The Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales (‘BHRC’) will welcome Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, for a very special in-person and live-streamed keynote and panel discussion event on Tuesday 15 November 2022 at Garden Court Chambers in London at 6pm. This panel event, titled ‘The criminalisation of human rights defenders: What can lawyers do?’, will examine the persecution and long-term imprisonment of human rights defenders and how the criminalisation, harassment, torture and detention of human rights defenders chills the exercise of fundamental freedoms.
As Mary Lawlor stated in States in denial: the long-term detention of human rights defenders, many human rights defenders who have been detained are held in harsh conditions, suffer from ill health, and are deprived of adequate medical attention. Some are also denied regular access to their families. Some are at risk of being sentenced to death, and some have died in jail while serving long sentences. The criminalisation and imprisonment of human rights defenders – among them, labour leaders, journalists, lawyers, academics, and activists – also has a catastrophic impact on human rights defenders as individuals as well as on their families and whole communities.
In this session, which will be moderated by Stephen Cragg KC, Chair of BHRC, we will hear from human rights defenders with lived experience and from organisations that work closely with human rights defenders who have been criminalised by the state. We will also explore some of the key recommendations to emerge in States in denial for ending the imprisonment of human rights defenders and holding states to account, to “end this unjustifiable and indefensible practice immediately and forever.” The full lineup of panel speakers will be announced shortly.
Please RSVP here to join us at Garden Court Chambers in London (from 6 pm),
