Human Rights

Lynne Townley and Samir Pasha consider the impact of recent legislative and policy initiatives aimed at discouraging the practice of forced marriage

Forced marriage is defined as “a marriage without the consent of one or both parties and where duress is a factor”. Under domestic legislation, a marriage entered into without the valid consent of either party can be rendered void. Forcing a person into marriage also incurs a violation of the provisions of numerous international instruments. 

Supreme court

The Scottish Government has drafted proposals to restrict the Supreme Court’s powers to rule on human rights issues in criminal cases north of the border.

Lady Justice Arden has highlighted the qualities required by judges, in a speech about the Magna Carta.
 

In the light of the News of the World phone hacking saga Sarah Lewis and Yousif Elagab examine the difficult legal issues now surrounding voicemail hacking and breaches of privacy

The demise of the News of the World has blown the phone hacking saga wide open.  The seemingly endless revelations of investigative techniques, without conscience or legitimate purpose, have embroiled not only the media and celebrities but the police, the CPS and Parliament, in particular the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. 

Osama bin Laden was killed in May in a US military operation.  As the dust in Pakistan settles, Ali Naseem Bajwa QC and  Anna Morris consider the issues raised

President Obama’s announcement on 2 May that al-Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden, had been killed in a US military operation in Pakistan was a dramatic and significant moment. The news was widely welcomed; however, once some of the facts of the operation became public, voices of disquiet began to emerge about the state killing of an unarmed person in another sovereign state and the fact that he would now never stand trial for his alleged crimes. Here we will examine those concerns and analyse some of the main issues that are engaged by the killing of bin Laden. 

Khawar Qureshi QC sets out the law behind the military intervention in Libya and examines its legality

Libya is no stranger to UN sanctions or bombing by NATO Member State warplanes.

On 15 April 1986, in purported retaliation for alleged involvement of the Libyan regime in terrorist attacks, US planes dropped bombs on Libyan territory.
From 1993 to 2003, Libya was subjected to UN Security Council Resolution based economic sanctions as a result of alleged involvement in the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 (the Lockerbie bombing). 

James Dingemans QC looks at the legal profession  in Albania and the work of the Slynn Foundation there.  

On Wednesday 30 March 2011 a delegation from the Albanian National Chamber of Advocacy, (the ANCA), which is effectively the Bar Council, Bar Standards Board, Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority for Albania all rolled into one organisation, visited the offices of the Bar Council and Bar Standards Board. This article attempts to explain what they were doing there. 

Commonwealth Lawyers Conference: February 2011 saw India hosting  the 17th Commonwealth Lawyers’ Conference. Nichola Higgins reports.  

Hyderabad, the sixth most populous city in India combines bustling bazaars and statuesque mosques with a major centre for the IT industry in India (earning the city the sobriquet “Cyberabad”).  In February, it played host to the 17th Commonwealth Lawyers’ Conference, during which over 700 lawyers, academics and judges descended on Hyderabad between 5th and 9th February 2011. Lawyers have much to learn from the comparative experience of other commonwealth countries and to facilitate such learning the CLA holds a biannual conference as well as regional events. 

In the second part of his article on the attempt by Abu Hamza to avoid extradition, Paul Hynes QC considers the arguments in the European Court and their compatibility with European notions of cruel and inhuman treatment

As we saw in the first part of this article, four men, Babar Ahmad, Haroon Rashid Aswat, Syed Tahla Ahsan and Abu Hamza, exhausted their UK domestic challenges to US extradition, and had to look to Europe for a remedy. 

Human rights

An influential cross-party group of lawyers and academics has mounted a staunch defence of the Human Rights Act.