London: Human Rights At Work – Can the European Convention protect our rights?

Wednesday 29th February 2012

A one day conference
NUT Hamilton House, London
9.30am

Following the Conference

Following opening remarks from the Chair, John Hendy QC began the day with a presentation that considered recent rulings at the European Court of Human Rights that are helping to protect British workers’ right to take industrial action. He was followed by Mike Schwarz, a leading solicitor on human rights and the right to protest, who gave some striking examples of how the Human Rights Act is being breached in relation to the right to privacy and the right to protest.

After the break,Francesca West of Public Concern at Work gave a useful step by step guide to whistleblowing procedures and how to use the Public Interest Disclosure Act to protect whistelblowers and those people they are seeking to protect. Daniel Blackburn from ICTUR followed, and spoke about corporate accountability and the implications of Ruggie.

After lunch Catrin Lewis, of Garden Court North spoke about the use of the Human Rights Act in terms of protecting people against discrimination. Paul Draycott from Doughty Street Chambers spoke about how the European Convention can be used successfully in claims of unfair dismissal, and the day ended on a positive note with Professor Keith Ewing’s analysis of the future use of Human Rights legislation in the UK, in the context of the current government’s apparent distate for the European Convention.

Available papers and presentations are shown below

Speakers

John Hendy QC
Industrial Action and Human Rights

Mike Schwarz, Bindmans Solicitors
Latest themes on protest law

Paul Draycott, Doughty Street Chambers
Unfair dismissal and the Human Rights Act: cases and precedents

Catrin Lewis, Garden Court North
Challenging Discrimination

Daniel Blackburn, ICTUR
Corporate Responsibility, Human Rights and Ruggie

Prof Keith Ewing, IER President
Where next for Human Rights?

Click here to download the full programme