The Human Rights Centre Clinic has announced its five projects for the 2023/24 academic year.
The projects range from addressing damaging housing conditions to examining the diminishing rights of asylum seekers in the UK.
Project 1 - International monitoring of the right to adequate housing
Partner: The Shift
Founded by the former UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha, The Shift is an international NGO based on the recognition of housing as a human right, not a commodity or an extractive industry. The Shift restores the understanding of housing as home, challenging the ways financial actors undermine the right to housing. Using a human rights framework, The Shift provokes action to end homelessness, unaffordability, and evictions globally.
Description:
The project will assist The Shift in undertaking a series of letters of concern concerning several countries about the role of private and public actors in damaging housing conditions. Letters of concern are the instrument The Shift uses to articulate the responsibilities of national and international actors, including international financial institutions, as well as transnational corporations. The Shift monitors their role and responsibilities in relation to the adoption of policies and practices that bolster the financialisation of housing and can damage the protection and fulfilment of the right to adequate housing around the world.
Supervisor: Dr Koldo Casla
Project 2 - Environmental crimes as war crimes in the context of the Colombian armed conflict
Partner: Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace (“Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz”)
The Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace was set up by the peace agreement between the Colombian Government and the FARC guerrilla in 2016. It aims to administer transitional justice in Colombia and deal with crimes committed in the context of the armed conflict up until December 2016.
Description:
During the Colombian armed conflict, a lot of damage was done not just to individuals and communities, but also to the environment, including rivers, moorlands, and protected areas. In 2022, the majority of the Panel for Acknowledgment of Truth and Recognition of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace charged several members of the FARC guerrilla with having committed the war crime of harm to the environment. This was decided with a small majority of 4 magistrates, with 3 magistrates dissenting, while some members of the majority submitted concurring opinions with regard to the question of the existence and scope of crimes against the environment as a war crime. The aim of the Human Rights Centre Clinic project will be to provide the Special Jurisdiction for Peace and in particular the Chamber of the Peace Tribunal deciding cases in which the accused recognised their responsibility with an analysis of a series of open and potentially controversial questions, based on international and Colombian jurisprudence and academic literature.
Supervisor: Professor Sabine Michalowski
Project 3 - Criminalisation of asylum seekers in the UK
Partner: Citizens Essex
Through community organising, Citizens UK enables local leaders to develop their voice and come together with the power and strategy to make real change. Citizens Essex is the local chapter of Citizens UK, with an alliance in Colchester and others developing in other parts of Essex.
Description:
This project will examine the impact of diminishing rights of asylum seekers in the UK and the criminalisation of seeking asylum. It will examine the human rights implications of the UK-Rwanda deal to deport people seeking asylum upon arrival to the UK. It will also explore the impact on human rights and living conditions of people seeking asylum in the UK, as well as legal and policy initiatives in relation to migration and asylum. Students working in this project may focus on the situation in Essex and will analyse international human rights standards and standards in Refugee Law, as well as comparative law and practice.
See project page for more information
Supervisor: Dr Marija Jovanovic
Project 4 - Rights-based economy
Partner: Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
The Center for Economic and Social Rights is an international non-governmental organisation registered in New York. CESR’s vision is of a world in which a just distribution of resources and power enables current and future generations to live with dignity, in full enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights. In pursuit of that vision, CESR’s mission is to harness the power of human rights to inspire fairer and more sustainable economies.
Description:
As a central pillar of their strategy, CESR has tried to catalyse and advance a vision of a human rights-based economy, a vision that different groups could rally around, a vision that sets out how societies can be organised and resources distributed. Key to catalysing action on a rights-based economy is to highlight its complementarity with similarly transformative agendas and to illustrate how strategies and tactics grounded in human rights can help spur such transformation. This project of the Human Rights Centre Clinic will research the diverse range of economic alternatives that are being proposed by various movements to identify areas of synergy and common priorities in terms of policy solutions.
Supervisor: Dr Claiton Fyock
Project 5 - Energy transition, health and gender: Mapping the legal framework and potential policy solutions
Partner: Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR)
GI-ESCR uses human rights law to end social and economic injustice. Together with partners around the world, GI-ESCR seeks to achieve a world in which every person and community lives in dignity and in harmony with nature.
Description:
As the climate emergency escalates it is now imperative to transition to clean, renewable energy. However, shifting from fossil fuels to low-carbon renewable technologies will not automatically produce more equitable outcomes. Lack of or restricted access to energy may undermine the quality and availability of public services on health, education, water, and sanitation used by marginalised young girls and women. Without sustainable and safe power systems, some regions are unable to provide the infrastructure necessary to provide services essential for the realisation of economic and social rights. These key human rights issues are often overlooked in energy transition processes that disregard gender inequality implications. The Essex Human Rights Clinic will review and map relevant human rights norms and standards, as well as relevant literature to understand how a feminist energy transition, including for the realisation of the right to health, would look like in practice.
See project page for more information
Supervisor: TBC
The Human Rights Centre Clinic runs projects that enable students to apply their human rights knowledge to practical situations and further develop their professional skills, working in partnership with civil society organisations, international organisations, governments and national human rights institutions.
The projects and work of the Human Rights Centre Clinic during the 2022/23 year are outlined in our annual report.
