21st Irish European Law Forum conference on Human Rights, Poverty and Social Justice
On November 3rd, 2018, the UCD Centre for Human Rights, in partnership with the University of Glasgow School of Law, held an interdisciplinary conference on the relationship between human rights and poverty at the Radisson hotel. It had a programme and audience remarkable for the diversity of their approaches and backgrounds and the contributions were characterised by an accessibility that will help build public awareness around these issues. This was especially true of the keynote address by Professor Philip Alston, the John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University and UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. In a rousing and passionate address on the problems of raising awareness and mobilising people for action, Professor Alston described the nature of the role and his recent experiences, not least the challenges of working in developed countries like the United States. Before and after Professor Alston's talk were speakers from a wide variety of institutions, discussing philosophical aspects of responsibility for poverty, the history of the concept and concrete legal and policy approaches to realising rights in contexts as different as Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, Botswana and India, as well as in the global context of a sustainable world. Legal approaches to international economic and social human rights were not neglected, but benefited from engaging with these philosophical and historical critiques and a consideration of the relationship of economic and social rights to violence and resistance. It is hoped that an interdisciplinary edited collection will result.
The speakers L to R:
Dr Suzanne Egan, Director, UCD Centre for Human Rights. Dr. Elizabeth Ashford, University of St Andrews, Senior Lecturer in Moral Philosophy. Professor Charles Gore, Former Head of Research on Africa and Least Developed Countries in UNCTAD and Honorary Professor of Economics University of Glasgow Business School. Dr. Julia McClure, Glasgow, School of Humanities, History Department.
Keynote: Professor Philip Alston, the John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law (NYU) & United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. Professor Wouter Vandenhole, Antwerp, UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights, Faculty of Law. Dr. Jesse Tomalty, University of Bergen, Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy. Chief Commissioner Emily Logan, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and Dr Graham Finlay, UCD SPIRe.