Join Just Fair and the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford in marking International Human Rights Day with the online launch of ‘Access to Social Justice: Effective Remedies for Social Rights’ by Katie Boyle, Diana Camps, Kirstie Ken English, Jo Edson Ferrie, Aidan Flegg, and Gaurav Mukherjee.

This open-access book makes the case for a thicker conception of justice that enables an effective remedy for the violation of the everyday rights to housing, food, fuel and social security. Based on evidence from practitioners - including food bank staff and barristers in the Supreme Court - this book presents a devastating picture of the existing systemic failure in access to justice for social rights across the UK.

The research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, highlights a "justice journey" fraught with obstacles. The system is fragmented, overly complex, and ill-equipped to address the systemic and clustered nature of injustice. As a result, social injustice is entrenched, whether by design or by default, across the UK.

The book sets out a compelling case for strengthening the protection and promotion of social rights. Its recommendations are wide-ranging: reclaiming the narrative of social rights as enforceable legal rights; exposing and addressing systemic barriers; creating a legal framework that reflects the UK’s economic and social rights obligations; supporting collective advocacy and complaints; improving avenues for public interest challenges; enabling access to collective and structural forms of relief as part of an aggregate of accessible effective remedies; and, crucially, strengthening feedback loops to ensure the system learns and adapts.

Join us on 9 December as we explore urgent questions raised by the book, including:
What are practitioners telling us is happening on the ground?
What does this book mean for the future of human rights and justice in the UK?
What needs to happen next?

We’ll hear directly from practitioners about the challenges they face in their daily work, from the book’s authors on their research, and the potential solutions they propose and leading academics who will critically engage with its arguments.

We are delighted that the academic panel will be chaired by Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.

Speakers include:

• Jess McQuail, Director, Just Fair (co-host and chair)

• Professor Rachel Murray, Director of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights (co-host)

• Rick Burgess, co-chair of DPO Forum England and Social Science & Public Policy Advisor at the Centre for Society and Mental Heath at King's College (practitioner panel)

• Carla Clarke, social justice agitator, qualified lawyer leading social rights challenges, including the 2 child limit, previous posts include Child Poverty Action Group and the Public Law Project (practitioner panel)

• Professor Katie Boyle, University of Strathclyde (co-author)

• Dr Diana Camps, University of Glasgow (co-author)

• Professor Philip Alston, New York University (chair - academic panel)

• Professor Colm O’Cinneide, University College London (academic panel)

• Associate Professor Anashri Pillay, Durham University (academic panel)

We will be using Microsoft Teams for the webinar, you can check out information about this platform’s accessibility features here.

So that we can make the training as accessible as possible, please let us know as soon as possible (and at least 72 hours before the event) if you have any communication or access requirements by email to alex.firth@justfair.org.uk.