Strategic human rights litigation is a growing area of international practice. Yet it is one that remains relatively under-explored. Around the globe, lawyers and activists increasingly resort to a growing body of national, regional and international courts and bodies to ‘strategically’ protect and advance human rights in a way that has a positive impact beyond the outcome of a particular case, or the parties to the litigation.
On Monday 29 April Professor Helen Duffy will present on her new book, ‘Strategic Human Rights Litigation: Understanding and Maximising Impact” (Hart 2018). This presentation will then be followed by a conversation with LSE Law Department Professor, Gerry Simpson.
Professor Duffy's new book provides a framework for understanding strategic litigation, its impact and limitations, and the many tensions and challenges it gives rise to. Across five case studies, drawn predominantly from Helen's own experience as a practicing international human rights lawyer, surface a complex reality of multi-dimensional positive impact, alongside frustrations and limitations. The book explores cases in a range of contexts. This includes: genocide in Guatemala; slavery in Niger; disappearance in Argentina; torture and detention in the ‘war on terror’; Palestinian land rights in Israeli courts. Through careful impact analysis Helen considers the implications for the development of effective litigation strategies in the future.
Speaker's Biography
Helen Duffy runs ‘Human Rights in Practice,’ an international legal practice specializing in strategic human rights litigation and advice. She is also Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Leiden.
Her legal practice addresses a broad range of human rights issues – including CIA rendition and torture, counter-terrorism, judicial independence, slavery/trafficking, equality and genocide - across regional and international human rights courts and bodies. Prior to setting up the practice in 2011, she held positions as: Legal Director, INTERIGHTS; Legal Officer, Prosecutors Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; Counsel on International Justice, Human Rights Watch; Legal Director, Centro para Accion Legal en Derechos Humanos Guatemala; Asst. Secretary, L.J. Scott’s Arms for Iraq inquiry; lawyer, UK government legal service.
Helen is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow (LLB Hons) (where she is now honorary professor), University College London (LLM) and Leiden (PHD). She teaches in the universities of Melbourne and American university. Her publications include “The ‘War in Terror’ and the Framework of International law (CUP, 2nd ed. 2015) and ‘Strategic Human Rights Litigation: Understanding and Maximising Impact’ (Hart, 2018).
Chair's Biography
Gerry Simpson was appointed to a Chair in Public International Law at LSE January, 2016. He previously taught at the University of Melbourne (2007-2015), the Australian National University (1995-1998) and LSE (2000-2007). He is the author of Great Powers and Outlaw States (Cambridge, 2004) and Law, War and Crime: War Crimes Trials and the Reinvention of International Law (Polity 2007), and co-editor (with Kevin Jon Heller) of Hidden Histories (Oxford, 2014) and (with Raimond Gaita) of Who’s Afraid of International Law? (Monash, 2016)
The Department of Law
The LSE Law Department (@LSELaw) is one of the world’s best law schools. The department ranked first for research outputs in the UK's most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) and was in the top 5 law departments overall in the 2018 Complete University Guide. Our staff play a major role in helping to shape policy debates, and in the education of current and future lawyers and legal scholars from around the world.
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