Glasgow Human Rights Network

GHRN Information Bulletin, 24th April 2014

1. Events

16th, 17th, and 19th May

Fellowship of Reconciliation Scotland talks by Chris Cole (Drone Wars UK)

Friday 16th May, 7.30pm: ‘Drone Wars: Today, Tomorrow, Forever?’ St John’s Episcopal Church Hall, Princes Street, Edinburgh Saturday 17th May, 11.00am: ‘In Drones We Trust?: What kind of security for people of faith’ Wellington Church (Library), University Avenue, Glasgow Monday 19th May, 7.30pm: ‘The Drone Wars: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Beyond’ St Augustine’s Church, Coatbridge The meetings are open to all.

29th – 30th May GHRN Conference 2014

Human Rights in Uncertain Times: Global Lessons for and from Scotland

Western Infirmary Building Lecture Theatre, University of Glasgow

The Glasgow Human Rights Network (GHRN) are hosting a 2-day conference in May 2014 and invite contributions from researchers and practitioners working on the status and role of human rights in evolving political, societal and economic contexts. This conference comes at a particularly pertinent time when Scotland’s own constitutional future is under question in the run up to the independence referendum and where this is increasing polarisation from Westminster on issues relating to human rights, welfare and social justice. The GHRN are keen to highlight and embed a focus on human rights in this debate. The conference aims to bring a comparative perspective to the Scottish context by critically reflecting on the role a human rights discourse has played, and should play, in Scotland’s uncertain times, and by highlighting international experiences that might provide valuable lessons for Scotland. We welcome contributions from any disciplinary perspective, or an interdisciplinary perspective with a Scottish, other national, international or comparative focus. Keynotes include: Patrick Harvie, Leader of the Green Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament Dr. Alison Hosie, Head of Research at the Scottish Human Rights Commission Further keynotes TBC For full details, please visit: http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/glasgowhumanrightsnetwork/ghrnconference2014/ A full programme and registration details will be announced soon.

16th – 18th June

Human Rights and Change

Kadir Has Üniversitesi, Istanbul

Registration is open for the conference 'Human Rights and Change,’ to be held in Istanbul 16 - 18 June 2014.This the the third joint conference organized by 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. You can find the program, and a link to registration here:  http://www.isanet.org/Conferences/HRIstanbul2014/Program.aspx . We had an overwhelming response to our call for papers, resulting in an excellent and diverse program, with 30 panels and 120 papers. Plenary sessions include: Riza Türmen, Former Turkish Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, currently opposition MP from the Republican People's Party Edward Mortimer, Fellow of All Souls College Oxford, University and former Director of Communications in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General Ruti Teitel, Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law, New York Law School Practitioner panel featuring: Emel Kurma, Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly Matthew Preston, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Manal Tibe, member of the National Council for Human Rights (Egypt) and former member of the Egyptian Constituent Assembly TBA The conference is organized in association with, and will be followed immediately by, the Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System: 'Global Governance: Engaging New Norms and Emerging Challenges'. The ACUNS annual meeting will also be held at Kadir Has University, 19 - 21 June. Individuals registered to attend either conference will be eligible to receive a 20% discount registration for the other conference. More information can be found at: http://acuns.org/am2014/ The organisers gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the following: Centre for Global Constitutionalism, University of St. Andrews European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on Human Rights and Transition Glasgow Human Rights Network, University of Glasgow International Studies Association Human Rights Section International Political Science Association Human Rights Research Committee Joseph Loundy Human Rights Project, Roosevelt University Journal of Human Rights The organisers also acknowledge the support of Kadir Has University and the Academic Council on the United Nations System. Any inquiries can be sent to the following: Program questions: humanrightsandchangeprogram@gmail.com Registration questions: humanrightsandchangereg@gmail.com Other questions: humanrightsandchange2014@gmail.com

Wednesday 2nd July

Zero Tolerance: Eradicating Female Genital Mutilation

Central London

It has been estimated that over 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are at risk of FGM in the UK each year, and that 66,000 women in the UK are living with the consequences of FGM. Whilst much has been done in recent years to prevent FGM, the risk remains high with devastating health consequences. It is clear that we must go further in order to eradicate the practice. For full details of all Public Policy Exchange training courses, please visit: http://www.publicpolicyexchange.co.uk/events/

2.  Calls for Papers

Workshop and book project, “Tracing the Roles of Soft Law in the Field of Human Rights”

30th September – 1st October 2014

Danish Institute for Human Rights, Copenhagen

Convenors: Stephanie Lagoutte, Senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Research Director at DIHR and John Cerone, Visiting Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and Professor of Law at New England Law Boston

An increasing part of the normative standards generated through world politics and other international practice takes the form of non-binding agreements and other non-binding instruments. This new realm of “soft law” may not amount to law in the strict sense, but can nonetheless be seen to shape the content of international law in multiple ways; from being a first step in a norm-making process, to providing detailed rules and more technical standards required for the implementation of treaties. This is no less the case in the area of human rights. While few human rights treaties have been adopted in the last two decades, the number of declarations, resolutions, conclusions and principles has grown almost exponentially and has taken on an increasingly important role in the interpretation of international human rights law. In some areas, such soft law has come to fill a void in the absence of treaties, gathering strong support despite its non-binding character. In others areas, soft law seems to have become the battleground for interpretative struggles to both expand and restrict human rights protection. In spite of these developments, relatively little attention has been given to soft law within human rights law scholarship. In addition to the threshold question of what constitutes soft law, the idea of making a book on the role of soft law in the international protection of human rights springs from a sense that the roles performed by soft law are both more ambiguous and multi-faceted than what is ordinarily assumed. First, can it still be presumed that soft law necessarily fulfils a progressive role in the interpretation of international human rights law? In a number of recent cases, states seem to increasingly rely on soft law to either hedge against or directly back track on what they see as activist courts or politically undesirable interpretative developments, suggesting that soft law may equally confine the field of application of well-established hard law standards or hinder development of hard law. Secondly, should soft law still be seen simply as an auxiliary element in the interpretation of international law? In some areas, soft law today constitutes a primary reference point, and yet there seems no immediate prospect for codification or crystallization into hard law. Part of this opposition seems to stem from the inability of scholars to reconcile soft law standards with the fundamental building blocks of general international law. At the same time, states may prefer the sometimes contradictory language of soft law instruments in order to retain political manoeuvring room. Contributions The workshop attempts to trace the role of soft law across the human rights field building on a thorough analysis of relevant case studies. In addition, we invite contributions that consider the conceptual, methodological and theoretical issues raised by soft law in the human rights field, exploring, e.g., the definition(s) of soft law, its relationship to binding human rights law, and its overall functions within the human rights regime. Case-studies tracing the role of soft law in human rights could look a. o. into the following areas: Torture & Prison Standards; International Refugee Law; International Humanitarian Law, incl. the Copenhagen Process; Human rights and Business, incl. UNGPs, Private Military and Security Companies; the Responsibility to Protect; Indigenous People; Regulation of the Internet; National Human Rights Institutions and the role of the Paris principles. Issues to be dealt with by both the case studies and conceptual papers could include, but are not limited to: -       The role played by soft law across different areas of international human rights law -       The dynamic interplay between soft law and hard law in different human rights regimes -       The comparative efficacy of soft and hard law in furthering human rights protection -       Soft law as a primary political battle ground for the politics of human rights -       Soft-law as a support to dynamics, process, discourse and structure -       The new roles for soft law: new framework, new institutions, new actors, new subjects and objects of the law. The case studies will provide the core of the book and will be carefully chosen to trace the diversity of the roles played by soft law across human rights issues. At the same time, the case studies should work from a collective framework, illustrating general dynamics of soft law in international and regional human rights law and thus supporting a more conceptual analysis of the role of soft law across the human rights field. To this end, a preliminary concept note will be made available by the workshop convenors. Submitting proposals Interested scholars are invited to submit abstracts (max. 500 words) of contributions by 1 May 2014 to the email addresses indicated below. On this basis a list of topics and contributors will be identified and the book contents will be organised accordingly. Workshop format The convenors are proposing two panels to be held in connection with the 2014 AHRI Conference, Copenhagen 29-30 September 2014 (see call for papers). The remaining papers will be presented at an ensuing workshop on 1 October at the Danish Institute for Human Rights. Costs The convenors have a limited amount of funding to support travel and accommodation costs of selected participants. Publication A collective book publication is intended to emanate from this workshop. Interest has been expressed by a premier university press. Contributors should thus clearly indicate if they do not wish to participate in a joint publication. Contacts For further information, please contact Stéphanie Lagoutte, Senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights: sla@humanrights.dk Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Research Director at the Danish Institute for Human Rights: tgh@humanrights.dk John Cerone, Professor of Law at New England Law Boston and Visiting Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy: john.cerone@tufts.edu

The Association of Human Rights Institutes Conference 2014

Human Rights Under Pressure: Exploring norms, institutions and policies

29th – 30th September 2014 The Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen Papers can be presented on any topic related to human rights and should be unpublished. Interdisciplinary projects and jointly authored papers are welcomed. Proposals for entire pa-nels (up to four papers) are equally welcome, indicating the title, abstract and author of each paper as well as proposed chairs and discussants. The deadline for submission is 1st May 2014. Full details can be downloaded at http://www.ahri-network.org/ Scotland's Children: Possible Futures? 5th – 6th September 2014 School of Education, University of Strathclyde On the 18th September 2014 the people of Scotland will vote to determine whether it will become an independent nation. Whatever the outcome, there will be implications for Scotland’s children. Interestingly, too, many children will have a real voice in this referendum since sixteen and seventeen year olds will be enfranchised. Proposals of up to 200 words should be submitted electronically by the deadline of Monday 12th May 2014. For more information and details of how to submit a proposal, please visit: http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/ccc/.

3.  Notices

Amnesty International UK is currently recruiting volunteers to work as country coordinators in the following regional teams: - Middle East and Gulf, - Southern Africa - South Asia (with focus on Afghanistan) - West and Central Africa As Country coordinator you help local Amnesty groups to work on individual cases in “your” region, stay in contact with the full time Amnesty staff in London and are called on to provide background information on the human rights situation in the specific region. It is a great opportunity for anyone interested in human rights in a specific region and willing to shape the campaigning work of a large international human rights NGO. Despite the rather dry job description it is actually a lot of fun, you meet a mix of interesting people throughout the UK and you have the opportunity to work substantially on a particular country. If  you want to have an informal chat about what to expect before you apply, please email sabine.hoehn@amnesty.org.uk or sabine.hoehn@glasgow.ac.uk.

Positive Action in Housing: Equality and Diversity Training 98 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1PJ Thursday 24th April, 10.00am – 4.00pm Welfare Rights Cost: non-members £150, members £99 Wednesday 7th May, 10.00am – 4.00pm Domestic Abuse Awareness Cost: non-members £150, members £99 Monday 12th May, 10.00am – 4.00pm Mental Health Awareness Cost: non-members £150, members £99 Wednesday 14th May, 9.30am – 12.30pm Rights and Entitlements of EU Nationals (including changes for A2 Nationals) Cost: non-members £99, members 75 Wednesday 14th May, 1.30 – 4.30pm Rights of Refugees and Asylum Seekers Cost: non-members £99, members 75 For full details of all course, please visit: http://www.paih.org/~training/

Room to Heal is currently looking for two Volunteer Caseworkers, and a new Treasurer to join the board of Trustees. Room to Heal is a specialist charity working therapeutically with people who have survived torture and organized violence. We provide group and individual therapies, creative and social activities, and practical casework assistance. At the heart of our work lies the cultivation of a non-residential, healing community through which our members re-establish trust and belonging and build meaningful lives in exile. Our members include people tortured by governments for political reasons, people trafficked to the UK, and people forced to flee their country of origin because of sexuality-based violence, conflict and persecution. We aim to enable people to heal from their traumatic experiences, find renewed meaning in life and reintegrate into society. You can find out more about us through this link www.roomtoheal.org. For more information on these positions and how to apply, please follow this link http://roomtoheal.org/2014/04/room-to-heal-are-recruiting/.

NGO in maternal and child rights A new NGO is being established, specialising in maternal and child rights, particularly for Reproductive Health Rights Education, initially in Malawi and Scotland, but not exclusively so.  The aims include reduced HIV, improved maternal health and reduced maternal mortality, through female empowerment. If you are interested in finding out more and might be interested in supporting these objectives, please contact Gordon MacPherson at scunner1320@yahoo.co.uk.

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.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/glasgowhumanrightsnetwork/