Centre for Rights and Justice

Events

Light Night 2023

On Nottingham Light Night 2023 (3-4 February) Helen Hall and Tom Lewis presented an interactive display on history, human rights and the rule of law.  The installations centred on the book, The Blazing World­ - arguably the world’s first ever sci-fi novel - written by Margaret Cavendish in 1666.  So frustrated was Margaret at the oppression, inequality and injustice in her own time and society, she imagined something better in her ground-breaking and brilliant work of science fiction.

The exhibition enabled visitors to explore history, and issues of human rights, equality and the rule of law, both past and present; and have fun at the same time.

Many thanks to the lovely people at St Peter’s Church who hosted the display, and to all those who visited us on Light Night!

Research outputs

Addressing the Torment of Powerlessness:
2023 First Research and Impact Evaluation Report of the Health Justice Partnership on Mental Health and Wellbeing (BBM) on
Bagaraybang bagaraybang mayinygalang (BBM): Empowering & Alleviating: A Health Justice Partnership (HJP) of the Hume Riverina Community Legal Service (HRCLS) & Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service (AWAHS) offering legal support for social & emotional well-being with Aboriginal Peoples in Northeast NSW and Victoria

Events

The Mayflower Compact: 1622:2022-Four hundred years of Constitutional Experimentation.

The Centre hosted an online Symposium-Wednesday 9 November 3pm examining the relationship between legal, constitutional and cultural relationships between Magna Carta 1215, the Mayflower Compact of 1622 and contemporary constitutional debates in the UK. Watch the event here.

The following fascinating papers were presented:

Richard Pickering, Deputy Director Plimoth Patuxet Museums- The Mayflower Compact, its context and significance 

Helen Hall, Associate Professor Nottingham Trent University- Social Contracts and the Constitutional Imagination from the Magna Carta to Covid 19

Javier Garcịa Oliva- Professor, University of Manchester, Constitutions and Citizenship in the 2020s.

"Women, Life, Freedom" in Iran: From Protest to Revolution? – Wednesday 2 November

Luigi Daniele organised another hugely successful and well attended ‘rapid response seminar’ NTU Rapid Response Webinar, (2 Nov 2022): ‘Women, Life and Freedom’ In Iran from Protest to Revolution. Speakers included Luigi; Dena Arya, Doctoral Researcher in Youth Politics, NTU; Dr Sahra Joharchi, Principal Lecturer in International Relations, NTU; Prof. Paola Rivetti, Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations, Dublin City University; Dr. Saeed Bagheri, Lecturer in International Law, University of Reading.

The 7th annual CRJ Flashpoints conference on Law, Human Rights and Religion

Took place on 13th December.  The event took place on-line, which facilitated an international participation with excellent papers being presented by speakers from the UK, Poland, Italy and Indonesia. Particular thanks to Ryan Cushley-Spendiff for his fantastic and expert efforts in support of the event.

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Imperialism Revisited and the Language of International Law.

An online webinar organised and co-hosted by Luigi Daniele with University of Nottingham’s Human Rights Law Centre was held on 4 March: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Imperialism Revisited and the Language of International Law. This extremely timely and important event attracted an attendance of over 200 and included a contribution from Kyiv by former NLS LLM Human Rights student, Ruslan Saatov.

Participation, Vulnerability and the Legal Process: International Perspectives

Jonathan Doak organised a colloquium, Participation, Vulnerability and the Legal Process: International Perspectives, as part of the Mapping the Changing Face of Cross-Examination project (funded by the Nuffield Foundation). The event, which was held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel on 28^th September 2022, featured insightful presentations from the research team on their emerging findings on the use of intermediaries; Prof Penny Cooper (Birbeck) on vulnerability in the coroner’s court; Dr Sam Fairclough (Birmingham) on vulnerability and special measures; Prof Takuro Kanmaru and Darren Weir (Kent) on vulnerable witnesses in Japan; Prof Hernandez Galilea (Oviedo) on vulnerable witnesses in Spain; and Dr David Plater, Dr Cerain Griffiths and Olga Pandos (University of Adelaide) on vulnerability in the South Australian law reform process. A major international conference related to the project will be hosted by the University of Limerick in June 2023.

Impact and Esteem

• Many congratulations to Loretta Trickett whose work with Prof. Louise Mullany (UoN) on Gender Hate Crime in Nottinghamshire has been recognised by being awarded First Place in the Times Higher Education Awards – ‘the Oscars for higher education’ - in the category of Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community. The award was announced and presented at a live ceremony at the London Hilton Metropole on 25^th November  https://the-awards.co.uk/2021/en/page/winners

• Helen Hall contributed to the All Party Parliamentary Group on LGBT Rights briefing session on how to effectively ban conversion therapy (17^th Nov), and at the Women and Equalities Committee oral evidence session on the Government’s proposed ban/consultation on conversion therapy (24 Nov). She was further invited, as part of a small team of lawyers, to consult with the Equalities Minister, Mike Freer MP, on 8th December, in connection with the proposed legislation.

• Azhin Omer has been appointed as a member of Medical Law Committee within the Ministry of Health of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, established to review and reform the existing laws governing Kurdistan's healthcare system. She will be working with Austen Garwood-Gowers, writing reports about research findings on Kurdistan's patient safety issues and submit these to the committee for the purposes of contributing to the reforms. Azhin was also presented with an award by Centre for Kurdish Scholars for holding the first ever PhD on Health System Governance of Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

• Seema Patel has been invited to join the Cricket Disciplinary Commission (CDC), an independent panel who will review the charges brought by the ECB, against several cricket players and YCCC following racism allegations. Preliminary proceedings will take place in October, and the hearing will take place at the end of November.

• Curran, Elizabeth, ‘Going Deeper’ - The Invisible Hurdles Stage III Research Evaluation Final Report, Centre for Rights & Justice, Nottingham Law School & Curran Consulting: Enhancing Justice & Human Rights (June 26, 2022). This is research into the ‘Invisible Hurdles Program’ and its impact and effectiveness in delivering services to young people at risk of family violence. It involved four partners from different disciplines (health, education and family & community services and law) working holistically together to improve outcomes for young people who often have little voice. Its target is to reach young people who experience multiple, often cascading problems to see if legal help when easily accessed can make a difference in their lives.

Research Outputs

• Curran, Elizabeth, ‘Going Deeper’ - The Invisible Hurdles Stage III Research Evaluation Final Report, Centre for Rights & Justice, Nottingham Law School & Curran Consulting: Enhancing Justice & Human Rights (June 26, 2022).

Events

• CRJ members have contributed several excellent papers to the NLS 2021/22 Research Seminar series, expertly convened by Ruth Brittle:
• Helen Hall: "Haunting, Hoaxes and Hierarchy: Did an 18th century ghost threaten the Enlightenment Elite?" (3 Nov)
• Jonathan Doak: "Mapping the Changing Face of Cross-Examination" (3 Nov)
• John Rumbold: "What do we mean by humanity?" (3 Nov)
• Mark Chadwick discuss his monograph Piracy and the Origins of Universal Jurisdiction: On Stranger Tides? (Brill, 2018) (8 Dec)
• Austen Garwood-Gowers discussed his new book Medical Use of Human Beings: Respect as a Basis for Critique of Discourse, Law and Practice (Routledge, 2021) (8 Dec)

• Following on from her THE Award success, as part of the UN 75+1 programme of NTU events, Loretta Trickett led an international event on hate crime. She discussed her own work on the extension of hate crime laws to include gender with a focus on how it can help improve safety for Women and Girls. Prof Barbara Perry (Ontario Tech) discussed religious hate crime with an emphasis on rises in antisemitism, and Dr Tim Bryan (U Toronto) discussed his journey as a hate crime scholar and some of the issues around policing.  (30 November 2021)

• Helen Hall contributed to the All Party Parliamentary Group on LGBT Rights briefing session on how to effectively ban conversion therapy (17^th Nov), and at the Women and Equalities Committee oral evidence session on the Government’s proposed ban/consultation on conversion therapy (24 Nov) . She was further invited, as part of a small team of lawyers, to consult with the Equalities Minister, Mike Freer MP, on 8th December, in connection with the proposed legislation.

• Many congratulations to Loretta Trickett whose work with Prof. Louise Mullany (UoN) on Gender Hate Crime in Nottinghamshire has been recognised by being awarded First Place in the Times Higher Education Awards – ‘the Oscars for higher education’ - in the category of Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community. The award was announced and presented at a live ceremony at the London Hilton Metropole on 25^th November  https://the-awards.co.uk/2021/en/page/winners

• Several members of the Centre (Jonathan Doak, Selbi Durdiyeva, Sophie Gallop, Helen Hall, Loretta Trickett, Helen O’Nions and Tom Lewis together with Liz Curran and colleagues from Social Sciences) are engaged in the AHRC funded  project  led by Jingchen Zhao (CBIL)  Scoping the Future Law and Social Justice - Listening & Hearing from the Frontline. Literature reviews have been completed, ethical approval secured and interviews are to commence in early 2022.

• Jonathan Doak has completed an international review of law and practice relating to cross-examination as part of his project for the Nuffield Foundation, Mapping the Changing Face of Cross-Examination. This will shortly be published on the project website. The project team have also now completed the observational phase of their research and are now focusing on interviews with advocates and judges.

• The 6th annual CRJ Flashpoints conference on Law, Human Rights and Religion took place on 10th December.  The event took place on-line, which facilitated a truly world-wide participation with excellent papers being presented by speakers from India, Pakistan, Japan, Brazil, Canada the USA, Italy, Poland and Russia, as well as the UK. Particular thanks to Selbi Durdiyeva for her fantastic and expert efforts in support of the event.

• In September 2021, the Centre hosted an innovative workshop on using Escape Rooms as a creative vehicle for public engagement with research and undergraduate teaching. This was part of a project on educational games undertaken by Prof Tom Lewis and Dr Helen Hall, along with Prof Javier Garcia Oliva at the University of Manchester. Watch a video of the event.

• Mark Chadwick organised and presented at a discussion forum: 'The Past and Future of the International Law of High Seas Piracy', joined by experts on the law of piracy from around the world, with the intention to inform future law and policy making (4 June 2021). International law governing high seas piracy has remained unchanged since the 1950s. With reform on the horizon, join us for a conversation about the difficult legal issues raised by this most distinctive of international crimes.

• The Long Walk to Justice: Palestine, Israel and the International Criminal Court
  Took place on Monday 12 April 2021, 4 - 6 pm
  A Critical Examination of the Historic International Criminal Court Jurisdiction Decision and Opening of the Investigation Respecting the Situation in Palestine. Implications and Legal Challenges Ahead.
  Watch a recording of the event.

Research Outputs

• Vasileios Adamidis, ‘Democracy, populism, and the rule of law: A reconsideration of their interconnectedness’ (2021) Politics;
• Vasileios Adamidis, ‘Populism and the Rule of Recognition: Challenging the Foundations of Democratic Legal Systems’ (2021) 4(1) Populism;
• Ralph Henham, 'The 2020 White Paper on sentencing: a missed opportunity for reform' (2021) 5 Crim. L. R.
• Tom Lewis, ‘Religion, Belief and the European Court of Human Rights’, in G Davie and L Leustean (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Europe (OUP 2021)
• Jonathan Doak (with Iliadis, M., Smith), ‘Independent separate legal representation for rape complainants in adversarial systems: Lessons from Northern Ireland’, Journal of Law & Society
• Seema Patel ‘Gaps in the Protection of Athletes Gender Rights in Sport- A Regulatory Riddle, International Sports Law Journal

Events

• Helen Hall and Tom Lewis promoted their human rights game, Brave New World and met with the Children’s Commissioner of Wales, Sally Holland, as well as with school groups, teachers and charities at the Student Ambassador’s conferences in Llandudno (5 Feb) and Cardiff (11 Feb). They also worked for a day playing the Game with the Y6 pupils of Nottingham Primary Academy.
• Helen O’Nions and Tom Kemp have held Human Rights and Social Justice Forums for NLS students.  These were:
• ‘Gender Justice and the Gender Recognition Act,’ by Dr Katherine Jenkins, University of Nottingham (13 Feb);
• ‘Criminal Law and Social Justice,’ by Dr Koshka Duff, University of Nottingham (27 Feb)
• CRJ held two events in the School Research Seminar series:
  • Current issues in Immigration and Human Rights (18th Nov)
    • Helen O'Nions – ‘Fat cat lawyers and bogus asylum seekers: the impact of hostile narratives on access to justice’
    • Tom Kemp – ‘The end of Dublin III: Brexit, asylum and enforced removals’
    • Tom Lewis – ‘Collective Memory, Identity and Human Rights: On Buried Giants and Toppled Statues’
  • Accessing Rights (9 Dec)
    • James Thornton – ‘Access to criminal justice: ethics and choices’
    • Ruth Brittle – ‘Children, forced migration and a right to education’
    • Mark Chadwick – ‘Universality, Subsidiarity & Complementarity: Creating Order in the Prosecution of International Crime’
• On 14^th December the Centre hosted its 5^th annual Flashpoints – law, human rights and religion conference – in an on-line format. With the excellent work of our Research Assistant Selbi Durdiyeva the conference lived up to its reputation as a lively, informal and stimulating exploration of current issues. Papers included:
  • García Oliva and Helen Hall - ‘Article 9 and the Magna Carta’
  • Wojciech Brzozowski - ‘Counting the pages: The level of scrutiny applied by the European Court of Human Rights to religious education cases’
  • Rajnaara Akhtar - ‘Child Custody and Marrying Out in Qatar – What implications for Human Rights?’
  • Triantafyllia Lina Papadopoulou - ‘(How) can advocacy for allowing blasphemy be reconciled with supporting the prohibition of hate speech?’
  • Khurshid Sana Khan - ‘Stuck Between a Rock and Hard Place of Successful Peace Talks and the Pandemic: The Future of Afghan Refugee Women in Pakistan’
  • Amna Nazir - ‘Assessing Freedom of Religion and Belief in Islamic Law and International Human Rights: The Case of Meriam Ibrahim’
  • Magdalena Butrymowicz - ‘History of Umbrellas - Women's Rights in Poland’
  • Manotar Tampubolon - ‘Discrimination of Christian Minority in Muslim Society: A Comparative Perspective between Indonesia and Bangladesh’
  • Ruth Wareham - ‘Achieving Pluralism? A Critical Analysis of the Inclusion of Non-religious Worldviews in RE Policy in England and Wales after R (Fox) v Secretary of State for Education’
  • John Rumbold - ‘Male ritual circumcision of minors’
• 0n December 16^th, the Centre hosted its 5^th annual Flashpoints conference on Human Rights, Law and Religion, online. A fascinating range of papers was presented by speakers from as far afield as Poland, Indonesia. There was strong attendance from NTU students, with PGR Steve Atkin providing a follow-up session to students the following day.

Research outputs

• Elyse Wakelin, ‘Ethnic Conflict and the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ In: W Leal Filho et al (eds) Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Encyclopaedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Springer 2021)
• James Thornton, ‘Is Publicly Funded Criminal Defence Sustainable? Legal Aid Cuts, Morale, Retention and Recruitment in the English Criminal Law Professions’ (2020) Legal Studies 230-251
• Ruth Brittle, 'A Hostile Environment for Children? The Rights and Best Interests of the Refugee Child in UK Asylum Law' (2019) (19(4)) Human Rights Law Review, 753-785
• Ruth Brittle, 'Thirty Years of Research on Children's Rights in the Context of Migration: Towards Increased Visibility and Recognition of Some Children, But Not All?' (2020) 28 International Journal of Children's Rights, 36-65 (with E Desmet)
• Austen Garwood-Gowers, Medical Use of Human Beings – Respect as a basis for discourse, law and practice(Routledge 2020)
• Helen Hall, ‘People and sovereignty: Constitutional law lessons from Greenland and Denmark’ (2020) Public Law 331-349 (with JG Oliva)
• Helen O’Nions, ‘”Fat cat” lawyers and “illegal” migrants: the impact of intersecting hostilities and toxic narratives on access to justice’ (2020) Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 319-340
• Jonathan Doak (with Iliadis, M., Smith), ‘Independent separate legal representation for rape complainants in adversarial systems: Lessons from Northern Ireland’ (forthcoming) Journal of Law & Society
• Seem Patel ‘Gaps in the Protection of Athletes Gender Rights in Sport- A Regulatory Riddle, (forthcoming) International Sports Law Journal
• Helen O’Nions ‘No place called Home. The Banishment of “Foreign Criminals” in the Public Interest.  A Wrong without Redress’ (2020) 9(4) Laws
• Emma Ireton (with Peter Watkin Jones, Isabelle Mitchell and Sarah Jones), The Practical Guide to Public Inquiries (Hart 2020). This is the first ‘hands on’ guidance for legal practitioners, participants and others interested in public inquiries in the UK.   It is hoped that it will contribute in a significant way to increasing practitioner and public understanding of the public inquiry process and have a significant impact on influencing future public inquiry practice.
• Loretta Trickett and Louise Mullany, ‘The Language of “Misogyny Hate Crime”: Politics, Policy and Policing’ (2020) Professional Communication:

Impact, esteem and external engagement

• Loveday Hodson & Troy Lavers (eds), Feminist Judgments in International Law (Hart, 2019) to which Dawn Sedman has contributed a chapter has been awarded the Certificate of Merit by the American Society of International Law for a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship. The award link is here.
• Mark Thomas has been appointed as a ‘Case Note Author’ for the Journal of Criminal Law and the ‘Senior Deputy Editor’ for the International Journal of Evidence and Proof.
• The Centre launched its new on-line peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Rights and Justice, edited by Helen Hall.
  The CRJ will be available on the HeinOnline database.
  It is intended that the Journal will complement the Nott LJ and NIBLeJ.  In particular its online format will allow flexible and speedy publication, often frustratingly not the case in many other publications.
• Helen Hall and Tom Lewis were part of a successful bid to the Aspect Consortium of Universities which promotes commercialisation of research in the social sciences.
  The grant of £ 78,000, in collaboration with partners from the University of Manchester (Dr Javier Garcia Oliva (PI)), and the Universities of Bristol and Glasgow will provide for, inter alia, the production and development of their educational human rights board game, Brave New World, a research assistant, and will enable research into the potentialities of the use and commercialisation of games for educational purposes.
• Emma Ireton is a member of the JUSTICE panel which recently published its long awaited Report, When Things Go Wrong: the response of the justice system (24^th August 2020), which seeks to address the erosion of public trust in the response of the justice system to deaths giving rise to public concern.
• Seema Patel was invited to participate in a private seminar for the House of Lords Select Committee on a National Plan for Sport and Recreation, on the topic of the UK legislative framework in regard to sport and comparative international models (18 November 2020). The private seminar for the Committee’s Members is designed to cover relevant aspects of sport and recreation policy in advance of the Committee receiving evidence.  The Committee is chaired by Lord Willis of Knaresborough and has notable Members including Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Baroness Karen Brady and Lord Colin Moynihan.
• James Thornton was invited to (and duly did) submit written evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Justice, for their on-going Future of Legal Aid Inquiry.
• Helen O’Nions has successfully obtained the grant of £30,000 over five years for the longitudinal evaluation of the work of the Hope Legal Services Project, on Birmingham.

Events

• Professor Jonathan Doak visited the University of Adelaide in February 2019, participating in a roundtable organised by the South Australian Law Reform Institute on improving protections for vulnerable witnesses in the criminal justice process. Jonathan also delivered a CPD seminar on the same topic to staff at the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the Attorney General’s Department.
• Dawn Sedman organised a symposium on Woman and International Law in June 2019, as part of the beginning of an initiative looking at women's representation, agency and participation in international law. Invited academics and practitioners took initial steps to see:  firstly, if there was interest and support for such initiative; secondly, to offer the opportunity of an experiential reflection; and thirdly, to consider the future and what might follow in this initiative. In short, firstly there was interest, secondly, Dawn’s paper offered some preliminary statistical analysis to assist the reflection and thirdly, the group resolved to apply for funding for a couple of future events, one on sharing best practice when teaching international law through a feminist prism and the second, an extended conference on same theme as symposium.
• Mark Chadwick launched his new book, Piracy and the Origins of Universal Jurisdiction (On Stranger Tides?), an exploration of the linkages between high seas piracy, State jurisdiction, and international criminal law.  He was joined by Professors Olympia Bekou and Dino Kritsiotis from the University of Nottingham, Dr Amina Adanan from Maynooth University (Ireland).
• The Centre hosted Dr Santiago Cañamares Arribas from Complutense University, Madrid who delivered a seminar on ‘Religious Equality and the Case Law of the CJEU’ (11 December)
• Conference on Human Rights, Law and Religion: Flashpoints - 16 December 2019
• An international one-day conference on issues involving human rights, law and religion.  Speakers and topics included:
  • Prof. Gerhard van der Schyff, Tilburg University, The Netherlands, ‘Inclusive Interpretation of Fundamental Rights: The Case of Pastafarianism in the Netherlands’
  • Dr Megan Pearson, University of Southampton, ‘What happened to vivre ensemble?
  • Dr Andrea Yiannaros, University of Bedfordshire, ‘Recent developments on conscientious objection to military service in ECHR jurisprudence
  • Dr Tony Meacham, Coventry University,  ‘Conscientious Objection in the United States’
  • Dr Rob Clucas, University of Hull, ‘Lee v Ashers Baking Company: religious conscience and micro aggressive environment’
  • Dr Amer Qader, ‘The Migration of Intellectuals from the Mashreq countries to Egypt in the 19^th century and the Role of Britain
  • Dr Fatima Karagöz, Galataseray University,  Turkey, ‘The Administration by Intolerance in 17^th-Century Ottoman Empire: The Case of Consumption Ban’
  • Dr Kevin Barker, Kingston University, ‘Human rights and redemptive-corrective justice in Bob Marley’s music’
  • Dr John Rumbold, NTU,  ‘TERF Wars: Can the conflict between gender identity and personal beliefs be reconciled?’
  • Jessica Giles, Open University, ‘The Religious Freedom Accords, a tool for recognition of minority religious groups’
  • Prof Zachary Calo, Hamad Bin Khalifa, University, Qatar, ‘Law, Religion and Secular Order’
  • The Hon. Dallas Miller (Court of Queens Bench, Alberta) ‘Why Protect Religious Freedom?’
  • Dr John Warwick Montgomery Concordia, University Wisconsin, ‘A Non-Politically Correct Remedy to Muslim Terrorist Integration’
  • Dr Craig Allen, Oxford Brookes University, ‘Determining Religious Undue Influence: A New Rationale for the Common Law Doctrine of Undue Influence’

Research outputs

• Elspeth Berry and Matthew Homewood have a new edition of their book Complete EU law (4th edn, OUP 2019)
• Mark Chadwick, Piracy and the Origins of Universal Jurisdiction (On Stranger Tides?), on 24 December 2018.
• Elyse Wakelin (Book chapter) ‘Rule of Law and the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ In: Leal Filho W et al . (eds) Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Encyclopaedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. (Springer 2020).
• Dawn Sedman (Book chapter) ‘The Sierra Leone Special Court's AFRC case’ (co-authored with O. Jurasz, S. Labinski & S. Mouthaan), in L. Hodson & T. Lavers (eds), Feminist Judgments in International Law (Bloomsbury/Hart 2019).
• Helen Hall, ‘Trespass to the Person, human rights and ethically contaminated food: freedom of belief and bodily autonomy’ (2019) 10(1) Journal of European Tort Law 27-62  (with JG Oliva)
• Tom Lewis, ‘Blanket Bans, Subsidiarity and the Procedural Turn of the European Court of Human Rights’ (2019) 68(3) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 611-63 (with P Cumper)
• Tom Lewis, ‘Human Rights and Religious Litigation – Faith in the Law’ (2019) 8(1) Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 121-150 (with P Cumper)
• Tom Kemp, ‘Solidarity in spaces of “care and custody” – the hospitality politics of immigration detention visiting’ (2019) Theoretical Criminology 123-140
• Helen O’Nions, ‘Crisis Framing and the Syrian Displacement – the Threat to European Values’ (2019) 28(1) Nottingham Law Journal 27-54

Impact, esteem and external engagement

• Mark Chadwick’s book Piracy and the Origins of Universal Jurisdiction was shortlisted for the SLS Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship’.  
• Emma Ireton was recently been appointed to the JUSTICE working party “When Things Go Wrong” on institutional responses to deaths or other serious incidents where a “systemic pattern of failure” is evident.  It is chaired by Sir Robert Owen, chair of the Litvinenko Inquiry, and consists of leading public inquiry and inquest practitioners and academics
• Sophie Gallop, Jonathan Doak and Tom Lewis all successfully participated in the ‘The Rule of Law, Human Rights and Anti-Corruption in Armenia Project’ together with Jane Ching, Pamela Henderson and Jane Jarman from the Centre for Legal Education and in collaboration with Yerevan State University and the Republic of Armenia School of Advocates.  A grant of US$200k from the US Department of State enabled the creation and delivery a suite of courses to practising Armenian lawyers, students and law teachers on human rights, anti-corruption, women and the law, juvenile justice, pre-trial detention and advocates’ ethics.  A ‘training the trainers’ course was also delivered to faculty of the School of Advocates, in addition to a series of workshops around the key project topics attended by interested groups including members of the judiciary and the Chamber of Advocates.
• Luigi Daniele co-organised (with Peter Langford and Triestino Mariniello (both of Edge Hill University) an event at the London Middle East Institute, SOAS, ‘No charge, no trial: the illegality of Israel’s Use of Administrative Detention against Palestinians (29 January 2019)
• Jonathan Doak has delivered two staff seminars at Singapore Management University in January 2019.
• Helen Hall participated in the Initiative on Religious and Cultural Diversity, run by the MaxPlanck Institute, in Halle Germany (20/21st November)
• Seema Patel advised, and contributed to the preparation of the case on behalf of Athletics South Africa in the forthcoming Casta Semenya case before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (13 February 2019)
• James Thornton contributed to an invite-only round-table discussion on improving defence lawyer quality with academics, members of the professions, law society, bar standards board and 3^rd sector contributors organised by the charity Transform Justice (5 Feb 2019)
• Tom Lewis delivered a guest lecture to inmates at HM Prison Whatton, ‘Should Prisoners Have the Vote’ (6 Feb 2019)
• Loretta Trickett has delivered several reports impacting beyond the academy:
  • ‘The Bigger Picture’ funded by the Arts Council (£20,000) Report on the participation and social exclusion of older people; from the arts, examining social capital, isolation and well-being (Feb 2019)
  • ‘Age UK Living Well’ Report for Age UK – advocating a social prescribing model (with Rebecca Stack, Psychology: Age UK funded - £ 5000)

• Helen Hall and Tom Lewis visited several schools as part of their impact case study, to pilot their role-playing human rights board game, Brave New World (Nottingham Primary Academy; Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Ashbourne; Chorlton High School, Manchester)
• Jonathan Doak has been awarded a grant from the Nuffield Foundation for ‘Mapping the Changing Face of Cross-Examination in Criminal Trials’ (£330k) in conjunction with colleagues in the School of Arts & Humanities and the University of Nottingham.
• Helen O’Nions has established the Human Rights & Social Justice Forum - a student led monthly initiative to discuss human rights and justice issues that arise in the news. This will help develop critical skills and encourage awareness of human rights issues beyond the curriculum. It will offer students an opportunity to broaden their knowledge and understanding whilst meeting other students with similar interests and concerns. Sessions have been facilitated by Helen Hall and Tom Kemp.

Events

• On 25 January 2018 Peter McTigue presented his paper ‘The expanding boundary of disability discrimination law’ to the Industrial Law Society in an event hosted by the CRJ.
• On 4 May 2018 the CRJ and the Nottingham University’s Nottingham International Law and Security Centre, headed by Prof Nigel White, co-hosted a symposium on the conflict in Syria - organised by Lydia Davies-Bright.
• Tom Lewis delivered an Inaugural Professorial Lecture: ‘Religious Dress, Empathy and Human Rights’ 25 April 2018.
• On Wednesday 18 April 2018 members of the Centre talked about their current research in the area of public international law
• Richard Jones PGR ‘Encouraging non-state armed groups to comply with the constraints of international humanitarian law’
• Mark Chadwick – “The Enemies of All Mankind”: High Seas Piracy and the Legend of Universal Jurisdiction’
• Dr Elizabeth Chadwick -  ‘Neutrality law in situations of armed conflict’
• On 22^nd of November 2018 CRJ members presented several papers on their recent research in the fields of freedom of religion, hate crime and international humanitarian law:
  • Dr Helen Hall – ‘Minorities within minorities-the double vulnerability of children, sexual minorities, gender non-conformists and abuse victims within conservative faith groups’
  • Dr Loretta Trickett – ‘Policing and hate crime’
  • Luigi Daniele – ‘War crimes and international humanitarian law’
• Symposium on the Conflict in Syria, co-hosted by the CRJ and the Nottingham University’s Nottingham International Law and Security Centre, headed by Prof Nigel White, organised by Lydia Davies-Bright (4 May 2018). The event included a screening of the film, Syria’s Disappeared’ (dir. Saea Afsar), and a Roundtable discussion.  Speakers included:
  • Aiden Hehir (University of Westminster)
  • Janka Skrzypek (NTU)
  • Shaza Alsalmoni (Syrian Legal Development Program)
  • Yasmin Nahlawi (Rethink Rebuild Society)
  • Richard Jones (NTU)
  • Helen O’Nions (NTU)
  • Lydia Davise-Bright (NTU)
  • Nigel White (UoN)
  • Ben Hudeon (University of Lincoln)
• On 18 March Ms Beti Hohler, a prosecutor working at the International Criminal Court in The Hague visited the CRJ to talk about her experiences working as a prosecutor and some of the key challenges faced by the Court.
• Helen Hall and Tom Lewis in collaboration with the National Justice Museum organised and ran several events on human rights and toleration past and present:
  • Criminalising Christmas, exploring human rights and religious toleration at mid-winter through the ages.  The exhibition included Civil War arms and armour loaned by the National Civil War Centre, Newark.
  • A public theatrical performance, The Ghosts of Christmas Past, exploring issues of religious toleration in mid winter in centuries past.
  • A visit by Y6 children from Nottingham Primary Academy to the National Justice Museum in which they played the role-playing board game Brave New World (see below) and attended the Criminalising Christmas exhibition

• On 17 December the Centre hosted its third annual Flashpoints conference on human rights, law and religion.  Excellent papers were presented by:
  • Tom Lewis and Simon Boyes - Poppy Bans, Football and Human Rights: Ideology and Symbol in the Sporting Arena
  • Craig Allen - Religious influence or religious undue influence? The Challenges and Risks of Enforcing the Common Law Doctrine of Undue Influence
  • Zachary Calo and Jessica Giles - Religious Minorities, Human Rights, and the Meaning of Citizenship
  • James Gould - Reasonable Accommodation: A Balancing of Rights and Legitimate Interests
  • Katie Hunt - What are the barriers to equal access to pastoral care for non-religious prisoners?
  • Magdalena Butrymowicz - Cake war - the critical analyses of court cases in Poland, USA and United Kingdom concerning the homosexual couples claims over the human rights violation based on the religion freedom
  • Shanlin Gourlay - Protecting Asylum-Seeking Children: In Whose Best Interests?
  • Osuagwu Ugochukwu - Actualizing the Rights of Child under the Nigerian Child’s Rights Act, 2003: A Critique
  • David Perfect - Religion or belief work at the Equality and Human Rights Commission
  • Helen Hall - Greenland, National Identity and Religious Beliefs
  • Ini Nkang - “Trafficking? In football?!”: Factors leading to the trafficking and exploitation of African minors.
  • Clayton O’Neill - Patient Safety, The Soul and Personhood

Research outputs

• Jonathan Doak and David O’Mahony Reimagining Restorative Justice: Agency and Accountability in the Criminal Process (2017, Hart).
• Helen Hall and Javier Garcia Oliva Religion, Law and the Constitution: balancing Beliefs in Britain (Routledge 2018)
• Ralph Henham, Sentencing Policy and Social Justice (OUP 2018)
• David Barrett ‘The effective design, implementation and enforcement o socio-economic equality duties – lessons from the pupil premium’ (2018) Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 57-77
• Vasileios Adamidis 'The Theory and Practice of Torture in Ancient Athenian Courts', ΣΧΟΛΗ Vol. 12.2 (2018)".
• Tom Lewis, ‘Empathy and Human Rights: the case of Religious Dress’, (2018) Human Rights Law Review 61 – 87 (with P Cumper)
• Tom Lewis, ‘At the deep end of the pool: religious offence and the margin of appreciation before the European Court of Human Rights’ (invited contribution) A Koltay and J Temperman (eds) Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression: Comparative, Theoretical and Historical Reflections after the Charlie Hebdo Massacre(CUP 2017).
• Jonathan Doak,  ‘Evaluating the Success of Restorative Justice Conferencing’ in  T Gavrielides (ed)  The Routledge International Handbook of Restorative Justice, (Routledge 2018) (with D O’Mahoney)
• Luigi Daniele, ‘Enforcing Illegality: Israel’s military justice in the  West Bank (2017) Questions of International Law 21.
• Helen Hall,  ‘Exorcism and the law: is the ghost of Reformation haunting contemporary debates on safeguarding versus autonomy?’ (2018) Law and Justice 51-81 (with JG Oliva)
• Helen Hall, ‘Responding to non-liberal minorities within the liberal state: the challenge posed by children and vulnerable adults’ (2018) Public Law 256-276. (with JG Oliva)
• Emma Ireton, ‘How Public is a Public Inquiry?’ (2018) Public Law 277-298
• Andrea Nicholson, ‘A Full Freedom  Contemporary Survivor’s Definitions of Slavery’  (2018) 18(4) Human Rights Law Review 689-704 (with M Dang and Z Trodd)
• Samanthan Pegg, ‘A matter of privacy or abuse? Revenge porn in the law’ 7 Criminal Law Review 512-530.

Impact, esteem and external engagement

• Loretta Trickett has been awarded £20,000 by Nottinghamshire County Council ‘Emerging Communities in Nottinghamshire – Integration and Community Relations’ (CoI Paul Hamilton NTU) and £20,000 by the British Arts Council ‘Engagement of Minority Groups with the Arts”
• Helen O’Nions: has been awarded £2850 for her project, ‘Gendering Asylum Perspectives: exploring the need for gender sensitivity in the asylum tribunal through claimants' perspectives.’
• Peter McTigue worked with the Legal Advice Centre to deliver a presentation concerning reasonable adjustments in employment to Nottingham Community Volunteer Service which drew on his research into this area. The presentation was attended by various community organisations within the Nottingham area as well as representatives from the Department of Work and Pensions.
• CRJ collaboration with the Industrial Law Society. Peter McTigue of the Centre delivered a presentation entitled, 'The expanding boundary of Disability Discrimination Law'.  24 Jan 2018.
• Ralph Henham was invited to present Written Evidence to the House of Commons Justice Committee inquiry into the Prison Population 2022: Planning for the Future.

Events

• On 18 November the Centre, in collaboration with the University of Nottingham's Centre for Research in Race and Rights, hosted part 1 of the  Being Human Festival called The Rights and Justice City: Hope, History and Being Humane. Speakers included Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation, University of Hull, and Andrea Nicholson of the CRJ.
• 11 December 2017 – For the second year running the Centre hosted the Flashpoints -  Law, Human Rights and Religion Conference, organised by Helen Hall and Tom Lewis.  The event was well attended by external international delegates from academia and campaign groups and NTU staff and students. A broad range of papers were presented, including ones from NTU PhD student Shanlin Gourlay
• On Wednesday 13th December the Centre hosted a half-day colloquium entitled ‘Reimagining Restorative Justice: Agency and Accountability in the Criminal Process’ exploring how empowerment-based interventions impact on the development of criminal justice law and policy, with a specific emphasis on the potential role of restorative justice. The event comprised papers by:
  • Tim Chapman (University of Ulster);
  • Dr Kerry Clamp (University of Nottingham) and
  • Dr Nick Blagden (NTU), drawing on the theme of empowerment within criminal justice.

The colloquium concluded with a book launch by David O’Mahony (Essex) and Jonathan Doak of their recent publication, Reimagining Restorative Justice: Agency and Accountability in the Criminal Process (Hart 2017).

Research outputs

• Helen Hall and Javier Garcia Oliva, Religion, Law and the Constitution: Balancing Beliefs in Britain (Routledge 2017)
• Jonathan Doak and David O’Mahony Reimagining Restorative Justice: Agency and Accountability in the Criminal process (Hart 2017)
• Beth Chadwick, ‘In Faint Praise of the Derogating Will:  The UK, ECHR derogation, and Smith v MOD’ ((2017) Nottingham  Law Journal (with K Samuel).
• Emma Ireton, ‘The Grenfell Tower public inquiry: managing expectations’ (2017) Solicitors Journal 277-298
• Emma Ireton ‘How Public is the Public Inquiry’ (2018) Public Law
• Jeremy Robson, A fair hearing? The use of voice identification parades in criminal investigations in England and Wales (2017) Criminal Law Review 36-50
• Jonathan Doak and M Coen, ‘Embedding Explained Jury Verdicts in the English Criminal Trial’ (2017) Legal Studies 37(3)
• Jonathan Doak ‘Stalking the State: the state as a stakeholder in post-conflict restorative justice’ in K Clamp (ed) Restorative Justice in Transitional Settings (2016 Taylor and Francis)
• Clayton Ó Néill, (2017), ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Refusal of Blood Transfusions: an analysis of the European Human Rights Regime and the particular context of English Medical Law’ European Journal of Health Law 24, 1-22
• Tom Lewis ‘At the deep end of the pool: religious offence the margin of appreciation before the European Court of Human Rights’ in, A Koltay and J Temperman (eds) Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression: Comparative, Theoretical and Historical Reflections after the Charlie Hebdo Massacre (2017 CUP)
• Tom Lewis ‘Empathy and Human Rights: the Case of Religious Dress’, (2017) Human Rights Law Review (with P Cumper).

Impact, esteem and external engagement

• Loretta Trickett was recruited to be part of a research team with Nottingham University and the Arts Council on Social Exclusion and engagement with the arts. Loretta is the Criminologist on this project and the amount awarded to NTU is £20,000.  Bid successful.
• Andrea Nicholson is Co-I on an ESRC funded project ´Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement’, and co-I on the fieldwork research team for the EU Fundamental Rights Agency project on Severe Labour Exploitation – Foreign Worker´s Perspectives: SELEX II (February 2017-September 2017). As part of the UK team, Andrea’s role is to advise on participant consent, information sheets and interview questions, and conduct individual interviews with survivors and carry out two focus groups.
• Andrea Nicholson, together with Dr. Alexander Trautrims, University of Nottingham, and Caron Boulghassoul from The Nottingham Arimathea Trust,  provided written evidence to the DWP Select Committee inquiry into support for victims of modern slavery (December 2016)
• School seed-corn funding of £4,000 has been awarded to CRJ members Mark Chadwick, Lydia Davies-Bright and Davig Ong, to develop a project investigating the intersection of the UN Sustainable Development Goals with international law, with a particular focus on gender equality, and particularly in post-conflict societies.
• Professor Jonathan Doak recently delivered a keynote address to the Disability Justice Place Symposium organised by the Attorney General’s Department in Adelaide, South Australia and met with a groups of policymakers to discuss ways of improving the experiences of vulnerable people within the criminal justice system. Jonathan also delivered a seminar on victim participation in criminal justice at the ACT Legislative Assembly in Canberra and participated in a panel discussion on the application of human rights to victims of crime at Griffith University in Brisbane.
• Tom Lewis has been invited to act as peer reviewer for the British Academy for their interdisciplinary research funding call, The Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling the UK’s International Challenges to review applications under the theme of Justice, Rights and Equality, one of the four key themes under the programme.
• Andrea Nicholson has been awarded a one-year, fully-funded, (£73,000) Visiting Research Fellowship at the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham.  The Rights Lab, launched on 22 June 2017, is home to the world’s leading contemporary slavery experts and is engaged in large-scale research projects for ending slavery.

Events

• The Nottingham Law Journal 2016 contained papers from the CRJ/Centre for Advocacy  2015 Conference, Perspectives on the Islamic Veil. Contributors included Tom Lewis, Prof Eva Brems (Ghent), Prof Jill Marshall (Leicester), Felicity Gerry QC (Charles Darwin University), Samantha Knights (Matrix Chambers), Jeremy Robson (NLS Centre for Advocacy) and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (journalist/social commentator).
• The Centre has resumed its series of  lunchtime research forums, giving opportunities to new and established research CRJ members to test their research ideas.  Recent forums have included:
  • 1 November 2016, David Barrett:  'The Anti-Radicalisation Prevent Duty and the Right to Education: Reconciling the Irreconcilable?'
  • 6 November 2016, Elyse Wakelin:  ‘Minority Right Protections in Contemporary Europe: The Double Standards between Member State and Candidate Country Obligations’
  • 23 November 2016, Clay O’Neill ‘Jehovah's Witnesses and the Refusal of Blood Transfusions: a Gewirthian analysis’
  • 1 February, Elspeth Berry 2017, ‘All you ever wanted to know about Brexit but never dared ask’
• The Centre has started running a series of seminars in which staff present their research in accessible ways, aimed at undergraduate students. The first was by Helen Hall: ‘Exorcism and the Law’ held appropriately on Halloween, 31 October, 2016
• On 12 December 2016 the Centre hosted the Human Rights and Religion: Flashpoints conference.  The event attracted 35 external delegates, plus many more from NTU – both staff and students. Speakers from as far afield as the USA, Canada, Quatar and  Spain.  The papers were stimulating, thought provoking and rigorous and the atmosphere was informal and friendly.  Several papers be published in a forthcoming issue of the Nottingham Law Journal. Special thanks should be extended to the co-organizer Dr Helen Hall, who (due to the medically enforced absence of Tom Lewis) coped admirably with several unforeseeable technical problems on the day such that these were barely noticed by attendees.  Excellent feedback, coupled with a good network of contacts have led the organisers to consider holding the event in 2017.

Papers presented were as follows:

• Brigitte Clark (Oxford Brookes University) - An Intricate Balancing Exercise? Reconciling the Parental Rights of Religious Minorities with the Rights and ‘Welfare’ of the Child’
• Maria Moscati, Nuno Ferreira (University of Sussex) - Children’s religious freedom in the UK: reading the Begum decision from a children’s rights perspective
• Irene Briones (University of Complutense, Madrid) Ritual Circumcision: Religious reasons and cultural traditions
• Magdalena Butrymowicz (Pontifical University of John Paul II, Krakow) - Every child has rights, no matter who they are, where they live or what they believe in
• Jacob Clinton (NTU) - Satire v Religion: Battlegrounds or Common Grounds?
• Suzana Ibisi (Keele) - Regulation of Religious Symbols in the EU Public Space. A Comparative Analysis of Belgium, Italy, England, and France.
• Jeremy Robson (NTU) - Seen but not heard - The Niqaab in Court proceedings.
• Irene Zempi (NTU) - The effects of the French veil ban on veiled Muslim women in the UK: A thematic analysis
• Erich Hou, Ruth Gaffney-Rhys, Clare Lewis (University of South Wales) - ‘Get A Room!’ - Paradigm Shift in Bull v Hall
• Andreas Yiannaros (University of Bedfordshire) - Religious freedom and non-discrimination: An explosive mix of rights?
• Rajnaara Akhtar (De Montfort University) - Unregistered Marriages in Human Rights Discourse
• Erica Howard (Middlesex University) - Is there a right not to be offended?
• Mark Coen (University College Dublin) - An Irish Solution to an Irish Problem: Reform of the Religious Ethos Exemption in Employment Equality Law
• David Pollock (British Humanist Association)- The Government’s Two Faces on Religious Discrimination in Voluntary Aided Schools – A Legal Anomaly
• Robert Blitt (University of Tennessee) - The Rights to Non-discrimination and Equality Viewed from the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
• Diana Ginn (Dalhousie University, Canada) - Human Rights Law, Religion and Employment in Canada: the bona fide occupational requirement, and accommodation to the point of undue hardship
• Khurshid Sana Khan - Importance of Synergy between Women-Friendly Legislation and Shelter Homes for Ending Violence against Women in Pakistan
• Ivie Betty Erhahon (Council for Arts and Culture, Nigeria)- Oath-Taking, Unwholesome Burial And Widowhood Practices: Punitive Measures Under The Guise Of Cultural Practices In South-South Nigeria
• Amin Al-Astewani (Lancaster University) - Religious Communities and Joint-Governance: The Case of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal and the Arbitration Act 1996

• David Ong, ‘A Bridge Too Far? Assessing the Prospects
for International Environmental Law to Resolve the South China Sea Disputes’ (2015) 22 International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 578-597.
• Helen Hall, ‘Exorcism, Religious Freedom and Consent, the Devil is in the Detail’ has been published in the (2016) 80(4) Journal of Criminal Law.
• Simon Boyes, ‘Sport in Court:  Assessing judicial scrutiny of sports governing bodies’ (2016) Public Law 362-381
• Vasileios Adamidis, Character Evidence in the Courts of Classical Athens (Routledge 2016)
• Luigi Daniele, ‘Disputing the indisputable: Genocide Denial and Freedom of Expression in Perincek v Switzerland’ (2016) 25 Nottingham Law Journal 151-151
• Lydia Davies-Bright, ‘Terrorism: a threat to security?’ in M Footer, J Schmidt, N White and L Davies-Bright (eds) Security and international law (Hart 2016) 207–248.
• Emma Ireton, ‘The ministerial power to set up a public inquiry: issues of transparency and accountability’ (2016) 67(2) Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 209-229
• Loretta Trickett, ‘Birds and Sluts: Views on young women from the boys in the gang’ (2016) International Review of Victimology 25-44

Impact, esteem and external engagement

• Cat Sjolin-Knight won the prize for the best conference paper at the 4^th International Conference on Law, Regulation and Public Policy, in Singapore, for her co-authored paper on ‘G20 Gender Equality Targets and sexual exploitation’.
• Cat also acted as Junior Counsel in the recent Supreme Court hearing on joint enterprise: R v Jogee, and has appeared on Radio 4s Today program, discussing this issue.
• Andrea Nicholson just been awarded £5,000 from the AHRC funded Anti-Slavery Usable Past project to carry out interviews with survivors of slavery which will be made available on their digital archive.
• Andrea Nicholson has a successful bid for £17,000 to the ESRC for her PhD research into modern day forms of slavery and slave narratives.
• Loretta Trickett has been working closely with the police on hate crime in helping to develop new policing strategies. See: ‘Hate Crime Training of Police Officers in Nottingham: A critical review’.
• She has been interviewed by about her work on hate crime by inter alia, the Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, BBC2s Victoria Derbyshire Show, and the Observer.

Events

Human Rights, Law and Religion: Perspectives on the Islamic Face Veil (seminar)

On 30 March 2015 the Centre for Conflict, Rights and Justice, in collaboration with the NLS Centre for Advocacy, hosted the Perspectives on the Islamic Face Veil seminar, which explored some of the legal and human rights issues surrounding the Islamic face veil – the niqab and the burqa.

The seminar aimed to provide a forum for those with different views and perspectives to engage in the debate in a supportive and collaborative atmosphere. Eight speakers spoke from a range of perspectives over the course of three themed sessions. The day was a great success, demonstrating that even controversial issues can be debated fully and frankly while maintaining respect for opposing views. Visit our news page to read more about this event.

Presentations and speakers

Slides from presentations can be found below:

• Professor Jill Marshall – Face Veil Seminar Presentation – Burqa bans and the control or empowerment of identities in European democracies
• Jeremy Robson – Face Veil Seminar Presentation – The Veil and the Myth of Pinocchio's Nose
• Felicity Gerry QC – Face Veil Seminar Presentation – Female Defendants... Perspectives on Open Justice

Events

Sporting Justice (conference)

On the 28 March 2014 the Centre hosted a one-day conference around the theme of sporting justice. The conference was the second event to be run by the Centre, following on from last year's highly successful conference, 'Legal Perspectives on the Victim', which launched the Centre. The Sporting Justice conference was free to attend and explored a range of sporting themes, in the context of the values encompassed in the notion of justice, including – but not limited to – equality, fairness, integrity, and ethics.

News

Launch of the Centre for Conflict, Rights and Justice

The 19 December 2013 saw the official launch event of the Law School's Centre for Conflict, Rights and Justice, marked by a daytime symposium, Legal Perspectives on the Victim, and an evening reception. The symposium attracted 50 delegates ranging from academics, practitioners, members of NGOs, and a pleasing number of NLS students. They were treated to a fascinating range of papers by academics and practitioners from across the UK and from as far afield as Spain and South Africa on topics such as human rights, stalking, hate crime, restorative justice, and the environment. Excellent papers were delivered by our own Samantha Pegg, Loretta Trickett and David Ong, and by our PhD students Helen Measures and Anna Waistnage. The keynote address, by Professor Sandra Walklate of Liverpool University, 'Victims' Trauma and Testimony' provided a thought-provoking analysis of victimhood in the early 21st Century. Many of the papers will be published in a special issue of the Nottingham Law Journal in 2013.

The official launch of the Centre took place in the evening with a generous and amusing opening address by His Honour Judge Michael Stokes QC, and presentations to the winners of the student essay and poster competitions, Matthew Caples and Ross Lancaster. Food, wine, piano music and sparkling conversation ensued. (The conversation, it has to be said, grew yet more sparkling with the quantity of wine consumed!)

All in all this was a great kick-off for the Centre, and a great way to finish 2012. Many thanks to all those who helped, and to our generous sponsors, OUP, Paragon Law, Geldards Solicitors, Ashgate, and Pearson.

• Helen Hall’s research on exorcism, witchcraft accusations, possession and the law has had impact in a variety of contexts. She has worked with a number of faith groups in developing guidance to ensure that the rights of vulnerable people can be protected during religious rites and practices. Her work on exorcism has been used by a number of NGOs; for example she was invited to join the Ban Conversion Therapy Working Group, chaired by Helena Kennedy KC, and contributed to the drafting of the Cooper Report. Exorcism is a common mode of “conversion practice” aimed at changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQIA+ persons.  As well as collaborating on the Cooper Report, Helen has given advice to Parliamentary Committees, advocating for the inclusion of such religious activities within a legislative ban.   She was also asked to join the National Working Group on Abuse Linked to Accusations of Witchcraft and Spiritual Possession, and is now an active member of this organisation, a multiagency strategic forum, originally set up in the aftermath of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry. In addition to working on these contemporary issues in the field, with acute importance for human rights and safeguarding, Helen also works on the history of witchcraft, possession and the law. She has partnerships within the heritage sector in both the UK and North America, aimed at increasing public understanding of these stories from the past, and how they continue to influence societal perceptions in the 21st century.
• Dr. Luigi Daniele's research on the international legal protection of civilians in occupied territories and the system criminality of military justice systems advancing incremental annexations has informed the Report presented by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 at the 53rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The research and the Report have thus informed the vision and contributed to shape the approach of 47 Member States engaging in dialogue on Item 7 of the Council's Agenda, impacting globally the efforts for the achievement of the relevant sustainable development goals.
• Emma Ireton was a panel member at the Cumberland Lodge Police Conference, talking about public inquiries in the context of historical investigations, with, amongst others: Assistant Commissioner Rob Beckley – Officer in overall command of the Hillsborough investigation; Sir Robert Francis QC chair of the Mid Staffordshire Inquiry; Sir George Hamilton, QPM – Former Chief Constable For Northern Ireland (June); and provided a training event for 100 police senior investigating officers on public inquiries (July).
• Sophie Gallop was invited to be a panel member for the Chatham House Africa Programme roundtable on Political, Economic, and Security Developments in The Gambia (23 June)
• James Thornton provided evidence to the Justice Select Committee which was cited in their final report: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/6979/documents/72829/default/
• Seema Patel was invited to take part in a private seminar and submit oral evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on a National Plan for Sport and Recreation. The Committee was chaired by Lord Willis of Knaresborough and has notable Members including Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Baroness Karen Brady and Lord Colin Moynihan. Seema spoke about the UK legislative framework in regard to sport and comparative international models and will be submitting written evidence.
• Loretta Trickett’s long running research project on hate crime and misogyny, recorded in these reports over several years and which has formed the basis for one of the School’s two REF Impact case studies, has led to high profile nation-wide impact with the government’s announcement in the Parliamentary debate on the Domestic Abuse Bill on 17 March that the police will record - as hate crimes - incidents of hostility based on sex/gender https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56435550.
  • The research has been conducted in collaboration with Prof Louise Mullany UoN. They have produced a comic book to educate and change minds and behaviours on attitudes to street harassment https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/lipp/documents/10th-sept-2020-e-changing-minds-comic-resources.pdf