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Student volunteering opportunities at Coventry Law Centre advertised

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 08:41:33 GMT

The Centre for Human Rights in Practice has again arranged with Coventry Law Centre for a small number of Warwick law students in their 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th years to have the opportunity to volunteer in the asylum and immigration team. This is an excellent opportunity for students to gain practical legal experience in one of the country's leading law centres. It is particularly valuable for those considering a career in refugee/asylum law or other areas of human rights-related practice. Volunteers will be selected through submission of CVs and interviews. For more details on the application process, the Law Centre and the role of student volunteers see info on the Centre's student activities page -http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/research/centres/chrp/studentactivities/

The final deadline for submission of CV and covering letter is Monday 8^th October at 5.00pm. Please email applications to me at J.Harrison.3@warwick.ac.uk.

There will be a presentation on Friday 5th October at 11am in OC0.01 by Robert Bircumshaw, head of the asylum and immigration team at Coventry Law Centre, explaining about their work and the nature of the volunteering opportunities. You will have an opportunity then to ask any questions you may have.

Centre for Human Rights in Practice Student Activities 2016-2017

Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:22:00 GMT

The Centre for Human Rights in Practice provides many opportunities for students to get involved in paid work with the Centre and volunteering placements with external organisations. We are currently advertising a number of opportunities, listed below. For further information about all of the opportunities listed below including deadlines, and application instructions, please visit the Student Activities section of our website.

Volunteer (unpaid) opportunities for which we are now recruiting are:

· Coventry Law Centre

CLC is a charity employing solicitors and advice workers providing free legal advice and representation to people whose rights have been breached in our area. Warwick students can get involved in:

Volunteering with the Asylum and Immigration Team

Volunteering with the Astraea and RIPPLE Projects (health and social care)

· Death Penalty Project - Attorney Support Programme

This project assists US attorneys and charities with their on-going work on capital cases in a number of different ways, from case summarisation, to research. The project is student run, and all the work is performed by our dedicated volunteers coordinated by group leaders.

Paid opportunities for which we are now recruiting are:

· Lacuna magazine

Lacuna is an online magazine published by the Centre that challenges indifference to suffering and promotes human rights. We are currently recruiting for two student roles:

Social Media / Publicity assistant

Online Content Management assistant (with some work in Social Media/Publicity)

· Equality, Human Rights and Public Spending Cuts Work

The project is seeking a research assistant to research issues related to the public spending cuts, the extension and development of our electronic database, and communicating with civil society organisations and public authorities who we are working with.

We look forward to hearing from you!

LACUNA Magazine article featured by The New Statesman

Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:49:34 GMT

A feature on foodbanks written for LACUNA magazine Centre Co-Director James Harrison has been republished in The New Statesman. The article, which offers a critical appraisal of the expansion of foodbanks in the UK, was published to widespread acclaim and has attracted praise from journalists, commentators and writer of "The Thick of It" Armando Iannucci. Read the article here. For more exciting content from Lacuna Magazine subscribe to our mailing list.

Centre Publishes report of expert roundtable: Using Human Rights and Equality Legislation to Monitor, Analyse and Challenge Welfare Benefit Sanctions

Thu, 12 Jun 2014 22:04:04 GMT

The Centre for Human Rights in Practice has published a report of an expert roundtable meeting held earlier this year. The roundtable meeting explored the potential for using Human Rights and Equality Legislation to monitor, analyse and challenge welfare benefits sanctions. Visit our publications page here to download the full report.

Coventry families left penniless after benefits stopped: Uncovering the impact of benefit sanctions in Coventry

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 12:04:46 GMT

Thousands of families in Coventry over the last year were left without any income after their benefits were sanctioned (stopped or reduced) according to advice agencies working in Coventry. The agencies are so concerned about what is happening to people in Coventry that, together with the Centre for Human Rights in Practice, they are launching a three month survey to find out the full impact of welfare benefit sanctions in Coventry.

The survey is being launched following a meeting attended by over 30 organisations and individuals to discuss benefit sanctions in Coventry. Problems raised at that meeting included:

Examples of sanctions that appeared particularly severe including one person sanctioned for six weeks for being five minutes late to sign on, who as a result may become homeless, and another sanctioned for accidently putting the date of a job application and the job applied for in the wrong boxes on a form.
Examples of stress, depression and other mental health problems, including increased suicide risk among clients as a result of sanctions, particularly among female victims of domestic or sexual violence.
In some cases people only found out that they had been sanctioned when their benefits were stopped and did not know what they had done wrong, or that they had a right to appeal.
Families with children being left with no income to buy food or pay bills and at increased risk of homelessness because of rent arrears.

As a result of this meeting it was decided to launch a Coventry wide survey to uncover the full extent and impact of sanctions. Coventry agencies are asking their clients and any members of the public who have been sanctioned to take part in the survey, which is completely anonymous. Copies of the survey and advice about what to do if you are sanctioned are available here: http://www.covlaw.org.uk/welfare/sanctions.html

A direct link to the survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FWW7YYW

Speaking at the launch of the survey Janet Gurney from Coventry Law Centre said:

We are really concerned about the impact that sanctions are having on some of the poorest families in Coventry. From the cases that agencies are seeing it looks as if some sanctions are being imposed unfairly, but few people know about their right to appeal, or that appeals are often successful. We would like to support more appeals in Coventry, but we also need to know more about how sanctions are being imposed in Coventry and what affect this is having on families.

The results of the survey will be published, and shared with the Job Centre locally and DWP nationally in the hope of improving practice.

For more information contact Janet Gurney on 02476 253 174 or Mary-Ann Stephenson on 07957 338582

For a link to the full media release click here and also read the Coventry Telegraph's article on the topic of the survey.

Event: Impact of welfare benefit sanctions in Coventry roundtable

Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:03:08 GMT

The Centre for Human Rights in Practice is jointly hosting a roundtable meeting with Coventry Citizen's Advice Bureau, Coventry Law Centre and Coventry Women's Voices. James Harrison, Co-director of the Centre, and Mary-Ann Stephenson, co-ordinator of the Human Rights, Equality and the Spending Cuts project and CHRP Associate Fellow, will be attending.

Volunteering Opportunity at Coventry Law Centre

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:44:24 GMT

The Centre for Human Rights in Practice has arranged with Coventry Law Centre for a small number of law students (postgraduate or in at least their 2^ndyear of undergraduate studies) to have the opportunity to volunteer in the asylum and immigration team. This is an excellent opportunity for students to gain practical legal experience. A small team of volunteers will be selected through submission of CVs and interviews. For more details on the application process, the Law Centre and the role of student volunteers see http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/chrp/projects/coventrylawcentre.

The final deadline for submission of CV and covering letter is Monday 10^th October at 6.00pm.

There will be a presentation on Friday 7^th October at 11.00am in S0.11 by Indrani Currie, Immigration Team Supervisor at Coventry Law Centre explaining about the Centre, the work of the immigration team and the role of student volunteers.