Equality & Human Rights Commission Research Database

The following information came through to me, and I thought that it was worth sharing for those of you with an interest in the work of the EHRC.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) maintains a research database. Four times a year, in March, June, September and December, newsletters are emailed to database members. These provide information about our most recent research and inquiry reports across the protected characteristics and human rights. Our most recent newsletter, for example, included descriptions of new research reports on the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), measuring ethnicity and disability pay gaps and access to justice. It also included information about new EHRC corporate documents and guidance and policy briefings. Each newsletter lists our ongoing research projects and provides details of all our research publications since the establishment of the EHRC in 2007. It also includes a new or revised reading list (or occasionally more than one reading list) on a particular issue or protected characteristic; recent topics have included equal pay and pay gaps, flexible working, housing, the PSED, sex discrimination, sexual orientation and welfare reform.

 

If you would like to be added to the research database to receive the newsletters, please contact David Sparrow, the EHRC’s Librarian, at library@equalityhumanrights.com.

New film about the European Court of Human Rights

This 15 minute film is worth a look if you're unsure about exactly what the European Court of Human Rights does. It clearly sets out the historical context, discusses the issues facing the Court and provides examples of case law which illustrate the scope of its work. A timely reminder of why membership is important. 

Public Law for Everyone blog

The Public Law for Everyone blog was recommended to me by one of the librarians who works at the Squire Law Library, and having had a quick look I've decided that it's worth sharing more widely.

Written by Mark Elliott, Professor of Public Law at the University of Cambridge, it is "for public lawyers, Law students and anyone else who is interested in the subject".

It covers five main areas:

• 1000 words -  a series of occasional posts on key issues  
• Administrative Law
• Constitutional Law
• Human Rights 
• Studying & Teaching Law

Subjects of recent posts include the ministerial code and international law, commentary on Philippe Sands’ Elson Lecture: Britain, Europe and Human Rights and 1000 words on the rule of law.

To receive new posts direct to your inbox, click on the 'Follow' button which can be found on the bottom right of the Subscribe page.

Crossing Continents podcasts

If you're interested in the human angle of international affairs, then the BBC Radio 4 programme Crossing Continents may be of interest. The range of the series both in terms of subject matter and geographical scope is wide, with many of the episodes addressing human rights concerns.

I've recently listened to A Mediterranean Rescue, where reporters talked to some of the migrants pulled off unseaworthy boats as they sought to make the crossing to Europe, and 'Police State' Portugal which focused on an incident in the Cova de Moura suburb of Lisbon where a group of young black men alleged that police beat and racially abused them. Residents, mostly from immigrant backgrounds say that such police behaviour is common place and the episode investigates this claim.

At around half an hour an episode, these are a relatively quick way of keeping abreast of current affairs.

House of Commons Research Briefing - A British Bill of Rights?

For those of you interested in the proposed repeal of the Human Rights Act - and I suspect that this covers the majority of those who follow this blog, the Research Briefing from the House of Commons Library (published 19th May) entitled 'A British Bill of Rights?' provides some useful context to the current situation. 

As the authors outline in their summary:

This note provides a brief introduction to the Human Rights Act 1998; the European Convention on Human Rights and the work of the European Court of Human Rights.  It considers the impact of both the 1998 Act and the Convention on the sovereignty of the UK Parliament; examining the vexed question of prisoner voting; as well as wider moves to reform the Convention system during the 2010-15 Parliament. These included the establishment of a Commission on a Bill of Rights and the ‘Brighton Declaration’ which was agreed during the UK’s Presidency of the Council of Europe in 2012. 

The note ends by assessing the potential challenges to the repeal of the Human Rights Act, such as the impact on the devolution settlement and the consequences for the UK’s continued membership of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe.  There has been strong opposition to any move to repeal the Human Rights Act and leave the Convention from the Scottish Government.

Magna Carta and the British Library

To mark the 800^th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta the British Library is currently hosting an exhibition, The Future of Liberty: Magna Carta and beyond (Student entry is £5, full price £12).

Two of the remaining original charter documents are on display, and the exhibition traces the fight for liberty and rights from 1215 to the current day.  

There is also a series of events linked to the exhibition.

Tomorrow, Friday 1st May (6.30-8pm) the British Library is hosting a panel discussion. Participants will consider the international legacy of Magna Carta and the rule of law in the 21st century, asking 'how safe are our rights today?'. 
More information is available at http://www.bl.uk/events/the-future-of-liberty-magna-carta-and-beyond (£8 full price, £5 student) 
Places are still available as I type.

Also worth highlighting, on Monday 22nd June, Shami Chakrabarti will be giving The Equality Lecture ‘On Liberty’ where she will examine the current pressures on the rule of law and human rights.

For more information see http://www.bl.uk/events/the-equality-lecture-shami-chakrabarti-on-liberty (£10 full price, £7 student)

Anti-Slavery International Reference Library

If you're carrying out research either on historical aspects of slavery, or on contemporary issues, then the Anti-Slavery International Reference Library is worth a visit.

The library's contemporary collection includes books, periodicals, reports, United Nations and ILO documents, videos, photographs, press cuttings and exhibitions. The following subjects are represented: 

•  Abusive child labour
•  Bonded labour
•  Child prostitution
•  Forced labour
•  Forced and early marriage
•  Migrant labour
•  Forced prostitution
•  Trafficking
•  Female genital mutilation
•  Indigenous peoples
•  Codes of conduct/social clauses relating to the above

Visits are currently by appointment only. The library is situated in south London, Brixton and Stockwell are the nearest tube stations. Contact details can be found on the organisation's web site.

A Law Unto Themselves - conversations with legal practitioners

Last month Radio 4 ran this short series (four episodes) in which Helena Kennedy spoke to eminent international lawyers and judges about their lives and careers.

Episode 1 - Justice Michael Kirby, the first Australian High Court judge to come out as gay and who argued forcefully, in the face of considerable opposition, for equal rights for homosexuals.

Episode 2 - Gareth Peirce helped free convicted Irish bombers such as the Birmingham Six and Guilford Four, secured the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees, and for years thwarted government attempts to deport the Muslim preacher Abu Qatada. 

Episode 3 - Jeremy Hutchinson - his career ranged from defending Penguin Books in the Lady Chatterley's Lover obscenity trial, to taking on the might of the British intelligence service in the ABC official secrets trial. He also represented society call girl Christine Keeler and the art thief Kempton Bunton.

Episode 4 - Eva Joly, the Norwegian-born judge investigated a multi-billion euro fraud involving the state-owned Elf oil company. Thirty people were eventually convicted and senior members of former President Francois Mitterand's government implicated after she revealed that company directors had siphoned off billions of francs to pay for bribes and luxurious lifestyles.

Each episode is around half an hour long, and well worth a listen.

Human Rights Blog

I've just come across this excellent blog, although it's been up and running since 2009. Written by the barristers at One Crown Office Row, new entries are posted regularly and cover a wide range of legal topics with a human rights slant.
Recent posts cover subjects such as the "bedroom tax", non-residents and Legal Aid, and proposed changes to judicial review.

Recommended, and they're on Twitter too: @ukhumanrightsb

Podcasts from Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre

Nearly 100 podcasts produced by the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University are available for download. Recent topics covered include:

• The child in international refugee law
• The price of rights: regulating international migration 
• Turning wrongful convictions into rights? Asylum seekers and the criminal law.

The podcasts are available to listen to from the university's podcast site, or via iTunesU and range from around 45 minutes to an hour and quarter in length, so cover their subject in some depth.

Discussion about the constitution on BBC Radio Three

As part of the 15th January edition of Free Thinking, Conor Gearty, Iain McLean & Linda Colley discussed aspects of constitutional history and what a written constitution for the UK might look like if drafted now. The discussion can be found on the programme's web site.

Free Thinking seeks to explore ideas shaping our everyday lives and includes interviews with and debate between leading artists and thinkers. It's possible to see a list of forthcoming episodes; one (due to be broadcast on 30th January) investigating the current state of dissent in Russia is of potential interest to those studying Human Rights.

European Centre for Minority Issues

The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) is based in Flensburg. It conducts practice and policy-oriented research, provides information and documentation, and offers advisory services concerning minority-majority relations in Europe.

It regularly publishes reports and working papers in five main areas:

• Citizenship & Ethics
• Culture & Diversity
• Conflict & Security
• Politics & Civil Society
• and Justice & Governance. 

The Centre also publishes the Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe.

As well as being available through the ECMI web site, these materials can be found in the European Center for Minority Issues library on Hein Online. The content is the same, but on Hein it is possible to search across all publications, or just the reports / working papers / journal by keyword, useful if you wish to focus your search.

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival begins tomorrow, 13th March and runs until 22nd March. 
A trailer for the festival is available via YouTube.  

More information on venues and the films being shown can be found at: http://ff.hrw.org/london.

Chance to feed your views into a new book on Human Rights

The project 'The Rights Future' was launched last week by Conor Gearty of the LSE. The aim of the project is to write a book in collaboration with students and members of the public.
As the press release from the LSE explains,

At the start of each week, Conor Gearty will publish a chapter of the book online in the form of a 2,000 word essay. Students and the general public will then have the opportunity to comment and respond to the piece, with Professor Gearty summarizing the responses, and how they have impacted on his thinking, in a reworked essay by the end of the week. The process will begin again the following Monday with the next instalment of the book.

To read the first chapter, as well as comments submitted to date, go to The Rights Future web site.

Bloody Sunday Inquiry - final report

The full text of the report into the events of 30th January 1972 is available, in 10 volumes, from the Bloody Sunday Inquiry web site.

Comment is available from a range of sources, including The Guardian, The Telegraph and the BBC as well as via blogs and on Twitter.

British Library Exhibition

I thought that I'd give the British Library's current exhibition a bit of a plug. Entitled 'Taking Liberties - The Struggle for Britain's Freedoms and Rights' it runs until 1st March 2009.

To quote from their promotional material "Taking Liberties tells the story of the 900 year struggle for rights and freedoms in Britain and of those who have campaigned to make political and social change a reality".

As well as the exhibition there's a series of events (free and charged for) taking place. These include a discussion on 'Equality and Human Rights in Modern Britain' and 'Is Liberty British?' at the end of January.

You may also like to listen to the podcasts which are being added during the course of the exhibition. Currently these include a discussion on the Wolfenden Report and an interview with Shami Chakrabarti on the erosion of our rights and freedoms.

International Humanitarian Law

Those students studying Human Rights or related areas may be interested in looking at the International Humanitarian Law database, created by The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

It includes the full-text of, and commentaries on, the Geneva Conventions. In addition it is possible to search over 100 treaties and instruments of humanitarian law by date, topic or country. The oldest treaty covered by the database was signed in 1856, with the most recent being this year's Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In addition the ICRC has made a number of films on the effect of war and conflict on populations. Areas covered include Chechnya, Somalia, the West Bank & Colombia - content can be found on YouTube.