Oxford Human Rights Hub Seminars

A web seminar delivered by Professor Fiona de Londras (Birmingham) for the Oxford Human Rights Hub on Friday 22nd January 2016 at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. Moderated by Sandra Fredmad.

A webcast from the Oxford Human Rights Hub delivered by Professor Alan Bogg (Oxford University) at SCR Parlour, Pembroke College on 30 June 2015 at 2pm.

Professor Sandra Fredman discusses emerging challenges to the right to education and investigates how human rights can ensure the fully enjoyment of education by all people.

Recorded 12th May 2015, in the wake of the 2015 General Election, are human rights safe or are they under serious threat?

Prof Donna Greschner from the University of Vicotria, Canada on 'The 30th Anniversary of Canadian Equality Rights: W(h)ither Sex Equality?', speaking on 27 March 2015 at the Oxford Faculty of Law In this seminar Prof Greschner examines key features of the Supreme Court of Canada’s jurisprudence on section 15 – the general equality rights provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom – from the aspirational perspective of substantive sex equality. Within each of the three distinct doctrinal periods over the past thirty years, the potential to use Charter rights effectively in promoting substantive equality for women has diminished. Is there any way out of the ever-narrowing doctrinal cage?

Prof David Bilchitz from the University of Johannesburg on 'Is a Business and Human Rights Treaty Necessary?', speaking on 10 March 2015 at the Oxford Faculty of Law This seminar was proudly supported by the Oxford Human Rights Hub and the Oxford Martin School Human Rights for Future Generations Programme.

Prof Jill Marshall from the University of Leicester on 'Human Rights and Personal Identity', speaking on 24 February 2015 at the Oxford Faculty of Law This seminar was proudly supported by the Oxford Human Rights Hub and the Oxford Martin School Human Rights for Future Generations Programme

On 5th June, Professor Fiona de Londras, from Durham Law School, gave a talk to the Oxford Human Rights Hub on the development of EU counter-terrorism measures. On 11 September 2001 the EU had no formal counter-terrorism law. Indeed, at that time even coordination in criminal justice generally speaking was contentious within the EU context. However, little more than a decade later the EU has a vast and well-developed body of law and policy on counter-terrorism comprising well over 200 ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ measures. Some, although not all, of these measures were introduced quickly and in the relatively immediate aftermath of the 11 September attacks; others have taken more time and been ground out at the slower pace of EU law-making that we are more accustomed to. However, in all cases concerns about the implications of EU counter-terrorism for the protection and enjoyment of rights have arisen. Professor de Londras considered the mechanisms by which rights are accounted for in EU counter-terrorism, critically assessing the practices of pre-legislative scrutiny and consultation, formal ex post facto assessment (on the rare occasions when it takes places), domestic analysis (by courts, parliament and statutory bodies), operational peer review processes, and analysis by the CJEU. Drawing on research from the FP7 project SECILE (Security Europe Through Counter-Terrorism: Impact, Legitimacy and Effectivenes), she identified serious deficiencies from a rights-based perspective at all of these levels (notwithstanding improvements post-Lisbon) and proposed structures for accounting more fully for rights within EU counter-terrorism.

Professor Catherine Dauvergne, University of British Columbia

Patricia Sellers, Special Adviser on International Criminal Law Prosecution Strategies and Visiting Fellow, Oxford University