Human rights. Equality. Free speech. Privacy. The rule of law. These five ideas are vitally important to the way of life we enjoy today, and the battle to establish them in law was long and difficult. Today, however, our society is at risk of becoming less equal, and our civil liberties are under threat like never before.
Leading human rights lawyer Anthony Lester was at the heart of both the 30-year campaign that resulted in the UK’s Human Rights Act and the struggle for race and gender equality that culminated in the Equality Act of 2010. Lester’s new book, Five Ideas to Fight For: How Our Freedom Is Under Threat and Why It Matters, provides an insider account of how important political and legal reforms were achieved, and presents a fierce argument for why we must act now to ensure the survival of the ideals which enable us to live freely.
“Reading this book is like holding a conversation with (Anthony Lester). His opinions and his arguments are bracing and challenging and the entire experience is intellectually exciting,” says Aryeh Neier, president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations.
Speakers
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Chris Stone
Moderator
Until December 2017, Chris Stone was president of the Open Society Foundations.
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Anthony Lester
Speaker
Anthony Lester is Britain’s most eminent human rights lawyer. He is a recipient of the Judges’ Award for a Lifetime of Achievement in the service of human rights, and is a frequent commentator for the Guardian on legal matters.
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Data Innovation
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Rights Tracker is a systematic effort, developed by a global, not-for-profit research collective, to measure governments’ rights performance.
Event recap
Wolfgang Kaleck on the State of the Human Rights Movement
Kaleck is a leading German lawyer and human rights activist who has spent more than two decades involved in the global struggle to hold powerful people and governments accountable for abuses.