HRLA

Apocalypse soon? The UK without the European Convention on Human Rights

17 May 2013 by Jim Duffy

Updated, 19 May 2013 | Last night, lawyers, academics, NGOs and even the President of the Supreme Court gathered in a basement conference room in central London.  Their purpose was to discuss the UK “without Convention Rights”, a possible future that some might view as post-apocalyptic, and others as utopia.  Either way, given recent political developments, the event could not, in the words of the Chair, Lord Dyson, “be more timely or topical.”

The seminar was hosted by city law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and presented by the Human Rights Lawyers Association and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.  Lord Dyson, who is the Master of the Rolls (the second most senior judge in England and Wales), introduced three speakers:

• David Anderson QC, the Government’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation since 2011;
• Professor András Sajó, the Hungarian Judge at the European Court of Human Rights; and
• Professor Hugh Corder, Professor of Public Law at the University of Cape Town.

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