Thursday 22 October 2009

Human Rights Conference in Newcastle

It's still some months away, but the University of Newcastle is organising a conference on 23 January 2010 entitled 'Human Rights – A Drop of Liberation or Fig Leaf of Legitimation?', which will partly be devoted to ECHR-related issues. Here is the announcement:

Confirmed Speakers:
* Professor David Kennedy, Harvard University - ‘The International Human Rights Movement: Still Part of the Problem?’
* Professor Keith Ewing, Kings College London - Title to be confirmed
* Professor David Bonner, University of Leicester - ‘If you cannot change the rules of the game, adapt to them: United Kingdom responses to the restrictions set by Article 3 ECHR on “national security” deportations’
* Professor Christine Bell, University of Ulster - ‘Human rights activism, expertise and academic inquiry: beyond legitimation v emancipation - a self-critical reflection’
* Steven Wheatley, Reader, University of Leeds - ‘The problematic authority of international human rights law.’

This symposium draws upon the proliferation of academic commentary asserting that the international human rights system is in a state of crisis in the first decade of the twenty-first century, a discourse which requires an evaluation of both the impact and future direction of the human rights project. With papers from world leading authorities on human rights, this symposium provides a forum for the re-evaluation the effectiveness of human rights as an element of international law and in the domestic context of the United Kingdom at the end of a decade when the human rights project has faced renewed and novel challenges. Moreover, this Symposium draws together skeptics and supporters as well as disparate strands of transatlantic scholarship.

A limited number of places for delegates are available on a first-come-first-served basis, at a cost of £30 per head (or £10 per head for full-time postgraduates), inclusive of lunch and refreshments. Full details of the Conference Programme are available on the Newcastle Law School Website. For further details regarding this symposium, please contact Dr Rob Dickinson (r.a.dickinson at ncl.ac.uk) or Dr Ole W. Pedersen (ole.pedersen at ncl.ac.uk).