In December 2018, Kirsty Brimelow QC will conclude 6 years as Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales. BHRC is hosting a special event in her honour and in celebration of her 15 years’ work with BHRC on 12 December 2018 at 18:30 at Doughty Street Chambers. In conversation with Baroness Helena Kennedy...
Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales and ARTICLE 19 will host a panel discussion highlighting urgent and continuing concerns about freedom of expression and the rule of law in Turkey, which has jailed more journalists than any other worldwide in the last two years. The panel event, chaired by Ms Ann Clwyd MP, is hosted...
The Bar Human Rights Committee will be hosting a panel discussion at the Annual Bar and Young Conference 2018 in London on 24 November 2018. The panel “A Global Mission: Championing Women in the Fight for Human Rights” will be a dynamic discussion on how women in the legal professions represent and champion women, including...
On the 16th World Day Against the Death Penalty, BHRC has issued a statement raising awareness about conditions of confinement in Bahrain, Egypt, Jamaica and the United States–countries where BHRC has taken an active role in advocating against the death penalty. In its statement, BHRC reaffirms its condemnation of the death penalty in all circumstances and...
The Bar Human Rights Committee has joined over 200 organisations around the world in signing an open letter endorsing the Nobel Peace Prize for the global community of Human Rights Defenders to mark the 20th anniversary of the UN’s Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (HRDs). The open letter, written to the Norwegian Nobel Committee is...
The Bar Human Rights Committee alongside the Law Society of England and Wales and the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute have sent a joint submission to the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers concerning the independence of the legal profession in Turkey. The submission raised concern for the fair trial rights of lawyers...
Following a mass trial of 759 individuals, on 8 September 2018, the Cairo Criminal Court from a courthouse attached to the Tora prison complex, handed down 75 death penalties, 45 life sentences and terms of imprisonment ranging 5-15 years for the remaining. The cases against five people who died in prison were dismissed. BHRC joins the...
Bar Human Rights Committee Chair Kirsty Brimelow QC, Membership Secretary Grainne Mellon and Executive Officer Amanda June Chadwick attended the 58th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association at the invitation of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, OON, SAN. Ms Brimelow QC also spoke at the conference at the plenary session...
BHRC submissions to the Foreign Affairs Committee on two inquiries into the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have been published by the Foreign Affairs Committee. The first inquiry, whose oral hearings took place on 12 June, involved a review of the human rights work of the FCO. In its submission, BHRC raised...
BHRC has issued a statement raising concern for the continued detention of human rights lawyers on the third anniversary of the 709 Crackdown, a nationwide programme of arrests beginning on 9 July 2015. During the period of a few weeks, nearly 250 Chinese human rights lawyers, their staff and human rights defenders were arrested and...
The Bar Human Rights Committee is the independent,
international human rights arm of the Bar of England
and Wales, dedicated to promoting justice and respect
for human rights through the rule of law.