10th Whitehall Lecture given by Professor Philippe Sands, QC: ‘A Short History of Colonialism, a Modern Crime Against Humanity – Chagos: The Last British Colony in Africa.’
- October 27, 2021
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
‘A book like no other I have ever read – unputdownable and unforgettable’ Orlando Figes on Philippe Sands book ‘East West Street’. ‘…It makes a compelling case for international law and the rights of the individual as it sweeps you along with its astonishing narrative’- The Times.
Professor Sands takes us from the horrors of the Holocaust in Poland and the Nuremberg Trials to the Chagos Islands and judgment against the UK at the International Court of Justice (I.J.C.) in 2019 – the last British colony in Africa.
This story is part of the succession of Human Rights problems facing the world today – the invasion of land borders, the use of national borders by authoritarian regimes, the plight of asylum seekers and refugees.
Defying the I.C.J advisory opinion, and the U.N.General Assembly, the Chagos Islands case goes before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to which the British Government is a party. Professor Sands represents the Mauritian Government in this case. In a New York Times article he writes, ‘Britain’s brazen double standard [as] grotesque and damaging …..It undermines the Biden and UK Governments principles invoked to Beijing over China’s claims in the South China Sea’.
The Lecture will be immediately followed by a Panel Discussion with Gideon Rachman of the FT, Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh, Professor of Global Human Rights, MacMaster University, Ontario, Dr. Jeanne Morefield, Associate Professor of Political Theory, University of Oxford; Fellow, Quincy Institute, Washington D.C and Professor Colin Samson, Professor of Sociology, University of Essex and author of ‘The Colonialism of Human Rights’.
‘In-Person’ tickets are limited and the price includes a drinks reception following the event.
‘On-line’ tickets will allow for the viewers to watch the live streaming of the event via YouTube.
(There are some free tickets available, but only for the following: Members of Parliament, students, academics and institutions, policy advisors, NGOs, journalists, and Members of the Diplomatic/Civil Service)