Warwick Law School News
Warwick Law School News
The latest updates from our department
Professor Ann Stewart visits Kenya in preparation for research
Professor Ann Stewart recently visited Kenya as part of her current research project as a Leverhulme Fellow on ‘Caring for Older Women in Kenya’s plural legal system.'
During this visit she interviewed senior judges and members of civil society in preparation for a longer visit next year.
She has been supported in this research by three alumni from Kenya, David Otieno Ngeri, Dr Agnes Meroka and Martha Maneno Gayoye.
Whilst there, she delivered a number of lectures at various institutions and met with a number of Warwick Law School Alumni.
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British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi.
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Title: ‘Gender and Plural Legal Systems’
Andrew Williams publishes 'Forgotten Trials: the other side of Nuremberg' in History Extra
The Centre for Human Rights in Practice co-director Prof Andrew Williams, publishes 'Forgotten trials: the other side of Nuremberg' in History Extra, based on research for his recent book A Passing Fury: Searching for Justice at the End of World War II.
"A landmark in the history of international criminal justice, the Nuremberg Tribunal saw 24 major Nazi criminals brought to trial, with judges from the Allied powers presiding over the hearings. Eleven prominent Nazis were sentenced to death, while others received short prison sentences or no penalty at all. But, says Orwell Prize-winning author AT Williams, while the Nuremberg Tribunal became a symbol of the ‘free world’s’ choice of justice in the face of tyranny, aggression and atrocity, it was only a tiny fragment of a whole system of largely forgotten war crimes trials organised by the Allies across Europe".
Andrew Williams publishes 'Chilcot Report: Law' in the Political Quarterly
The Centre for Human Rights in Practice co-director Professor Andrew Williams recently published an article on the Chilcot Report: Law in The Political Quarterly based on his ongoing research on the Iraq investigations.
Lacuna special series on the Iraq investigations
A Very British Scandal: A 7-part special series investigating the realities behind the Iraq allegations.
Government and media have denied, dismissed and derided allegations of abuse by British soldiers in Iraq.
And yet despite all the political and media pressure the Iraq allegations haven’t gone away.
Lacuna tells the story as you haven't heard it before.
Over the next 7 days, Lacuna magazine editor-in-chief AT Williams and Open Democracy will be interrogating a very British scandal. From calls from the government to “stamp out” the practice of human rights defence to the mainstream media’s portrayal of the “legal witch hunt” supposedly carried out against UK soldiers, this 7-part series digs deeper.
Ali Struthers Organises Successful ESRC event on campus with primary and secondary school pupils
Ali Struthers organised a successful event on campus on the 11th of November with primary and secondary school pupils as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. The event saw 60 primary pupils from Widening Participation schools attend campus in the morning and 60 secondary pupils from WP schools in the afternoon. The pupils took part in workshops that addressed challenging issues in the social sciences through literature appropriate to young people. The workshops were run by Ali (human rights), Phil Gaydon (war), James Harrison (labour rights) and Lucy Hatton (immigration), and the event was well-received by all who took part.
Read about James' experience of his morning workshop here.
Shaheen Ali publishes article in the Conversation
A push to reform Islamic divorce could make Sharia councils redundant in Britain
Controversy over Sharia councils in Britain has resulted in an ongoing parliamentary enquiry on their role and remit. Some of those giving evidence before MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee suggest Sharia councils should be abolished altogether, while others are calling for reform or for a code of conduct to be introduced to regulate these institutions. A separate independent review is also ongoing about whether Sharia law is being used to discriminate against women.
Alice Panepinto hosts event on the Khan al Ahmar school demolition case
On Friday 4th November at Conway Hall in London Alice Panepinto hosted a public event on 'Can Law Stop the Demolition of a Bedouin School in the West Bank? Spotlight on al-Khan al-Ahmar' based on her socio-legal research on the significnce of the al-Khan al-Ahmar school demolition case. The event is part of a series of impact activities, funded by the ESRC-IAA Global Challenges Research Fund, which included a briefing with the Middle East Minister at the FCO.
Kirsten McConnachie Report Published as part of Oxford-Myanmar Policy Brief Series
Dr Kirsten McConnachie's recent report on Myanmar: Displacemet and the Peace Process has been published as part of an Oxford/Myanmar Policy Brief Series.
Sharifah Sekalala's New Blog Entry
Sharifah Sekalala has written a new blog entry for the Health and Human Rights Journal.
Will Africa's New Scorecard Promote Universal Health Coverage?
New Publication: Prosecution in France
New Publication! Prosecution in France
Prof Jackie Hodgson & Laurène Soubise have published an article on 'Prosecution in France' in Oxford Handbooks Online.
Their essay examines the increasingly ambivalent role and status of the French prosecutor, the procureur. As a judicial officer (magistrat), she is required to act in and to uphold the public interest, but her hierarchical accountability to the executive and her role in the formation and implementation of local criminal justice policy threaten her independence, notably in the eyes of her fellow magistrats. The dominance of the executive, both politically and through the imposition of managerialist imperatives, is felt in the ever-expanding role of the procureur, especially in the local sphere. While the limited forms of legal and structural accountability in place leave the prosecutor with broad discretion, this is diminished through the drive to standardization resulting from the delegation of work to fulfill the demands of dealing with greater numbers of cases more quickly, with fewer resources.
Book Launch: Modern Challenges to Islamic Law by Shaheen Ali
A book launch and panel discussion of Shaheen Ali's newly published monograph, Modern Challenges to Islamic Law (Cambridge University Press, 2016) is being organised by the Global Research Priorities - International Development at Warwick University. Royalties received from sale of this book have been dedicated to the Women of Pakistan Scholarship offered to a student from Pakistan for an LLM at Warwick Law School.
Research collaboration in Kenya with Warwick Alumni
Professor Ann Stewart will be going to Kenya to pursue research associated with her Leverhulme Fellowship: Caring for older women in Kenya’s plural legal system.
The study assesses the contribution of community-based ‘woman to woman’ marriage practices in Kenya to the provision of care, particularly for the elderly, when there is little social welfare available.
The everyday practices of caring for older people particularly women, traditionally woven into communal relations, are changing in the socio-economic and political circumstances of contemporary Kenya.
Are woman to woman marriages, historically understood as a means of tackling infertility, evolving into a way of recognising and ‘rewarding’ caring labour for those with assets? How are claims for recognition understood now in the ‘formal’ courts and within community dispute resolution practices?