Welcome to the Hub!

Welcome to our first issue of the Democracy & Human Rights Hub.  This newsletter is intended to give you a comprehensive listings service about everything that is going on in terms of research into, celebration of and campaigning about democracy, participation and human rights in the UK and worldwide.

You are being sent this email as an existing subscriber of Unlock Democracy’s existing eCitizen and Central Lobby email newsletters.  We hope you will find this monthly newsletter useful but if you would prefer not to receive future emails, please amend your details by following the link at the bottom of this email.

If your organisation’s events and projects are not listed here and you would like them to be, then make sure you are in the next issue.  A brief guide to the Hub can be found on the Unlock Democracy website andthe deadline for inclusion in the next Democracy & Human Rights Hub is Thursday 12 June.

Enjoy!

The Unlock Democracy Team

Sections below:

• Campaign News
• Research, Reports, Projects and Publications
• Jobs and Volunteers
• Events

Campaign News

Fixed Term Parliaments Bill: David Howarth MP has tabled this bill and is encouraging MPs to sign EDM 1528 – Fixed Term Parliaments.  Link: http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/?p=1278

Votes at 16 Coalition: The Voting Age (Reduction) Bill will be launched by Julie Morgan MP on 4th June (see Events below).  Link: http://www.votesat16.org.uk/

Research, Reports, Projects and Publications

A British Bill of Rights: Informing the Debate (JUSTICE): This is the result of research the JUSTICE constitution committee carried out following the Governance of Britain Green Paper last July. The report sets out the terms of reference for a full public debate on a British Bill of Rights – something that all 3 main parties have called for. Link: http://www.justice.org.uk/publications/listofpublications/index.html

Citizen (Unlock Democracy): Unlock Democracy’s latest membership magazine. With Michael Wills MP, Eleanor Laing MP, Vince Cable MP, Simon Woolley, Billy Bragg and more.  Link: http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/?p=1280

A Guide to Sustainable Communities Act (Unlock Democracy / Local Works): A user’s guide to the Sustainable Communities Act, which will became law last autumn and will start to be implemented later this year.  Link: http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/?p=1284

By-Election Questionnaire (Public Whip): Public Whip has launched an online questionnaire to help people in Crewe and Nantwich make up their minds about who to vote for based on MP’s voting records. Link: http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/byelection

Jobs and Volunteers

Eisteddfod (Electoral Reform Society Wales) – Volunteers needed to help staff the ERS stall from 2 – 9 August. Location: National Eisteddfod in Pontcanna Fields, Cardiff. Contact: annabelle.harle@electoral-reform.org.uk.
or telephone 029 20504530.

Events

Open Field Politics 2008 (Policy Exchange) – Monday 19th May 2008 at 12:45pm: A lunchtime talk by Michael Barone, widely regarded as the world’s greatest authority on US politics, principal co-author of The Almanac of American Politics 2008, and Author of Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America’s Founding Fathers (2007). Location: Policy Exchange’s headquarters. 10 Storey’s Gate, SW1P 3AY, next to the QEII conference centre. To attend, email events@policyexchange.org.uk.

Day of Solidarity with the Cuban People (World Movement for Democracy) – Wednesday, May 21st 2008: Democracy leaders and nongovernmental organizations around the world plan to demonstrate their support for human rights and the plight of prisoners of conscience and the lack of civil and political freedoms in Cuba. For more information on ways to demonstrate your solidarity for Cubans’ struggle for freedom go to. Link: http://www.solidaridadcuba.org/.

The World After Bush: The Strange Death of Republican America (Fabian Society) – Tuesday, 27th May 2008, 6.30pm: former Guardian columnist and Clinton White House advisor Sidney Blumenthal will be joined by the Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland as he launches and discusses his new book, The Strange Death of Republican America: Chronicles of a Collapsing Party. Location: Jeffrey Hall, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL. Tickets are FREE for Fabian members; and £10 for non-members. Link: http://fabians.org.uk/events/events/blumenthal-freedland

Should Britain boycott Beijing 08? (Policy Exchange and Amnesty International) – Tuesday 27th May 2008 6.30pm: panel guests include Norman Baker MP, Edward McMillan-Scott MEP, Ed Warner (Head of UK Athletics), and a representative from Amnesty International. Location: Policy Exchange, 10 Storey’s Gate, SW1P 3AY, next to the QEII conference centre. Link: http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/Events.aspx?id=604

Human Rights Act: limitation or liberation? (Haldane Society of Soclialist Lawyers) – 28th May 6:30pm: Gareth Peirce and Keir Starmar QC.  Location: College of Law, 14 Store Street, London WC2. Link: http://www.haldane.org/news/lectureseries.php

Launch of the Voting Age (Reduction) Bill (Votes at 16 Coalition) - 4th June, 4.30pm: In advance of MPs debating the Voting Age (Reduction) Bill, Julie Morgan MP and the Votes at 16 Coalition are holding a meeting to hear from politicians and young people why lowering the voting age is such an important issue. Location: IPU Rooms, Palace of Westminster.

Democracy and Development (CUTS International) - 4th June 6:45pm: Which should be given priority: Political or Economic Rights?  In a Question Time Style Public debate, chaired by Stephen Sackur (BBC HardTalk), come and ask the decision makers. Location: Gordon House, 6 Lissenden Gardens, London NW5 1LX. Link: http://www.cuts-london.org/events/soho_to_soweto.html

Voting in America (Electoral Reform Society)- 10th June, 3.30pm: Chaired by Martin Linton MP, the All Party Group on Electoral Reform and the Electoral Reform Society will be discussing voting and democracy in the states, and comparing political cultures on both sides of the Atlantic. Location: Committee Room 15, Palace of Westminster. Link: http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/events_list.php

STV One Year On (Electoral Reform
Society) - 12th June 2008: In May 2007 the Scottish councils were elected for the first time by the Single Transferable Vote.  Now one year on, this conference examines the impact of this historic reform and the implications for future democratic change. Location: Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. Link: http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/events_list.php

Born Free and Equal – The Robin Cook Memorial Conference (Compass) - 14 June: Compass in association with Unite; The Guardian and New Statesman, will stage the biggest gathering of progressives post the 2008 elections to debate how we create a fairer more equal society in the 21st century: over 35 organisations are running sessions with 1000 people in attendance, the biggest event of its kind in the UK. Location: Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London. Link: http://www.compassonline.org.uk/CONFERENCE/

Featured sessions at Compass Conference:

• Democracy and Equality – the case for a Bill of Rights (Unlock Democracy) - Saturday 14 June, 11.15-12.30: Prof. Francesca Klug (London School of Economics), Michael Wills MP (Minister of State for Constitutional Renewal and Human Rights).
• Whose Vote Counts? Democracy and Inequalities in the 21st Century (Electoral Reform Society, Make Votes Count, Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform) - Saturday 14 June, 13.30-14.45: Prof. Robin Blackburn (University of Essex), Yasmin Qureshi (Labour PPC, Bolton South East). and Chuka Umunna (Compass, Labour PPC for Streatham).

Charter 88 and the constitutional reform movement – Twenty years on (Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford) – 4–5 July 2008: through the prism of Charter 88, this conference will examine the history, work, impact and legacy of the constitutional reform movement of the last two decades. Keynote presentations will be made by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC and Will Hutton.  Location: Manor Road Building, University of Oxford. 
Link: http://denning.law.ox.ac.uk/charter88/home.php