Two-day conference - Socioeconomic Rights: Past, Present and Future

However, the ICESCR has not been incorporated into UK law and issues of poverty, food insecurity, homelessness and poor-quality housing continue to be experienced by many in the UK. At the same time, the global threats of climate change, pandemics, and antimicrobial resistance all impact the realisation of socio-economic rights. Socioeconomic rights have been at the heart of litigation related to climate change and the rights of future generations. Advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice, the American Court of Human Rights and cases in the European Court of Human Rights have all acknowledged the impact of climate change on human rights, including socioeconomic human rights.

This conference, funded by the Society for Legal Scholars and the Centre for Law and Social Justice, School of Law, University of Leeds, is being held from 1.30pm on 16 June to 3pm on 17 June. The conference will be held at the School of Law, University of Leeds with the option of hybrid/online attendance. The conference will include three panels of paper presentations and Keynote lectures delivered by Professor Philip Alston, Professor Aoife Nolan and Dr Emma Wincup (Joseph Rowntree Foundation).

This conference is catered and free registration is available for up to 15 in person attendees. Please register for your ticket here.

For in-person attendance, please email any dietary and accessibility requirements (eg large print presentation, reserved seating near front, information about quiet space for breaks, etc.) to lawmso@leeds.ac.uk.

An optional conference dinner (paid by attendees) is also available. Please contact Dr Clare James for more information lawcja@leeds.ac.uk.

Agenda

Day 1

• 1:30 - 2:00 pm - Registration with tea and coffee
• 2:00 - 3:00 pm - Welcome and opening talk delivered by Emma Wincup, JRF
• 3:15 - 3:45 pm - Break with refreshments
• 3:45 - 5:00 pm - Panel 1 – Socio-economic rights in the UK 
  Luke Graham - Charity not Rights: Responsibility for the social safety net in the United Kingdom
  Rishika Sahgal - Crowdfunding to realise socioeconomic rights: the case of Druids Heath, Birmingham
  Aristi Volou - The Relationship between Democracy and Human Rights: The Case for Socio-Economic Rights in the UK (and Beyond)
• 5:15 - 6:15 pm - First keynote: Aoife Nolan - “Democracy and Social Rights – Making (and Interrogating) the Link”
• 7:30 pm - Conference dinner

Day 2

• 9:00 - 9:30 am - Registration with tea and coffee
• 9:30 - 10:45 am - Panel 2 - New developments in socioeconomic rights (Chair: Clare James)
  David Bilchitz - A Missing Piece of the Puzzle? Specifying the Obligations of Corporations in Realising Socio-Economic Rights
  Jeremy Letwin (in person) - What is Strasbourg’s Theory of Social Rights?
  Johanna Hoekstra and Luis F Yanes - Reimagining Private-Public Contracts: The Quest for a Human Rights Centred Approach
• 10:45 - 11:15 am - Break with refreshments
• 11:15 am - 12:45 pm - Panel 3 - The future of socioeconomic rights
  Erika Moranduzzo - Protecting the socio-economic rights of climate refugees as human rights positive obligation under the ECHR in the context of climate change adaptation
  Clare James – A human rights based approach to international law and antimicrobial resistance
  Molly McCall - Remedying Systemic Injustice: The Case of Scotland’s Gypsy Travellers
  Rawletta Barrow (in person) - Reinterpreting the Right to Education – An International Law Perspective on School Exclusion Cases in the UK
• 12:45 - 1:30pm - Lunch
• 1:30 - 3:00 pm - Second keynote: Philip Alston

Please register for your ticket here.