Free Public Lecture: Frances Webber's Borderline Justice
/Frances Webber and Harmit Athwal on "Borderline Justice: the fight for refugee and migrant rights".
"Borderline Justice" is written by Frances Webber and published by Pluto Press, with a foreword by Gareth Peirce. Barriser Frances Webber provides a unique insight into how the law has been applied to migrants, refugees and other "unpopular minorities". The book records some of the key legal struggles of the past thirty years which have sought to preserve values of universality in human rights - and the importance of continuing to fight for those values, inside and outside the courtroom.
Harmit Athwal will speak on the deaths of asylum seekers (in detention, in the community and during removal) and what can be done to highlight such deaths.
Frances Webber has been a legal practitioner in the field of migrants' rights for over 30 years. She is an honorary Vice-President of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Vice-Chair of the Institute of Race Relations and a visiting lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Harmit Athwalll has worked for the Institute of Race Relationsfor 15 years, edits and manages IRR News, the IRR’s online news service and carries out research into deaths in custody, during deportation and related to racial violence in the UK. Recent reports include Driven to desperate measures, Racial violence: the buried issue and Asylum deaths: what to do next. In her outreach role, she has variously worked with groups such as United Families and Friends Campaign, Medical Justice and Corporate Watch.
Helen Bamber OBE: "Frances Webber writes with the authority of a legal expert who for thirty years has represneted migrants and asylum seekers. The book raises quesions for all concenrred with the preservation of a truly democratic and humane society".
Liz Fekete, Executive Director Institute for Race Relations: "On every page of this book the cold, inhuman and racially-determined logic of Home Office decision-making is laid bare by a campaigning lawyer passioante in the belief that the fight to preserve refugee and migrant rights in the UK is central to the larger fight for racial justice internationally".
Wednesday 26 June 2013, 6.30pm - 8.30pm, admission free, Garden Court Chambers 57 - 60 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ. No need to reserve in advance. Copies of Borderline Justice will be on sale.
