GHRN Information Bulletin 14th November 2013
1. Events
Wednesday 20th November 2013, 7.00pm
LGBT Rights in Russia
Talk organised by Amnesty International Group, Edinburgh University
Appleton Tower, Lecture Theatre 1, 11 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9LE
Speaker: Dr Francesca Stella, University of Glasgow
Amnesty International at Edinburgh University recently started a Solidarity Campaign with LGBT groups in Russia. In light of the ‘gay propaganda’ legislation recently passed by the Russian Duma, the need for both activism and research is as important as ever. Francesca hopes to offer an insight into how these areas may be combined to promote LGBT rights in Russia.
Thursday 28th November 2013, 6.00-8.00pm
HIV, Human Rights and Development Network Seminar co-hosted by University of Edinburgh Global Health Academy
Committee Room 1, Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh
The seminar will present an opportunity to celebrate World AIDS Day (1 December), Human Rights Day (10 December) and International Migrants Day (18 December) with three leading speakers from the field of HIV/AIDS, Human Rights and Migration.
Speakers:
Jim Eadie, MSP (Chair)
Prof. Lesley Doyal, Centre for Health and Social Care, University of Bristol
Duncan Wilson, Head of Strategy and Legal, Scottish Human Rights Commission
Roumyana Petrova-Benedict, Senior Regional Migration Health Advisor, International Migration Organisation, Brussels
Registration and refreshments 5.30-6.00pm.
Places are limited. To book, please email your name and contact details to Emma Giles by 21 November 2013: emma.giles@ed.ac.uk, 0131 650 9370.
Tuesday 10th December 2013, 6.00-7.30pm
The UK Human Rights Act – ‘That Remarkable Piece of Legislation’
Aldersgate Room, Methodist Central Hall, Westminster
A collaborative event between human rights research centres, academic departments and civil society organisations, on the need to speak up for the Human Rights Act at a time when political and media commentary from across the spectrum is dominated by negative rhetoric.
Speakers:
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
Stephen Bowen (Director of British Institute of Human Rights)
Prof. Conor Gearty (Department of Law, London School of Economics)
Chair:
Professor Francesca Klug (Chair)
For more information and to register, please visit: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-uk-human-rights-act-that-remarkable-piece-of-legislation-tickets-8628745811
Tuesday 4th March 2014
Human Rights in Scotland: Understanding the challenges and embracing the opportunities
Thistle Hotel, Glasgow
This conference aims to promote greater respect for the importance of human rights by ensuring a better understanding of the extent of the obligations and freedoms deriving from domestic and international human rights law.
For more information and to book, please visit: http://www.mackayhannah.com/conferences/human-rights-in-scotland
2. Training Events
Positive Action in Housing: Equality and Diversity Training
Welfare Reform: PAiH working with Rights Advice Scotland
Tuesday 3rd December, 10.00am – 1.00pm
98 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1PJ
Non-members £75, members £50
Culture Awareness
Wednesday 4th December, 10.00am – 1.00pm
98 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1PJ
Non-members £75, members £50
Equality and Diversity
Thursday 5th December, 9.30am – 12.30pm
98 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1PJ
Non-members £75, members £50
Equality Impact Assessments: Making them practical and useful
Thursday 5th December, 1.30 – 4.30pm
98 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1PJ
Non-members £75, members £50
Rights and Entitlements of EU Nationals (including A8 and A2 Nationals)
Tuesday 10th December, 9.30 – 12.30pm
98 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1PJ
Non-members £75, members £50
Rights of Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Tuesday 10th December, 1.30 – 4.30pm
98 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1PJ
Non-members £75, members £50
For more information on PAiH training courses and to book, please visit: http://www.paih.org/~training/
3. Call for Papers
Human Rights and Change
16th – 18th June 2014
Kadir Has Üniversitesi, Istanbul
A joint conference organized by:
Human Rights Section, International Studies Association
Human Rights Section, American Political Science Association
Human Rights Research Committee, International Political Science Association
Standing Group on Human Rights and Transition, European Consortium for Political Research
In association with: Kadir Has Üniversitesi and Academic Council on the United Nations System
The human rights sections of the American Political Science Association, the European Consortium for Political Research, the International Political Science Association, and the International Studies Association, are pleased to announce the third joint international conference on human rights, on the theme “Human Rights and Change” to take place 16-18 June 2014 at Kadir Has Üniversitesi in Istanbul. The conference will take place immediately before the annual meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (19 – 21 June), also in Istanbul (http://acuns.org/am2014/).
The so-called Arab Spring which began in early 2011 seemed to herald significant change in the human rights situation in the Middle East/North Africa, as well as broader regional and global political change. Yet, the changes have been highly ambiguous, both from a human rights perspective and a broader political perspective. The Arab Spring appears to be a product of significant normative and institutional change as well as a cautionary tale about the limits and ambiguities of change. This conference will address this theme of change – not only in the Middle East, but also globally. Thus, while there will be a number of panels and other events focused on the Middle East, a significant portion of the conference will deal with much broader contexts and issues, and paper submissions which address the broader theme in any context are welcome. We also welcome, and indeed actively encourage, participation from non-academics who are involved in human rights practice. Some of the questions to be addressed in the conference include:
• How do we understand change in the realm of human rights? What theoretical and conceptual perspectives do we have to help us analyze change?
• What is the relationship between broader geopolitical change and human rights development? Is human rights a product or a cause of such change?
• How do we explain changes in norms, laws and societies?
• Is change a top-down or bottom-up process?
• Has our understanding of human rights changed?
• Is human rights expansion a teleological process? Do we assume that it is?
• How do we deal with competing norms in times of flux?
• How have human rights been integrated (or not) into domestic legal and political orders?
• What role do human rights play in transitional justice processes?
• What explains the Arab Spring?
• How does the Arab Spring confirm or challenge current approaches to human rights development?
• What role of global and international actors played in fomenting or furthering the political dynamics of the Arab Spring?
The deadline for submissions is 1 December 2013. Notification of acceptances will be sent by e-mail by 15 January 2014.
Paper submission details can be found here (please note that proposals must relate to the theme of the conference to be considered): http://www.isanet.org/Conferences/HRIstanbul2014.aspx
The program chairs may be contacted at: humanrightsandchangeprogram@gmail.com
4. Opportunities and Resources
Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth
The first book on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights in the Commonwealth has been published and is available to download entirely free online as part of a global dissemination strategy in partnership with activists and NGOs that contributed chapters. Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change is co-edited by Matthew Waites (Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Glasgow) and Corinne Lennox (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London), and published by School of Advanced Study on a not-for-profit basis, in print or free online at: http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/publications/house-publications/lgbt-rights-commonwealth.
For ongoing updates on debates and knowledge exchange related to the book, see Matthew’s staff website: http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/staff/matthewwaites/ and follow Matthew on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewWaites.
Further information can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/HumanRightsSOGICommonwealth
Human Rights Fellowship at Colby College
Colby College, under the Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights, invites applications for its human rights fellowship. Funding enables a prominent practitioner in international human rights to take sabbatical leave from front-line work to spend the fall semester in residence at Colby. The fellow's responsibilities include regular meetings with students and assistance in shaping a lecture series or symposium on his or her human rights interests. This year, the fellowship focuses on human rights protection in situations relating to gender. This focus is not limited to activism involving women, but also includes the protection of sexual minorities and activism on men or masculinity.
Activists working on sexual and reproductive rights, gender empowerment and education, human and sexual trafficking, activism against gender-based violence, gender- and sexual-based asylum, or gender and environmental rights, are invited to apply. Eligibility is restricted to those whose work takes place primarily outside the US. The fellowship includes a US$32,000 stipend, as well as health benefits, housing, a campus meal plan and transportation. The fellow will also receive research support, including office space, secretarial support, computer and library facilities and a student assistant. A limited budget is allocated to help offset the cost of transportation, housing and meals for dependent family members who accompany the fellow. Following the period of the award, the fellow is expected to return to her or his human rights work.
Closing date: 6th December 2013
The Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) website, http://www.poverty.ac.uk, is a free educational resource for academics, students, NGOs and policy makers interested in evidence-based research on poverty and social exclusion in the UK. It is a comprehensive research tool, containing information on: methodology, conducting original and ethical research, research findings, international surveys, as well as up-to-date articles and a searchable digest of news stories and reports on welfare, poverty, inequality and more. It will also be publish the results of two major surveys over the next few weeks.
This website is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, (ESRC) and is a major collaboration between the University of Bristol, Heriot-WattUniversity, The Open University, Queen's University Belfast, University of Glasgow and the University of York, working with the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
OPPORTUNITIES TO TAKE PART
Join in the Poverty and Social Exclusion attitudes to necessities survey at www.poverty.ac.uk/take-part.
- Contact the PSE if you are interested in writing an article for the website.
- Follow and tweet comments @PSE2010
- Register to post comments on the website
The PSE are keen to hear from students and educators about what they would like to see on the PSE website, including any specific research papers they would like to suggest for inclusion. The PSE are also in the process of adding links on the PSE website to other organisations and projects researching poverty and social exclusion so if you have suggestions, again, do contact the PSE.
If you have an announcement for an event or resource which may be of interest to other members of GHRN, please send them to GHRNadmin@glasgow.ac.uk for inclusion in the bulletin.