Human Rights Speaker Series - Calibrating Colonial Crime: Reparations and The Crime of Unjust Enrichment

Event format

• Chaired by Professor Carla Ferstman, the Director of the Human Rights Centre
• Keynote presentation by Professor Joshua Castellino
• Discussion by Dr Aoife Duffy
• Interactive Q&A session

Abstract

While decolonization liberated territories, it left the root causes of historical injustice unaddressed. Governance change did not address past wrongs and transferred injustice through political and financial architectures. In this lecture, based on his new book Calibrating Colonial Crime: Reparations and the Crime of Unjust Enrichment, Professor Joshua Castellino will present a five-point plan aimed at system redress through reparations that addresses the colonially induced climate crisis through equitable and sustainable means. In highlighting the structural legacy of colonial crimes, Castellino will seek to provide insights into the complexities of contemporary societies, showing how legal frameworks could foster a fairer, more just world.

Biography

Joshua Castellino is Co-Executive Director of Minority Rights Group International and Professor of International & Comparative Law at University of Derby, UK. He founded the School of Law at Middlesex and served as its Dean until 2018, stepping down to take on the role at Minority Rights Group full-time while retaining his Chair until 2022. Joshua holds Visiting Professorships at the College of Europe, (Poland), Oxford University (UK), & the Irish Centre for Human Rights, (Republic of Ireland) and serves pro bono on governing boards of civil society organisations in Germany, Netherlands, UK, Sweden, Uganda and Hungary. He is the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of Privacy International UK and Door Tenant at 25 Bedford Row.
 
Born and brought up in Mumbai, India, Joshua worked as a journalist for Indian Express Newspapers Group in the 1990s, before winning a Chevening Scholarship and completing his PhD in International Law in 1998. He has published ten books (one forthcoming in 2025) and over a hundred articles on international law & human rights over twenty-five years in academia, including the Minority Rights Series (Oxford University Press). His latest book is entitled Calibrating Colonial Crime: Reparations & the Crime of Unjust Enrichment. He engages with questions of minority and indigenous peoples’ rights at inter-governmental, parliamentary, apex courts, bar associations, civil society organisations and Universities in nearly sixty countries. 
 
Joshua participated in the European Union China Diplomatic & Expert Dialogue on Human Rights (2002-2006) and was appointed Chair, by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the 8th Forum on Minority Issues (2015), an inter-governmental dialogue with civil society under the auspices of the United Nations Human Rights Council. 

How to join us

• If you would like to join us in person, please book your place via Eventbrite
• If you would like to join us online via Zoom, please register here.