The 4th Human Rights Week 2018, comprising of activities which sensitizes students on contemporary human rights issues was conducted by the Human Rights Committee of School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) from 7 – 12 December 2018. Consisting of a series of activities, the Human Rights Week invites different perspectives,
gaining momentum towards the celebration of the International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2018. It aims to disseminate information and awareness on human rights areas that dilapidate our world in general and affect our domestic environment in specific. Amidst turmoil and human rights violations, the Human Rights Week 2018 was a modest celebration to the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the UDHR). This has become a regular aspect and part of our rituals at School of Law, CHRIST to provide such a platform every year for legal discourse and awareness on one of our greatest moral achievements – human rights law.
Events:
Day 1: 7 December 2018
Guest Lecture on ‘Human Rights Lawyering’ Ms. Jayna Kothari, Senior Advocate, High Court of Karnataka, Co-Founder, Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) & Partner, Ashira Law & Mr BT Venkatesh, Advocate, Former State Public Prosecutor, Advisor to the Centre for Child & Law at NLSIU, Bengaluru & a former faculty at Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media, Bengaluru graced the occasion as speakers. The enlightening speeches by the inspiring speakers was followed by a fruitful interaction between the students and the speakers. Useful insights were provided by the speakers on witness protection, court mannerisms and career prospects.
Day 2: 8 December 2018
Paperless Moot Court Competition
The Paperless Moot Court Competition was open to interested students of 1st and 2nd year of B.A.LL.B (Hons) and B.B.A.LL.B (Hons). Students were to register in teams of three (Two speakers and one researcher). The Researcher’s test was conducted on 5 December, 2018. Thereafter, top 16 teams qualified for the oral rounds to be conducted on 8 December, 2018 (Saturday). No memorial submission was required. The top 2 teams progressed to finals of the competition held on 10 December 2018 (Monday). The competition served as a platform for a useful interaction between the student participants and student judges fuelled by the difference in expertise.
Day 3: 10 December 2018
International Human Rights Day (Oath Taking Ceremony) In deference to the International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2018, an oath taking ceremony was held for the students of 1st and 2nd year of B.A.LL.B (Hons) and B.B.A.LL.B (Hons).
Policy Drafting Competition
The committee organized a Policy Drafting Competition, with an aim to generate appetite among the LLB, LLM and MAIS students to provide useful solutions to the dilapidated world thronged with human rights violations. The theme for the event was ‘Refugee Laws’. The concept-note for the same is as follows: India is home to nearly 1,90,000 refugees originating from various countries. Yet, refugee protection in India is regulated solely at policy level by national administrative authorities, and is often ambiguous. India is neither a party to the 1967 Protocol of the 1951 Refugee Convention nor has it adopted a national refugee legislation. Due to the absence of a codified
protection strategy or a specific national law on aliens, refugee rights in our country are highly ambiguous. As of now, there is no law or policy that distinguishes between refugees and foreigners, in our country. Thus, there is a clear lacuna within the law and policy requiring immediate action and attention. This competition aims to critically analyse two separate advances of our government towards refugee protection.
a) National initiatives of our Central and State governments on how to deal with the current Refugee Crisis in India.
b) Implementation of UNHCR’s guidelines on the issue and the incorporation of the same in our Policy framework.
Day 4: 11 December 2018
Movie Screening “Hotel Rwanda”
This initiative aimed at stimulating the thought process of students by providing their eyes a vehicle to ascertain the gravity of contemporary human rights issues across the world. The screening of the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’ was conducted after college hours. It served twin benefits of incentivizing students to watch as well as sensitize them on human rights violations. The event was followed by a fruitful discourse and discussion on some key-points involved in the movie. The participants brought about diversity of opinions and perspectives, which stirred the Human rights sails with greater positive force.
Day 5: 12 December 2018 British Parliamentary Debate On day 5, the Human Rights Committee collaborated with the Debating and Literary Society of School of Law, CHRIST to organize a British Parliamentary Debate between students of CHRIST and external speakers. The motion for the debate was, “THS the active and intentional defacing/ vandalism of national monuments or other public structures as an act of protest against the human rights violations by the State.” The various stakeholders identified in the debate included women, indigenous communities, constitution makers, government, media groups, individual citizens and naxalites.
