Human Rights Festival 2011

This year's Human Rights Festival at Kingston focuses on a number of acute contemporary issues, including torture and humanitarian intervention. Among the highlights are a talk from Helen Bamber, the veteran human rights activist who was a founder member of Amnesty before she set up the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture. The festival has been organised by Human Rights students and staff at the University and will feature films, talks and exhibits

Tuesday 29th March, 6.30pm
Sam Raphael (Kingston University)
The Globalisation of Rendition and Secret Detention
A central component of the US-led 'war on terror' has been the holding, transfer and interrogation of terror suspects, often outside the bounds of international law. In many senses, we can now speak of a 'globalised system' of rendition and secret detention, with a complex network of cooperation and complicity in relation to capture, detention, transfer and treatment of suspects. In this lecture, Dr Sam Raphael will outline the key aspects of his newly-launched research project, funded by the ESRC. The project is designed to bring together the existing data collected by human rights organisations, to identify the major features of this network, and to anlayse how the system of secret detention and extraordinary rendition has evolved over the past ten years.
JG0003, John Galsworthy Building

Wednesday 30th March, 2pm
Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines The Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines (CHRP) was set up in July 2006 in response to the increasing number of political killings and human rights abuses taking place in the Philippines. Between the beginning of 2002 and the end of 2006 more than 830 people died or disappeared at the hands of death squads. The CHRP aims to raise awareness of the increasingly critical human rights situation in the Philippines and to put pressure on the Philippines Government both to protect its citizens and to fully investigate these killings. The group’s activities have included holding seminars, hosting speaker tours and organising protest actions.
Room JG3014, John Galsworthy Building

Thursday 31st March, 6.00pm
Dr Derya Bayır, Representations of the 'Kurds' by the Turkish Judiciary
Given the tensions around Kurdish ethnic identity in Turkey throughout the history of the Republic, and the extent of human rights violations against Kurds in Turkey, one might expect the judiciary to have played a key role in responding to Kurdish demands. Little scholarship exists, however, of how the judiciary has viewed the question of Kurdish identity. This presentation analyses how Turkey’s judiciary has navigated the demands of the Kurdish people, how it has represented Kurds, and to what extent it has accommodated them in its jurisprudence.
JG1005, John Galsworthy Building

Tuesday 5th April, 6.30pm
Helen Bamber, Campaigning against Torture
Helen Bamber (who gave her name to the Centre here) is a remarkable human rights activist. She went as a very young women to work with survivors of the Holocaust after the war, and then helped set up Amnesty, before founding the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture. Now well into her 80s she is still campaigning for and helping asylum seekers and refugees. JG0003, John Galsworthy Building
Followed by a reception - email L.Hall@Kingston.ac.uk if you wish to attend.

Thursday 7th April, 6.30pm
Michael Bailey, Dealing with Humanitarian Crises Today
Michael Bailey has worked for a number of major NGOs, especially in Latin America and is now Senior policy adviser working on humanitarian policy for Oxfam.
JG0003, John Galsworthy Building

• All talks will take place on the Penrhyn Road Campus
  
• Admission free, no need to pre-book for talks.
  
• Check website before attending in case of any late changes to programme.
  

Email: fass-events@kingston.ac.uk

Tel: 020 8417 2853 (office hours)