ILA Irish Branch: ‘What ‘Brexit means Brexit’ may mean for Human Rights?’ - Professor Laurent Pech

 Co-organised by the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the International Law Association - Irish Branch 

‘What ‘Brexit means Brexit’ may mean for Human Rights?’

Speaker

Professor Laurent Pech

Date/Time

27 February, 2017, 1-2pm

Venue

Seminar Room, Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUIGalway

To register please email patricia.conlan@ul.ie 

Patricia Conlan, secretary, ILA-Irish branch    

>Overview:
This presentation will offer an assessment of the potential impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on the legal framework that protects human rights in the UK. It will begin with a brief introduction to the protection and promotion of human rights by the EU, outlining the legal sources for rights within the Treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and other sources of EU Law, and connect these to the existing schema in the UK for the protection of EU rights under the European Communities Act 1972. It will then consider the possible implications of the repeal of the ECA 1972 and Brexit on the residency, consumer and employment rights of millions of EU citizens in the UK and millions of UK citizens in other member states. It will also examine what is potentially the greatest loss to the protection of human rights in the UK post-Brexit: there will no longer be a possibility for natural and legal persons to rely on rights based on EU law to challenge UK primary legislation falling within the scope of EU law. The Human Rights Act 1998 and membership of the European Convention of Human Rights will only be briefly alluded to, as the UK government has recently confirmed that they will not be on the agenda until after Brexit has been 'sorted out'.

 

Speaker:
Laurent Pech is Professor of European Law, >Jean Monnet Chair of European Public Law (2014-17) and Head of the Law and Politics Department at Middlesex University London. Laurent is also a Visiting Professor of Law at Bordeaux University. Prior to his appointment at Middlesex University London, Laurent was Jean Monnet Lecturer in EU Public Law at the National University of Ireland Galway. Amongst his most recent publications are: ‘Thinking Justice Outside the Docket: A Critical Assessment of the Reform of the EU’s Court System’ (2017) 54(1) Common Market Law Review> 1 (with Prof Alemanno); ‘Better late than never: On the European Commission';s Rule of Law Framework and its first activation (2016) 54(5) Journal of Common Market Studies 1062 (with Prof Kochenov); ‘The EU as a Global ‘Rule of Law Promoter’: The Consistency and Effectiveness Challenges’ (2016) 14(1) Europe-Asia Journal 7. Last year, Professor Pech also led the drafting of a research report commissioned by the European Parliament on the establishment of an EU mechanism on Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights (European Parliament Research Service, PE 579.328, April 2016, 214 pages). Most of Professor Pech’s papers can be found on SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=585187