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Human rights champions shortlisted for awards

The outstanding achievements of individuals and organisations working to protect and promote human rights have been recognised in the Liberty and JUSTICE Human Rights Awards 2008. Human rights champions across England and Wales have been shortlisted for the awards, which are sponsored by the Law Society. The winners will be presented at a ceremony at the Law Society on 8 December.
Read the press release

Law Society marks 10th anniversary of Human Rights Act

The Law Society and the Human Rights Lawyers Association held a meeting at Freshfields on 25 November to mark ten years since the Human Rights Act received Royal Assent. 180 people attended the meeting which was addressed by Lord Lester QC and chaired by Madeleine Colvin.
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Persecuted human rights lawyer prevented from attending Law Society event

A keynote speaker at the Persecution of Human Rights Defenders event was unable to attend after being denied entry to the UK . Jitman Basnet, a Nepalese human rights lawyer, was denied an entry visa because he could not prove he had a source of income, or that he was actively engaged in human rights work. This is despite the fact that he currently has visas for other European countries to do a speaking tour to promote the cause of human rights. The event on 24 November which was organised by the Law Society and Peace Brigades International was intended to be a show of support for human rights defenders.
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Entries invited for young lawyers competition

Law students, trainee solicitors and young lawyers from England and Wales are invited to enter the Law Society's 2009 Graham Turnbull essay competition. The competition is named after Graham Turnbull, a British solicitor who was killed eight years ago while working as a United Nations human rights monitor in Rwanda. The title of this year's essay is 'Can international human rights law provide meaningful obligations for business?'. This was chosen to reflect the growing debate about regulation of businesses and the impact of their activities on human rights.
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Society co-sponsors the ABA celebration of the 60th anniversary of the UNDHR

The Society recently co-sponsored an ABA conference held in New York to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the UNDHR. The Society was represented by Professor Philip Leach.
Read Professor Leach's speech

Society progresses to next round in Tanzania competitiveness programme

The Society has progressed to the next round in the government of Tanzania 's private sector competitiveness programme. We have been invited to bid for:

• developing training modules in commercial justice (commercial law and legal skills)
• providing technical resource persons/trainers for the initial roll out of training to the legal profession in Tanzania

The project is financed by the International Development Association.
More details about the IDA's work

Other human rights news

• Bashir's Darfur peace promises are empty: groups - Reuters Africa
• UN Human Rights Council condemns abuses in Congo - Reuters Africa
• UN says rights abuses continue as violence falls in Iraq - Reuters Africa
• Colombia taken to Inter-American Court for Human Rights - Columbia Reports
• Damian Green arrest 'like Mugabe's Zimbabwe' - Telegraph.co.uk
• Convention on Cluster Munitions - Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• DNA database 'breach of rights' - BBC

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Opportunities

International Legal Adviser (Maternity Cover), Redress, London.
Deadline: 15 December.
More details

Asia Program Manager, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (CSC).
Deadline:31 December.
More details

Voluntary internships, Unlock Democracy.
Deadline: 12 December.
More details

Monitoring, Reporting and Information Officer, IDLO, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Deadline: 19 December.
More details

Programme Coordinator, Women Living Under Muslim Laws and the Institute for Women's Empowerment.
Deadline: 6 January.
More details

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Events

• Events to celebrate the 60th Anniversary Universal Declaration of Human Rights - every day until 12 December
• Hard lessons: rethinking human rights practice - 9 December, Institute of Commonwealth Studies
• Fire Up - 6 December, Amnesty, London
• Latin America 2008: Making a Better World Possible - 6 December, London
• Post-conflict Countries: Aid Effectiveness and Permanent Peace - 8 December, London Metropolitan University
• Law, War and Human Rights certificate course - 9 February - 16 March, LSE

View our full events calendar

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Contributions and feedback

We welcome your comments and feedback and our editorial team is happy to consider articles for publication.
E-mail: internationalhumanrights@lawsociety.org.uk

The newsletter is researched and compiled with the help of volunteers from the Law Society's Human Rights International Action Team. These volunteers have acted as a sorting house of information received from various news sources and contributions from readers. Thus, the views expressed are not necessarily the views of the Law Society.