Symposium: Towards A Gender Recognition Framework for Ireland

Friday 14 May 2010

Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, U.C.C., Room G10, 10.30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Speakers at the symposium include:

• Prof. Andrew Sharpe, School of Law, Keele University
• Prof. Stephen Whittle, School of Law, Manchester Metropolitan University (pictured above)
• Ms. Eilís Barry, Barrister at Law
• Mr. Michael Farrell, Solicitor, Free Legal Advice Centres; Irish Human Rights Commission
• Ms. Tanya Ní Mhuirthile, Faculty of Law, University College Cork

Further information is available from Ms Noreen Delea, Faculty of Law, UCC, Cork Tel. (021) 490 2728.  E-mail: ccjhr@ucc.ie

For full details and a booking form for the symposium, see http://www.ucc.ie/en/ccjhr/fullstory,97981,en.html

This symposium forms part of an IRCHSS-funded project, Gender, Religious Diversity and Multiculturalism (PI: Dr. Siobhán Mullally, Law, UCC).

Delegate Fee: €20.00   CPD Points: 3 hours

Fathers and the Law seminar at DCU postponed due to volcanic ash aviation disruption

Unfortunately, the seminar on “Fatherhood, Law and Personal Life: Rethinking Debates about Fathers and Law” which was to be delivered by Professor Richard Collier at Dublin City University on this Wednesday April 21st has had to be postponed due to the current disruption in aviation caused by the cloud of volcanic ash. It will be re-arranged in the Autumn – details to follow.

Equality Authority Conference

Expanding Equality Protections in Goods and Services:
Irish and EU Perspectives

Royal College of Physicians, Dublin
21 May 2010 – 9:30-4:30

The Equality Authority will hold a legal conference on the theme of equality protections in goods and services. The conference is aimed at an EU and Irish audience of legal practitioners, policymakers, academics, students, Equality NGOs and social partners.

The speakers will include:

• Professor Mark Bell, University of Leicester will discuss the
anticipated impact of the proposed new EU directive, including in terms of the treatment of multiple discrimination;
• Lilla Farkas of the Migration Policy Group will address race and
education in a comparative EU context;
• Dr Tony McGlennan from the Bar of Northern Ireland will explore
religion and sexual orientation and their interface from a Northern Ireland perspective;
• Colm O Cinneide, University College London will discuss multiple
discrimination and the distinctions between discrimination grounds in EU law;
• Geraldine Hynes, solicitor with the Equality Authority, will examine
caselaw on financial services;
• Carol Ann Woulfe, solicitor with the Equality Authority, will speak
about disability discrimination in education;
• Garret O’Neill, solicitor with the Equality Authority, will look at
discrimination and public housing accommodation services, caselaw and progress made.

The Hon. Mr. Justice Nial Fennelly, Judge of the Supreme Court (Ireland) and former judge of the European Court of Justice, will be one of the two conference chairs.

Admission to the conference is free. A full conference programme will shortly be available on the Equality Authority website: http://www.equality.ie.

If you would like to attend this conference, please return the attached booking form by email to info@equality.ie by Monday 10 May 2010. Please ensure that you save the completed form as a Word 1997/2003 file, and include the words “Expanding Equality Protections” in the subject line.

This conference is co-funded by the European Union under the PROGRESS Programme 2007-2013

Reminder: Fathers and the Law Seminar at DCU

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED  – THE SPEAKER IS UNABLE TO ATTEND DUE TO THE DISRUPTION TO AIRLINE SERVICES CAUSED BY THE VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD.

This is a reminder that the School of Law and Government, along with the Socio-Legal Research Centre, at Dublin City University is hosting its Inaugural Annual Law and Society Lecture at 6.30pm on Wednesday April 21st, 2010 in the Mella Carroll Lecture Theatre, Nursing Building, DCU.

The lecture, entitled “Fatherhood, Law and Personal Life: Rethinking Debates about Fathers and Law” will be delivered by Professor Richard Collier from Newcastle Law School and will be chaired by the Honorable Mrs. Justice Catherine McGuinness, President of the Law Reform Commission.

Further information is available here.

To RSVP for this event please email martina.reddy@dcu.ie

Employment Law Conference and Global Colloquium on Disability Law and Policy

The Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway will host two major events this month.

International and Comparative Perspectives on Employment and Disability Law: 24 April 2010

This conference will take place  Saturday 24 April 2010 in Aras Moyola MY129, North Campus, NUI Galway.  The conference programme is available here and information on registration is available here.  The conference is aimed at legal practitioners, academics, NGOs, and those involved in disability issues and practice.  The Conference will examine issues concerning disability and employment from a national and international perspective with speakers who are all key experts in the area.  The Conference will examine issues such as genetic testing, disability and employment, genuine occupational requirements and disability, UK and EU developments in the area of employment and disability and key issues in this jurisdiction. Case law from relevant jurisdictions will be highlighted and discussed. It will also focus on lessons from disability employment law in developing countries.

Global PhD & Researchers Colloquium on Disability Law & Policy: 26 -27 April 2010

This is a two-day Colloquium on disability law and policy, which will take place 26-27 April 2010 at the Carlton Hotel Galway.  A full Colloquium programme is available here and a booklet of abstracts is available here.  A limited number of places to attend the Colloquium are available – for information on registration see here.

The Colloquium is organised in conjunction with the Burton Blatt Institute (Syracuse University, New York) and the University of Haifa (Israel).  The Colloquium will run on an annual basis rotating between the different Universities.

This is the first event of its kind bringing together disability researchers from all around the world, who will deliver over 60 papers.  This is a very timely event as research on disability law and policy reform has never been more urgent given the imperative of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  This two-day event will play a significant part in bringing together an emerging community of scholars in the disability field whose ideas will shape the reform agenda for years to come.  The themes of the Colloquium include:

1. The Right to Legal Capacity
2. The Right to Independent Living
3. Towards Effective National Strategies for the Implementation of the UNCRPD
4. Definitions of Disability
5. Civil Society – Nothing About Us Without Us
6. Intersectionality of Disability: Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Age
7. Employment Law & Policy
8. Mental Health Law & Disability
9. The Right to Inclusive Education
10. Regional & Comparative Disability Law
11. Development Aid, Humanitarian Intervention & Disability
12. The Right to Accessibility

StandUp: LGBT Awareness Week

This week is LGBT Awareness Week, during which–among other things–BelongTo, a fantastic organisation for LGBT youth, are running their StandUp campaign. According to their website, the campaign “is aimed at creating positive understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people and their issues”.

Awareness of the needs of younger LGBT people in our schools, universities, sports clubs and society in general is vital to ensuring full flourishing. Being young and being gay, bisexual, trans or intersex is not a whole lot of fun for many people, particularly before they go to university and discover lots of other people “like” them. If you work somewhere with younger people, why not print out one of the posters or logos and put it in your office space or on your door. Show the young people in your environment that you support them and their friends and colleagues who are not LGBT that they should support them too. Even if there are not many younger people in your work place, put the poster up. The likelihood is that one of your colleagues or friends has an LGBT child, relative or friend. Supporting their children supports them. If you are a parent, this might be an opportune time to ask the principle or teachers in your child’s school about their policies on homophobic bullying and diversity within the school and express your support for ensuring a safe educational space for all young people.

Stand Up and support your LGBT friends and colleagues.

UCC Event: ‘Children’s Rights:The Proposed Constitutional Amendment’

The Faculty of Law, UCC, will be hosting an event on ‘Children’s Rights: The Proposed Constitutional Amendment’ on Thursday April 15.

Speakers will include:

• Emily Logan, Ombudsman for Children;
• Dr Conor O’Mahony, Lecturer in Constitutional Law, University College Cork;
• Rosemary Horgan, Family Law Solicitor, Ronan Daly Jermyn & Co.

The seminar will be chaired by Dr Ursula Kilkelly.

The event will run from 12.00-2.30 pm in Room LG 52, Cavanagh Pharmacy Building, College Road, Cork

A limited number of places are available, so please register your interest in attending by e-mailing conor.omahony@ucc.ie.

Legal Practitioners: 2 Hours of CPD points are available for attendance at this event.

The proposed Constitutional Amendment on the Child has previously been written about on this blog here, here and here . It was the subject of a recent HRinI blog carnival.

PILA Seminar: Using International Law: The European Social Charter and UN Treaty Bodies

Venue: Distillery Building, Church St, Dublin 7

Date: Friday, 7 May 2010             Time: 4 – 5.30 PM

 

Colm O’Cinneide is currently vice-president of the European Committee on Social Rights, which monitors state compliance with the European Social Charter. He is a reader in human rights law at University College London and a member of the Irish Bar. He was a member of the UK Task Force on the establishment of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

Kate Fox is an Irish solicitor who has worked in the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for over 10 years. She has provided substantive legal support to the independent monitoring bodies of the 4 treaties dealing with individual complaints against State parties: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention against Torture, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

As places are limited, please confirm attendance to Jo Kenny t: (01) 8728048 or e: jo.kenny@flac.ie

 

CPD points are available for this event. PILA is a project of FLAC. Its objective is to promote and facilitate the use of law in the public interest for the advancement and protection of human rights and for the benefit of marginalised and disadvantaged people.

CCHJR 4th Annual Criminal Law Conference

From the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights (CCJHR) blog comes news of the 4th Annual Criminal Law Conference which will focus on victims in the criminal justice system.

Further information on the conference, and registration details, can be found here.

Summer School on Transitional Justice: Gender, Conflict and Transition

Transitional Justice Institute, University of Ulster, Magee campus, Northern Ireland

Monday 7 to Friday 11 June 2010

The Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) is still accepting applications for the third annual Summer School on Transitional Justice.  This year’s theme is Gender, Conflict and Transition and key speakers include: Professor Fionnuala Ni Aolain (TJI), Professor Christine Bell (TJI), Baroness Nuala O’Loan (Irish Special Envoy on Resolution 1325), Professor Ruth Rubio Marin (European University Institute), Dr Niamh Reilly (NUI Galway), Dr Catherine O’Rourke (TJI) and Dr Kelly Askin (International Justice, Open Society Initiative (tbc)).

Further details are available here.

For queries, please contact Ms Emer Carlin in the first instance: e.carlin@ulster.ac.uk