Shami Chakrabarti | Human Rights: The Case for the Defence
Sat 23 Nov 2024 | 10:00am - 11:00am
Lawyer, parliamentarian and leading British human rights defender Shami Chakrabarti joins us to present her indispensable guide to the law and logic underpinning human rights. In the contemporary world, human dignity and universal freedoms are being attacked by populist and authoritarian movements worldwide; as we are threatened by wars, inequality, new technologies and climate catastrophe, we need human rights now more than ever.
Outlining the historic national and international struggles for human rights, from the fall of Babylon, to present day conflicts and challenges, Chakrabarti’s intervention will engage both sceptics and supporters, equipping believers in the battle of ideas and persuading doubters to think again.
In conversation with barrister, mediator and writer Marina Wheeler KC.
Venue: Cambridge Union
Duration: 1 hour
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Author Biography
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.
Chair Biography
Marina Wheeler KC is a barrister, mediator and writer. Marina has a broad practice in public and human rights law with a special focus on detention, mental health and national security issues. The reconfiguration of hospital services has also featured heavily in Marina’s public law caseload, allowing her to develop expertise in the requirements of a fair consultation and application of the Public Sector Equality Duty. In addition to employment and public law work, Marina also undertakes complex family law cases, usually in the field of child protection and often involving a human rights or cross-border element.
Marina recently returned to practice following the publication of her historical family memoir, The Lost Homestead. She writes, and commentates, regularly about legal issues.
