Durham Law School and the Faculty of Laws, Oxford, will host a one-day workshop on Economic and Social Rights in a Time of Austerity on 30 June in Oxford.

Date: 30 June 2011
Venue: Oxford Faculty of Laws

The last two years have seen growing evidence of the deleterious global impact of the economic crisis on the poorest in society. Domestically, there is increasing concern about the potential impacts of the Comprehensive Spending Review and other ‘austerity measures’ on the most vulnerable in the UK. At the same time, there has been a rising interest in the development of human rights accountability and adjudication in the area of economic and social rights (ESR) at the domestic, European and international levels.

This raises the question of whether ESR can play a role (whether as justiciable ‘hard’ rights or as normative values shaping and influencing policy) in challenging attempts by government to roll back basic entitlements of the poorest in society, particularly in relation to housing, social welfare and children’s rights. In light of this, the workshop aims to explore the role of human rights, and particularly ESR, in the context of austerity policies fashioned in the wake of the global financial crisis. It does so though focussing on four main themes: Monitoring, Mainstreaming, Legal Processes and Equality. It features leading ESR experts working in law, academia, the public sector and civil society.

Confirmed speakers include:

Professor Sandra Fredman (University of Oxford)

Dr James Harrison (University of Warwick)

Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC FBA (University of Cambridge)

Murray Hunt (Legal Advisor, Joint Committee on Human Rights)

Professor Aileen McColgan (King’s College London, Matrix Chambers).

Dr Aoife Nolan (University of Durham)

Colm O’Cinneide (UCL)

Dr Sarah Spencer (University of Oxford)

Graham Tegg (Child Poverty Action Group)

Professor Geraldine Van Bueren (Equality and Human Rights Commission)

Details of the event, including speakers and a draft programme are available here.

Places are limited. To register, please contact Arghya Sengupta (Arghya.sengupta@balliol.ox.ac.uk).

This event is kindly being funded by the SLSA, having won the SLSA Seminar Competition 2011.