Human rights still in the dark ages
Published 3 November 2009
Humanity has progressed into a scientific, digital world, but when it comes to protecting individual rights and freedoms, we are still in the dark ages.
That's the view of Jonathan Black-Branch, a barrister and professor of international and comparative law who next week gives his inaugural lecture at the university.
He said: "State sovereignty still trumps human rights protection and whilst we have made great progress as a civilization on many levels, this is not one of them. We still have what amounts to modern-day slavery, the trafficking of humans, grave violations of rights based on religion, race and ethnicity….and then there is Guantanamo Bay."
Professor Black-Branch will be speaking on 'Liberty, Equality and Human Dignity' at the university's Mithras House in Lewes Road, Brighton on 12 November.
Born in Canada, Professor Black-Branch came to Britain to carry out postgraduate work and now teaches and conducts research on international law. He currently chairs the International Law Association's committee on the threat of nuclear weapons.
Professor Black-Branch said the world needed to enshrine human right protections into law, separate and safeguarded from political interference. He warned: "Unless we make tough choices quickly we will plunge further away from protecting human rights."
Human rights instruments, he said, remain difficult to enforce and many national governments refused to acknowledge some protections outright. "Many people face detention, others experience inequality, discrimination and affronts to their dignity. Protecting human rights remains precarious."
Professor Black-Branch is calling for human rights enforcement to be separated from politics and devolved to the judiciary and properly constituted courts to deal with human rights abuses, including illegal acts of aggression by state leaders.
His inaugural lecture will focus on the "precarious nature of human rights protection under international law".
He added: "There has been significant progress made on human rights but much work has still to be done. We live in a digital, scientific age where the protection of human rights remains in the dark ages."
Liberty, equality and human dignity: the precarious nature of human rights protection under international law in the twenty-first century
Jonathan Black-Branch
Professor of International and Comparative Law
Thursday 12 November 2009 at 6.30pm
Lecture Theatre G8
Mithras House
University of Brighton
Moulsecoomb BN2 4AT
Light refreshments will be served after the lecture.
All welcome - if you would like to attend please email events@brighton.ac.uk or telephone 01273 643226.
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