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Human Rights and the Law: the Limits of Government

Gray’s Inn, June 15th, Panel Discussion:  Lord Carlile QC, Jane Corbin, Michael Fordham QC,  Helena Kennedy QC and Clive Stafford Smith OBE

Who sets the limits on Government? This is how Michael Fordham QC challenged the audience at One to One Children’s Funds’ 4th Thought Leadership panel discussion.  The YPN were immediately engaged with Fordham’s discussion on the power of the Courts vs. Parliament in safeguarding civil liberties and acting as the “rule makers”.

Lord Carlile QC chose to speak on the new legislation to prevent terrorism in communities. However it was the issue of Control orders and secret evidence in trial that saw Helena Kennedy QC and Carlile engage in the debates most furious exchange, with the debate Chair Jane Corbin skillfully keeping the discussion moving.  

Helena Kennedy on speaking on defending in terrorist trials (and in particular defending four wives of suspected terrorists) also challenged the audience to think about the place of the Human Rights Act and future legislation on Human Rights versus parliamentary supremacy.

Clive Stafford Smith somewhat diverted from his topic of choice (Torture) when he announced as he took centre stage “I have changed my mind, I am going to talk about drones”. Clive explained that the existence of anti terrorist measures  such as the use of drones and detainment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay had served as tools that both radicalise the populations they target and highlight to the rest of the world hypocrisy of western liberalism.

The discussion closed with a fiery round of questions, including a heated exchange between Carlile and a YPN member on the appropriateness of using the term “snitch” in reference to reporting on suspected terrorists.  It was a thoroughly exciting evening, which has enlisted many more supporters of the charity and which challenged all who came to think about their own civil liberties in an era of increasing security threats.

Speaker Biographies

Lord Alex Carlile

Alex Carlile graduated LLB AKC at King’s College London. He was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1970. Amongst his numerous achievements, he became a Q.C. in 1984, at the age of 36 and was appointed a Life Peer in 1999. He is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and sits as a Recorder of the Crown Court, as a Deputy High Court Judge, and as a Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. He is the President of the Howard League for Penal Reform and of The Security Institute, and a Fellow of King’s College London. From 1983-1997 he was the Liberal then Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire in Mid Wales and was Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 1992-7.

Until 2007 Alex was Head of Chambers (Chairman) of one of the largest sets of barristers’ chambers in London, 9-12 Bell Yard. He specialises in the civil and criminal aspects of commercial fraud, and other serious crime. His best known criminal case was the defence of Paul Burrell, butler to the late Diana Princess of Wales.

He was the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation 2001-2011; and of the Government’s new PREVENT policy. He remains the independent reviewer of National Security policy in Northern Ireland. He was a leading proponent in the House of Commons of the War Crimes Act, and a founding officer of the All-Party War Crimes Group.

Jane Corbin
Jane Corbin is internationally respected as a face of the BBC and as a senior correspondent for Panorama, the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme.  She has made a plethora of programmes about human rights issues, especially in the Middle East, including Pakistan and Afghanistan. This year she is covering the Arab uprisings in Egypt and Syria.

She is an accomplished international media commentator on the Middle East and terrorism, and has authored many well-regarded books and articles including ‘The Base: al-Qaeda and the changing face of global terror,’ which charts the growth and philosophy of Bin Laden’s organisation and suggests ways to counter the growth of Islamic militancy. She is regarded as one of the foremost commentators on
al-Qaeda.

Ms Corbin has served as an Expert Witness on Iraq, Afghanistan and terrorism before UK Parliamentary Committees, and as an advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group on conflict resolution. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, four times winner of the Royal Television Society Award and an Emmy nominee.

Michael Fordham QC
Michael Fordham QC is a barrister at Blackstone Chambers advising on public, EU and human rights law. He was described in Chambers UK 2011 as “a star in the civil liberties, immigration and public law arenas.” Fordham has argued a string of significant cases including acting for Mohamed Al Fayed in his challenge to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and for Amnesty International in the Pinochet case.

His Human Rights work has addressed topics such as the legality of police ‘kettling’ and ill treatment in British detention facilities in Iraq. He was appointed a Bencher of Gray’s Inn in 2009, and as a Recorder (Civil) in 2010. He has written legal opinions which have been relied on by the Constitutional Affairs Committee in 2003 (legal aid reform) and 2004 (asylum and judicial review); the Work and Pensions Committee in 2004 (health and safety enforcement policy); and the All-Party Working Group on Rendition in 2008 (extraordinary rendition).

Mr Fordham has received many awards including Public Law Junior of the Year 2005 and Liberty/JUSTICE Human Rights Lawyer of the Year 2005, an award which he received: "For outstanding dedication and pro bono commitment to the development of human rights in a range of areas....in particular, for highlighting UK accountability for torture and deaths in detention in Iraq". He also won Human Rights and Public Law QC of the Year 2008.

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC is a leading barrister and an expert in human rights law, civil liberties and constitutional issues. She is a member of the House of Lords and chair of Justice – the British arm of the International Commission of Jurists. She is a bencher of Gray's Inn and President of the School of Oriental and African studies, University of London.

As a barrister and member of the Doughty Street Chambers, she has acted in many of the most prominent cases of the last 30 years including the Brighton Bombing, the Michael Bettany espionage trial, the Guildford Four appeal and the bombing of the Israeli embassy. She was the British member of the recent International Bar Association Task Force on Terrorism.

She was a founding member of Charter 88 (which she chaired from 1992-1997), the constitutional reform group which was set up in 1988 in response to growing concerns about the failure of British institutions to serve our democracy. She played a key role in persuading the New Labour Party to embrace this reform agenda as a central plank of is manifesto, which led to the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into British Law and further constitutional reforms including reform of the House of Lords.

Made a life peer in 1997, she has led the opposition to encroachments on the right to jury trial and, for her courageous stand against the government, was awarded the Spectator's Parliamentary Campaigner of the Year Award in 2000. She is currently acting in cases connected to the recent wave of terrorism – including the conspiracy to bomb Transatlantic Airlines and Operation Crevice.

Clive Stafford Smith

Clive Stafford Smith OBE is the founder and Director of Reprieve. In 1993, he
launched the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Centre, a non-profit law office specialising in representation of poor people in death penalty cases. Mr Stafford Smith has represented over 300 prisoners facing the death penalty in the southern United States. He has never been paid by a client and has prevented the death penalty in all but six of his cases (a 98% “victory” rate).

In 2001, when the US military base at Guantánamo Bay commenced holding prisoners beyond the reach of the courts, Clive joined two other lawyers to sue for access to the prisoners there. He believed the camp was an affront to democracy and the rule of law. To date, Mr Stafford Smith has helped secure the release of 65 prisoners from Guantánamo Bay (including every British prisoner) and currently represents 15 more. His ultimate goal is to secure the closure of Guantánamo.

Mr Stafford Smith has received many awards and honours including an OBE for 'humanitarian services' (2000), a Soros Senior Fellow, a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Lawyer Magazine (2003) and The Law Society, the Gandhi Peace Award (2004), International Freedom of the Press Award (2009), and the International Bar Association's Human Rights Award (2010). He was ranked 6th on the 2009 list of Britain’s Most Powerful Lawyers (The Times, July 2009) and ranked 3rd on 2009 “High Profile” British lawyer list (The Lawyer, September 2009).

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