UCL Labour Rights Institute

A Bill of Rights or a Bill of Wrongs?

Speaker: 
Peter Reading
Director of Legal Policy
The Equality and Human Rights Commission

Chair: 
Colm O'Cinneide, UCL

on 31 January 2012, from 6-7pm
 

About this talk:
In March 2011 the coalition government established an independent Commission on a Bill of Rights. It has terms of reference to investigate the creation of a UK Bill of Rights that replaces the Human Rights Act (HRA) but '...incorporates and builds on all our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, ensures that these rights continue to be enshrined in UK law.'

This lecture will examine the political and legal ramifications of the debate on replacing the HRA with a Bill of Rights. Do we already have a Bill of Rights in the form of the HRA? Does the HRA work effectively and should it be retained? What are the national implications for the devolution settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland of a possible repeal of the HRA? And finally what are the potential international ramifications of repealing the HRA on the protection of human rights globally.

Accredited with 1 CPD hour by the SRA and BSB (pending)

About the Speaker:
Peter Reading is the Director of Legal Policy at the Equality and Human Rights Commission where he been involved number of projects including:

• securing the landmark Equality Act in 2010; 
• leading the Commission's work on government proposals regarding Bills of Rights and the response "The case for the HRA"; and 
• leading the Commission's delegations before the United Nations concerning the UK government's compliance with international human rights Conventions.

Previously he worked as the Head of European and International Legal Policy at the Commission for Racial Equality, and as a Parliamentary Officer at Amnesty International UK. Peter is also currently an independent consultant to Warwick University on equality and human rights, an Executive Board Member of the Discrimination Law Association and is a co-author of the Oxford University Press, Blackstone's Guide to the Equality Act.

Read more about the UCL Labour Rights Institute