Close

Events

Human rights: the case for the defence

Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute, LSE Human Rights and the Wollstonecraft Society

In-person and online public event (Old Theatre, Old Building)

Speakers

Baroness Chakrabarti

Baroness Chakrabarti

Professor Conor Gearty

Professor Conor Gearty

Bee Rowlatt

Bee Rowlatt

Chair

Professor Alpa Shah

Professor Alpa Shah

We are threatened by wars, inequality, new technologies and climate catastrophe, and we need our human rights now more than ever. At this year’s annual Wollstonecraft Society Lecture, we are joined by Shami Chakrabarti, lawyer, parliamentarian and leading British human rights defender.

Chakrabarti will discuss her latest book Human Rights: The Case for the Defence, which shows us why human rights are essential for our future. Outlining the historic national and international struggles for human rights, from the fall of Babylon, to the present day, Chakrabarti is an indispensable guide to the law and logic underpinning human dignity and universal freedoms. Her intervention will engage both sceptics and supporters, equipping believers in the battle of ideas and persuading doubters to think again. For human rights to survive, they must be far better understood by everyone.

Meet our speakers and chair

Shami Chakrabarti is a leading British human rights lawyer and campaigner who has written and broadcast widely and held a number of public roles in recent decades. A legislator in the House of Lords, she is the author of On Liberty and Of Women. Director of Liberty (the National Council for Civil Liberties) from 2003 to 2016, she was Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales from 2016 to 2020.

Conor Gearty (@conorgearty) is Professor of Human Rights Law at LSE and a barrister in practice at Matrix Chambers. He has published widely on terrorism, civil liberties and human rights. His next book, Homeland Insecurity. The Rise and Rise of Global Anti-Terrorism Law will be published by Polity in late May.

Bee Rowlatt (@BeeRowlatt) is a writer and public speaker, and a programmer of events at the British Library. Her most recent book In Search of Mary retraced Wollstonecraft’s 1795 treasure hunt over the Skagerrak Sea. She led the campaign for the Wollstonecraft memorial sculpture and is chair of the human rights education charity, the Wollstonecraft Society.

Alpa Shah (@alpashah001) is Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her new book is The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the search for democracy in India. Her last book, Nightmarch, was finalist Orwell Prize for Political Writing, New Statesman Book of the Year, finalist New India Foundation Book Prize, longlisted Tata Literature Live Non-Fiction Award, winner Association for Political and Legal Anthropology Book Prize.

More about this event

This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

The LSE International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) brings together experts from many of the School's departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

LSE Human Rights (@LSEHumanRights) is a trans-disciplinary centre of excellence for international academic research, teaching and critical scholarship on human rights.

The Wollstonecraft Society (@TheWollSoc) aims to carry Mary Wollstonecraft’s legacy of human rights and equality into the lives of people who don’t know her work. Its goals are to increase awareness of her legacy, and inspire community engagement.

Hashtag for this event: #LSEIII

LSE Blogs
Many speakers at LSE events also write for LSE Blogs, which present research and critical commentary accessibly for a public audience. Follow British Politics and Policy, the Business Review, the Impact Blog, European Politics and Policy and the LSE Review of Books to learn more about the debates our events series present.

Live captions

Automated live captions are available at this live event. Please note that this feature uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology, or machine generated transcription and is not 100% accurate.

Photography

Photographs taken on behalf of LSE are often used on our social media accounts, website and publications. At events, photographs could include broad shots of the audience and lecture theatre, of speakers during the talk, and of audience members as they participate in the Q&A.

If you are photographed participating in an event Q&A but would not like your photograph to be stored for future use, please contact events@lse.ac.uk.

Podcasts
We aim to make all LSE events available as a podcast subject to receiving permission from the speaker/s to do this, and subject to no technical problems with the recording of the event. Podcasts are normally available 1 week after the event. Podcasts and videos of past events can be found online.

Social Media

Follow LSE public events on Twitter for notification on the availability of an event podcast, the posting of transcripts and videos, the announcement of new events and other important event updates. Event updates and other information about what’s happening at LSE can be found on the LSE's Facebook page and for live photos from events and around campus, follow us on Instagram. For live webcasts and archive video of lectures, follow us on YouTube. 

LSE in Pictures is a selection of images taken by the school photographer.

Accessibility
If you are planning to attend this event and would like details on how to get here and what time to arrive, as well as on accessibility and special requirements, please refer to LSE Events FAQ.  LSE aims to ensure that people have equal access to these public events, but please contact the events organiser as far as possible in advance if you have any access requirements so that arrangements, where possible, can be made. If the event is ticketed, please ensure you get in touch in advance of the ticket release date. Access Guides to all our venues can be viewed online.

WIFI Access
LSE has now introduced wireless for guests and visitors in association with 'The Cloud', also in use at many other locations across the UK. If you are on campus visiting for the day or attending a conference or event, you can connect your device to wireless. See more information and create an account at Join the Cloud.
Visitors from other participating institutions are encouraged to use eduroam. If you are having trouble connecting to eduroam, please contact your home institution for assistance.
The Cloud is only intended for guest and visitor access to wifi. Existing LSE staff and students are encouraged to use eduroam instead.
From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.
How can I attend? Add to calendar

This public event is free and open to all. This event will be a hybrid event, with an in-person audience and an online audience. 

For the in-person event: No ticket or pre-registration is required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries see LSE Events FAQ.

For the online event: Register for this event via LSE Live at Human rights: the case for the defence

For any queries email events@lse.ac.uk.

Share

  Sign up for news about events