session: Boycott & Civility 13.30-15.00

Professor Geoffrey Alderman of Buckingham University discussed the nature and extant of the current threat to academic freedom in the UK, giving an historical overview of the nature of academic speech and disagreements, with a focus on the Prevent Programme and the unwillingness of institutions such as UUK to contest its scope and content. Dr Arianne Shahvisi of Brighton and Sussex Medical School spoke on the contemporary notion of ‘civility’ in the academic and public sphere, on the authority and responsibility of academics, and the imperative of diversifying knowledge.

Chair: Dr Tom Frost, Sussex Law School

The roundtable was in large part a successful and enjoyable endeavour because of the interaction and debate between and amongst all attendees, both those presenting and those in the audience, and we would like to extend our sincere thanks to all who participated.

12 October 2016, Research Meeting w/ David McGrogan

Wednesday 12 October, 1-2pm, Freeman G-16

Dr David McGrogan, our inaugural visiting research fellow in human rights law, introduced his research about the shift to human rights audits: epistemological and political concerns. 

26 October 2016, Human Rights Research Meeting w/ Stephanie Berry

Wednesday 26 October, 1-2pm, Freeman G-16

Stephanie Berry spoke on the topic of balancing human rights protection with 'living together': interculturalism as assimilation, the subject of a conference paper and a forthcoming article.

9 November 2016, Human Rights Seminar w/ Simona Granata-Menghini

Wednesday 9 November, 1-2pm, Freeman G-16

Simona Granata-Menghini, Deputy Secretary of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission, discussed the Commission's opinion on the compatibility with CoE standards of proposed revisions to the French Constitution aimed at incorporating rules on a state of emergeny and on the deprivation of nationality. A copy of the opinion can be found here.

23 November 2016, Research Meeting w/ David McGrogan

Wednesday 23 November, 1-2pm, Freeman G-22

David McGrogan, the Centre's Visting Research Fellow in Human Rights Law, gave a presentation on the research work he had undertaken during his fellowship period, discussing human rights as a technology of government.

7 December 2016, Doctoral Human Rights Debate 

Wednesday 7 December, 6-7:30pm, Moot Room

Our doctoral human rights debate, followed by drinks, was on the subject of the Current Refugee Crisis.

Spring 2016 Rights Research Series

3 February 2016, Networking and Brainstorming Meeting

Wednesday 3 February, 3-5pm, Freeman Centre G31

Colleagues were invited to consider and discuss strategies and planning for the Centre, and identify opportunities for collaborative work.

The meeting focused on the planned international and interdisciplinary conference, Challenging Human Rights Disenchantment 50 Years On, scheduled for 26-27 January 2017.

9 February 2016, Human Rights Research Meeting w/ Misozi Lwatula

Tuesday 9 February, 12-1.30pm, Freeman G06

Misozi Lwatula presented on an aspect of her postgraduate research concerning gender-based violence in Zambia, Polygamy, Bride Price, FGM: An African Women’s Perspective. Isilay Taban gave a presentation entitled Not just refugees: Kurdish Syrian refugees as beneficiaries of minority rights.

24 February 2016, Human Rights Research Meeting w/ Alex Conte

Wednesday 24 February, 1-2pm, Freeman Centre F22

Alex Conte spoke about his work on detention in non-international armed conflicts, the subject of a draft article and also a matter before the UK Supreme Court concerning the detention by British forces of persons in Afghanistan and Iraq.

13 April 2016, Human Rights Research Meeting w/ Michael Kearney

Wednesday 13 April, 1-2pm, Freeman Centre G31

Michael Kearney presented on the subject of Syria and the unresolved problems of the Spanish Civil War, undertaking a review of the fundamentals of international humanitarian law. He considered how the academic and political responses to the Spanish Civil War, though highly influential on interpretations of ICTY jurisprudence, remain central to the failed coherent application of IHL in Syria.

27 April 2016, Doctoral Human Rights Debate

Wednesday 27 April, 6-7.30pm

The second of our doctoral human rights debates, followed by drinks, focused on the execution on 12 April of Kennth Fults in Georgia. It was preceded by an extract from the early cut of a film, 'The Penalty', starting with a 5 minute introduction by one of the film directors, Will Francome.

Autumn 2015 Rights Research Series

14 October 2015, Human Rights Research Meeting w/ Aisling O'Sullivan and Alex Conte

Wednesday 14 October, 12-1pm, Freeman G06

Aisling O’Sullivan spoke about her work in progress on the topic of The politics of human rights litigation: the case of Ireland v. United Kingdom.

Alex Conte spoke about his plans for a funding proposal to The Leverhulme Trust around his research work on detention in armed conflict.

28 October 2015, Human Rights Research Meeting w/ Elizabeth Craig, Alex Conte and Amir Paz-Fuchs

Wednesday 28 October, 2-3:30pm, Fulton 101

Elizabeth Craig and Alex Conte updated colleagues and lead a brief discussion on ideas and plans for the Centre’s 2016 international conference.

Amir Paz-Fuchs spoke about his draft article in which he asked whether and how slavery exists today.

11 November 2015, Human Rights Seminar w/ Professor Marie-Bénédicte Dembour 

Wednesday 11 November, 1-2pm, Freeman G22

Professor Marie-Bénédicte Dembour (University of Brighton, formerly Sussex Law School), delivered a presentation of great topicality, When humans become migrants. This will be based on her book focusing on the approach of the European Court of Human Rights and its Inter-American counterpart to claims lodged by migrants. Professor Dembour's blog, When Humans Become Migrants, explores some of the key ideas covered in her book.

25 November 2015, Human Rights Research Meeting w/ Verona Ní Drisceoil and Po-Han Lee

Wednesday 25 November, 1-2:30pm, Freeman G22

Verona Ní Drisceoil spoke about her work on Law, Language and Identity: the right to speak Irish in Northern Ireland ahead of the presentation she gave at a language, culture and laws conference in Paris in December.

Po-Han Lee spoke about heterosexism as an invisible killer of sexual minorities: a health and human rights perspective. He will be drawing from his PhD research, testing his ideas surrounding health inequities in sexual minorities and contested positions in international documentation.

9 December 2015, Doctoral Human Rights Debate

Wednesday 9 December, 6-7.30pm, Freeman G06

The first of our doctoral human rights debates, followed by drinks, discussed the current refugee crisis.

Debate questions were:

1) Has the non-refoulmenet principle been rendered redundant by recent developments, and what are the human rights implications of this?

2) Have states’ human rights obligations become disassociated from the humanitarian catastrophe of refugees dying at sea?

Related events and activities

The Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research builds on the earlier activities and events of the human rights stream within the former Centre for Responsibilities, Rights and the Law (CRRL). Find out more about a selection of these events below:

16 June 2015, Who's Afraid of the Human Rights Act?

Tuesday 16 June 2015, 7.30pm, Brightom Dome Studio Theatre

Hailed as an Act to ‘bring rights home’, the UK Human Rights Act was passed in 1998 with cross-party support. It has come under attack from successive governments and the media, blamed for a wide variety of ills: from exploitation by convicted criminals to unbalancing the constitution.

This Sussex Salon event explored why some critics deem it ‘insufficiently British’, asked what a proposed Conservative British Bill of Rights would look like, and considered what it would mean to lose the Human Rights Act all together.

Panel included:

• Dr Michael Pinto-Duschinsky
• Professor John Dearlove
• Dr Charlotte Skeet
• Paul Bowen QC

29 October 2014, Exploring Language Rights

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Speakers: Dr Verona Ní Drisceoil (Lecturer in Law, University of Sussex) ‘Exploring the Nature of Language as a Right’ and Prof Rob Dunbar (Chair of Celtic Languages, Literature, History and Antiquities, Department of Celtic & Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh) ‘Language Rights and Language Maintenance?’

The first paper was prompted by the observation that notwithstanding increasing demands being made for language rights and language legislation as a means of providing support and giving legal status to minority languages, when one considers the effective fulfilment of language rights and language legislation, considerable gaps continue to appear.  The paper argued for the need to reconsider the complex nature of language as the object of a right or legislative provision and by doing so to challenge the role, and limits, of law in the protection and promotion of minority languages.

The second paper aimed to explore the use of language rights regimes as an instrument for the maintenance of a minority languages, making particular reference to the Celtic languages.  The first part of the presentation concentrated to a significant extent on the Canadian model (or, more correctly the Canadian models). It consider the use of a language rights regime (rather than other forms of legal regulation of language use) as an instrument for the maintenance of minority languages, making particular reference to the Celtic languages.  In particular, the aim was to consider the extent to which language rights are, in fact, an effective tool, and some of the problems that are either inherent in or attendant upon the use of a rights regime for this purpose.

10 October 2014, Norwegian Ombudsmen Visit

A team from the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombudsman in Norway visited Sussex for a day-long workshop organised by Dr Mark Walters on Prejudice and Discrimination: Causes and Responses. Elizabeth Craig presented a paper on 'Human Rights Protection in the UK and the Equality Act 2010 and Kimberley Brayson presented a paper on 'Meanings of Islamic Dress in Europe: A Human Rights Response.' There followed a very fruitful discussion about experiences and challenges in addressing discrimination and prejudice in both jurisdictions.

4-6 September 2014, Critical Legal Conference Stream, Identity Politics and Human Rights

The human rights group ran a stream focusing on identity politics and human rights within the Critical Legal Conference hosted by Sussex in Sept 2014. 

Speakers:

MacNamara, Norin ‘The Relation between Convergent Temporalities and Identity Politics’

Mirza, Qudsia ‘Gender Equality and Justice in Islamic Law: Methodological Potential and Problems’

Brayson, Kim ‘Revisiting Sahin v Turkey: Secularism, Public Order and Neo-Liberalism’

Evans, Matthew ‘Trade Unions as Human Rights Organisations’

Lobo, Bárbara ‘Affirmative Action in Higher Education in Brazil as Tool in Promoting Equality and Combating Racial Discrimination’

Ibarra Rojas, Lucero ‘Identity in Cultural Policy and the Marketing of the Pluricultural State: México’s Cultural Policy in the Context of Globalization and the Obscured Political Questions’

Craig, Elizabeth ‘What next for the Right to Self-Identify in Post-Conflict Societies?’

3 September 2014, Citzenship, Minority Rights and Justice

This was an event organised in conjunction with SEI and the New Europeans.  The session considered the scope of minority protection and minority rights both within and outside the EU and the place of minority rights within current integration debates. 

Speakers:

Dr Tawhida Ahmed, City University, Minority Rights within the EU

Dr Stephanie Berry, Sussex, Minority Rights within the European Court of Human Rights: A Critique of SAS v France

Dr Federica Prina, European Centre for Minority Issues, The Future for Crimean Tatars and Other Minority Groups in the Region

Dr Charlotte Skeet, Sussex, Restrictions on Religious Attire and Free Movement Rights

Dr  Alexandra Xanthaki, Brunel, European Integration Debates and Minority Cultural Rights

29-30 May 2014, Citizens Coping with Crisis: Rights, Participation, Action

This workshop was organised by Charlotte Skeet in conjunction with José García‐Añón (University of Valencia) and Marina Calloni (University of Milan).

Professor Sue Millns and Dr Charlotte Skeet presented a paper on gender equality in crisis, and Dr Elizabeth Craig presented a paper on cultural rights in crisis.

12 March 2014, The Rights of Workers and the Workers of Rights: The International Campaign against Coca-Cola

Speaker: Dr Lara Montesinos Coleman, Lecturer in International Security, Department of International Relations, University of Sussex

12 February 2014, Migrants, Minorities and Human Rights

Wednesday 12 Feb 2014

Speakers: Tom Southerden (Law Phd), Nick Beard (Law PhD) and Dr Stephanie Berry (Law faculty)

This session aimed to generate discussion on obstacles to the realisation of migrants’ and minority rights at both the national and European levels. Tom Southerden’s contribution considered some of the current obstacles to the use of strategic litigation as a campaigning tool for pro-immigrant policies in the UK; Nick Beard’s contribution focused on the EU legal framework and the right to asylum on the basis of sexual violence and Stephanie Berry’s paper examined the widening of the State’s margin of appreciation in recent European Court of Human Rights cases on freedom of religion.

Date: Tuesday 30th November 2021

Time: 5pm to 6pm

Event: Online

Speakers: Dr Layla Aitlhadj is the Director and Senior Caseworker at Prevent Watch where she supports people adversely impacted by the Prevent Duty. Layla has published extensively on Prevent and the broader Counter-Terrorism legislation across multiple platforms. She has edited lengthier academic reports and led more in-depth advocacy-based research.

Prof John Holmwood is Professor Emeritus in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham. Professor Holmwood has served as expert witness for the defence of the teachers accused in the Birmingham – ‘The Trojan Horse Affair’.

Dr Thomas Martin is a Lecturer in International Studies at the Open University. He researches UK security policy and practice, and he has published widely on the ‘Prevent’ policy, including a book with Manchester University Press, Counter-Radicalisation Policy and the Securing of British Identity: The Politics of Prevent.

Event Description:

‘Prevent’ - a government programme aimed at preventing ‘radicalisation’ of ‘vulnerable’ individuals and the risks of them becoming ‘drawn into terrorism’ has been an integral part of UK counter-terrorism policy for over a decade. During this time, it has come under serious critique by critical academic scholarship on political violence and counter-terrorism, by civil society, and by citizens themselves (differentially) affected by its ever-expanding operations in political, civic and private life. Such has been the concern over ‘Prevent’ that The Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act of 2019 acknowledged the need for an ‘independent review’ of it. Intense controversy over the figures appointed to lead it (first Lord Carlile, then William Shawcross), has led to its boycott by civil society organisations and calls for a ‘People’s Review of Prevent’, now underway.

The Co-Chairs of the ‘People’s Review’ join us for a session to discuss the failings of reviews and other forms of scrutiny and the parameters and aims of their call as an alternative to the Government’s own process. The session will include a Q&A.

The event is co-sponsored by the Centre for Rights and Anti-Colonial Justice, the Sussex Critical Theory Research Group, and the Sussex Centre for Conflict and Security Research.