While Mary Robinson has indicated that she will not be seeking this nomination and will continue her inspirational work as a trailblazing international human rights advocate, one Facebook group still supports the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for the job. Join the FB group anyway and show your support for Mary!

Stick on the kettle and settle in with Noam for a blast on human rights in the 21st century from last weeks appearance at LSE

Or is it?
The Fawcett Society, as usual, are driving the debate forward. Click here for a selection activist events taking place across the UK on Equal Pay Day to end the gender pay gap as Fawcett is encouraging individuals and groups across the country to take action to mark Friday 30 October as the day that women effectively receive their last pay cheque of the year. This is because the 17.1% full-time gender pay gap is equivalent to men being paid all year round while women work for free after 30 October. Equal Pay Day 2009 is calling on the Government to get tough on pay inequality in the UK.

Our new vacancy board for projects, research, blogging and leading work in all areas of the SHRP will be online soon - In the meantime please contact Fiona on for general info and inquiries on getting involved if you are just bursting to let loose and get experience in the most active student society in UCL.

David Runciman reviews Wilkinson and Pickett’s The Spirit Level over at London Review of Books.

22nd November 2009, BPP Law School, London
Time: 9.30am - 5.30pm
Price: £10 concessions and 5.5 hours CPD points included
Check out this one day training event which will include panel discussions, lectures, and workshops on topics ranging from counter-terrorism, the foundation and development of human rights law and safeguarding human rights to careers in human rights. Confirmed speakers include:
Helen Bamber OBE (Helen Bamber Foundation), Jonathan Cooper OBE (Doughty Street Chambers) and Nick Scott-Flynn (Head of Refugee Services British Red Cross).
Event info here and inquiries and booking email

Don’t think so? Take a trip to Watford and find out for yourself!

Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, worries that ”the development of attitudes in public opinion that tend to transform foreigners in general, and asylum seekers in particular, as scapegoats of the current economic crisis”.
Have human rights standards been transformed into flat oxymorons with regard to the Common European Asylum Policy due to political point scoring on rights, regardless of the human, when it comes to convention and treaty responsibilities in practice?

Forget digital community! Just like the recording radio programmes onto cassette tapes emergency of the ‘80s, music consumption is still a virtuous and protected vertical relationship with business, not horizontal (between people). Lord Mandelson declares the days of consequence-free widespread online infringement are over.
Avast! Have globalization processes made pirates of us all (along with this lot)?

In Guardian Society today

Written earlier this year in The New Republic, Amartya Sen on ‘The Power of a Declaration: Making human rights real’

The Royal Society of Medicine, Saturday 31 October 2009
The conference will provide an introduction to human rights and their application to health and access to healthcare. No prior expertise is required, just an interest in the topic of health as a human right.
Register to reserve a place
RSM Student Members are £5, non-RSM Students £15.
Certificates of attendance will be awarded on the day. All queries email

Should politicians be versed in moral philosophy? Reith lecturer Michael Sandel thinks so on this. Listen to this morning’s BBC Today Programme here

Francesca Klug writing in Liberty Central on the 7th October

That’s right - we’re even on the social junction that is FB! Event news, quick posts and all things human rights related in London - follow this Facebook link to become a fan and keep abreast of all things SHRP!