Introduction
The ‘International Justice and Human Rights Research Unit’ provides a forum for research in: international criminal law, international humanitarian law, human rights law, public international law, international conflict and security law, migration, criminal justice and human rights. It includes members from both academia and the legal profession. Members of the Unit provide expert advice and training to the legal profession, governmental and non-governmental organizations, judiciaries, undertake collaborative research. The Research Unit regularly hosts conferences, workshops, seminars, and lectures.
The Unit welcomes proposals for collaborative research projects.
You can contact the Unit on [email protected].
News
Latest Research Projects from Dr Mariagiulia Giuffré
Dr Mariagiulia Giuffré has been awarded two prestigious fellowships by the University of Münster, Germany (2021-2022): the Schumann Fellowship by the Karina and Erich Schumann Centre for Advanced International Legal Studies, and the Wire (Women in Research) Fellowship to support her work on migration and international law.
As part of her research stay at the University of Münster, Dr Giuffré has published a paper on:
‘A functional-impact model of jurisdiction: Extraterritoriality before the European Court of Human Rights’ (Questions of International Law 2021)
This article explores the feasibility of a comprehensive paradigm based on functional jurisdiction and public powers, a paradigm that is at the same time complemented by an approach to jurisdiction based on the control exercised by the State over an individual’s enjoyment of human rights, whether within or outside territorial borders. More specifically, it attempts to show how a functional reading of jurisdiction, which is not reliant on physical control and the positive/negative nature of State obligations, would offer a more coherent stance to the Court in a vast array of cases, including State action at sea and the innumerable (interstate and individual) complaints concerning armed conflicts and active hostilities.
Moreover, this article asks to what extent the Strasbourg Court would positively rely on the interpretation of human rights principles articulated by other international human rights bodies – in particular with regard to the impact of State actions on the enjoyment of individual rights as an element to affirm extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Dr Giuffré has also recently published a piece on “The Conversation” concerning the death of 27 persons in the English Channel. Not only has the UK responsibilities towards people coming towards its shoreline on boats, but it has also a duty of cooperation with France under the SAR and SOLAS Convention to prevent loss of life at sea and ensure completion of a search and rescue operation, through disembarkation in a place of safety.
Find out more
Call for Papers: The Fifth Responsibility to Protect in Theory and Practice Conference
20 Years: Idea, Inaction, and Implementation
1 – 2 June, 2021
Liverpool, UK
The International Justice and Human Rights Unit is thrilled to announce the call for papers for an international conference in collaboration with the University of Ljubljana, the European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (ECR2P), and the British International Studies Association’s Working Group on Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect.
The Organising Committee is pleased to confirm that Dr Simon Adams, of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, will be giving a keynote address at the conference. Further speakers will be confirmed soon.
We are seeking for papers that address all aspects of the R2P – theoretical, empirical and/or normative. Scholars and practitioners of all career stages are most welcome to submit paper proposals.
Full details of the conference and call for papers can be found on the R2P conference website.
The deadline for abstract submissions is 8 January 2021.
Two IJHR Members Publish Monographs in International Law
The International Justice and Human Rights Research Unit is excited to announce the publication of two monographs by its members, as part of the Hart Publishing Series of ‘Studies in International Law’.
Dr Mariagiulia Giuffré has written The Readmission of Asylum Seekers under International Law, exploring the questions which lie at the junction of migration control and refugee law standards, and the extent to which readmission can hamper refugees’ access to protection.
Dr Patrick Butchard has published The Responsibility to Protect and the Failures of the United Nations Security Council which, at a time of inaction and political paralysis at the United Nations, explains the legality of alternative action beyond the UN Security Council.
Both books are now available to order. Keep watch on our events page and Twitter for announcements and developments about this research.
The Readmission of Asylum Seekers under International Law
This monograph could not be more timely, as discourses relating to refugees’ access to territory, rescue at sea, push-back, and push-back by proxy dominate political debate. Looking at the questions which lie at the junction of migration control and refugee law standards, it explores the extent to which readmission can hamper refugees’ access to protection. Though it draws mainly on European law, notably the European Convention on Human Rights, it also examines other international frameworks, including those employed by the United Nations and instruments such as the Refugee Convention. Therefore, this book is of importance to readers of international law, refugee law, human rights and migration studies at the global level. It offers an analysis of both the legal and policy questions at play, and engages fully with widely-disputed cases concerning readmission agreements, deportation with assurances and interception at sea. By so doing, this book seeks to clarify a complex field which has at times suffered from partiality in both its terminology and substance.
You can buy the book using the options below:
The Responsibility to Protect and the Failures of the United Nations Security Council
What can be done if the United Nations Security Council fails to protect people from mass atrocities? At a time of inaction and political paralysis at the United Nations, this book explains the legality of alternative action beyond the Security Council.
This book takes a fresh look at the responsibility to protect and offers new and compelling insights into the powers and limits of the UN Security Council. It argues that the Security Council’s responsibility to maintain international peace and security, and its responsibility to protect, do not die with its own failures. Other actors can and must take up responsibility to save those in need. In a persuasive and detailed examination of the legal framework, this research identifies options for coercive measures to be taken beyond the Council that could be used to break the deadlock, including through the General Assembly and regional organisations.
It provides a must-have resource for students, academics, and researchers on key principles of international law. It also offers insight for governments, policy-makers, and other international actors on how they can uphold their legal responsibilities, maintain peace and security, and prevent their failures from undermining the very existence of the UN itself.
You can buy the book using the options below:
R2P Conference 2021
The Fifth Responsibility to Protect in Theory and Practice Conference
Please note: This Conference took place in June 2021, and you can view the recordings of the live stream on YouTube.
20 Years: Idea, Inaction, and Implementation
1 – 2 June, 2021
Online
The International Justice and Human Rights Unit is thrilled to announce the call for papers for an international conference in collaboration with the University of Ljubljana, the European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (ECR2P), and the British International Studies Association’s Working Group on Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect.
The Organising Committee is pleased to confirm the following speakers will be participating in keynote addresses at the conference:
- Dr Simon Adams, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
- Alice Wairimu Nderitu, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide
- Dr Karen Smith, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect
In light of continuing restrictions globally because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference will now be hosted online by IJHR, Edge Hill University.
After taking some time to adapt the conference to an online-only format and make sure we have got everything right, the Draft Programme for the Conference is available here:
Conference Programme – R2P 2021
Conference Programme – R2P 2021 (text-only version)
The programme contains information on how to get involved in the conference, including through our hosting platform Collaborate, the live stream, and a virtual conference venue we hope to have live in the coming weeks which will give you a virtual environment to watch the conference proceedings, but also to talk to your fellow attendees and network in the breaks. If you have a research poster you would like to post in this virtual environment, please do get in touch with us and let us know.
Note on Live Stream: This conference will be streamed live on YouTube, and recorded for that Purpose. By participating in the conference, you consent to this recording and broadcasting, and posting of these images on affiliated websites for the conference.
Registration is now open here.
We look forward to meeting you virtually in June.
What is the conference about?
About the conference series
How to get involved
The organising committee
Members
(0)1695 657458
[email protected]
Dr Patrick Butchard (Coordinator of the Research Unit)
Publications
(0)1695 657623
[email protected]
Holly Devlin (0)1695 657384
[email protected]
Dr Mariagiulia Giuffré (Coordinator of the Research Unit)
Publications
(0)1695 657614
[email protected]
(0)1695 657618
[email protected]
Francesca Lee
(0)1695 657611
[email protected]
Research in Action
Members of the International Justice and Human Rights Unit are involved in important and innovative research on a range of topics. Summaries of some of their work are available here.
- Administrative Detention
- Investigating ‘Forced Mobility’ of EU citizens within the European Union
- The Readmission of Asylum Seekers Under International Law: Migration Control and Access to Protection
- Judicial Dialogue between International Criminal Tribunals and the European Court of Human Rights
- State of Emergency and Derogation of Human Rights
- The Responsibility to Protect and the Failures of the United Nations Security Council
- The Differing Application of the Principle of Nullum Crimen Sine Lege in International Criminal Tribunals and Human Rights Bodies
- Europe-Africa Cooperation: Refugee Rights and the New Frontiers of Externalization of Migration Controls
Events
2020-2021
1 – 2 June 2021
The Fifth Responsibility to Protect in Theory and Practice Conference
20 Years: Idea, Inaction, and Implementation
The Responsibility to Protect In Theory and Practice Series is a series of biennial international interdisciplinary conferences established by the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The series is devoted exclusively to the concept of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P/RtoP), with the objective to create an opportunity for scholars and practitioners to engage in an interdisciplinary academic debate on the theoretical and practical implications of the concept. The conferences are organised as a forum where international experts and researchers have the opportunity to participate in a discourse on issues related to R2P and the applicability of the concept in practice.
The 2021 conference is collaboratively organised as a partnership between the International Justice and Human Rights Unit at Edge Hill, the University of Ljubljana, the BISA Intervention and Responsibility to Protect Working Group, and the European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (ECR2P).
2018-2019
8 February 2019
Guest Lecture on the occasion of the launch of The Companion to International Humanitarian Law. Domestic and International Prosecution of War Crimes: Achievements and Challenges
Speakers: Judge Keith Raynor (Vice-President Kosovo Specialist Chambers) and Mr Niccolò Pons (Associate Legal Officer Kosovo Specialist Chambers)
Discussants Dr Patrick Butchard and Dr Triestino Mariniello
7 – 8 September 2018, Liverpool
Conference ‘Twenty Years of the ICC’s Rome Statute: Utopia – Reality – Crisis’
The Conference was based on an international and interdisciplinary discussion on four different, but interconnected themes – ‘global justice’, goals and functions of the ICC, relationship with states parties and the UN Security Council, effectiveness of proceedings.
Convenors
- Julia Geneuss, LL.M. (NYU) (Hamburg University)
- Triestino Mariniello (Edge Hill University)
2017-2018
24 November 2017
Guest Lecture ‘European Court of Human Rights Case Law on International Crimes’ on the occasion of the book launch ‘Judicial Dialogue on Human Rights: The Practice of International Criminal tribunals’ (Lobba – Mariniello eds, Brill 2017)
Speaker Judge Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque (European Court of Human Rights)
Chair Dr Mariagiulia Giuffré
Discussants Dr Paolo Lobba and Dr Triestino Mariniello
t November 2017
Guest Lecture – The International Criminal Court at 15: Achievements and Challenges.
Speaker Judge Cuno Tarfusser (Vice-President of the International Criminal Court)
Previous Events
13 – 14 June 2014
In June, 2014, Edge Hill University hosted a two-day international workshop. The event focused on the legal phenomenon of cross-fertilization between international criminal law and human rights principles developed by specialized supranational bodies. Twenty-two among scholars and practitioners critically assess the manner in which widely-recognized standards of human rights have been used (or misused) by international criminal tribunals.
Contact
To contact the International Justice and Human Rights Unit, please use the following contacts:
Dr Patrick Butchard
01695 657623
[email protected]
Dr Mariagiulia Giuffré
01695 657614
[email protected]
Department of Law and Criminology
Edge Hill University
St Helens Road
Ormskirk, Lancashire
L39 4QP
United Kingdom