The right to effective participation for suspects in international human rights law: understanding and recalibrating the right by Dr Piers von Berg

Wed 30 0ct 2024, 5-6pm. Join on teams here 

This seminar is hosted by the College of Law, Social & Criminal Justice Research Seminar Series. Our series offers exciting insights into ongoing research projects within the law school and conducted by our external research partners. We often feature work from our research centres. Join us for invigorating discussion! 

In this session, we hear from Dr von Berg. Dr von Berg is a specialist in youth justice, and citizenship and human rights education. His research looks at how young people exercise their rights in the criminal justice system and how they learn to be citizens at university. He conducts qualitative participatory research on innovations in pedagogy at university in the areas of citizenship and human rights education; and he researches children’s and young person’s human rights in criminal investigations. 

In this session, Dr von Berg will give the following presentation, followed by an interactive Q&A: 

Title: The right to effective participation for suspects in international human rights law: understanding and recalibrating the right  

Abstract:  

The right to effective participation in human rights law is commonly thought of as applying to defendants at trial. However, the European Court of Human Rights has consistently applied the right to the first stages of police investigations, especially the interview. This article examines this neglected line of cases to draw out questions of interpretation and application, and possible responses. Issues of interpretation include the narrowness of scope in age of suspects, limited effectiveness of safeguards and, a lack of precision on what is meant by effective participation. Drawing on developments in the United Kingdom, international norms and European Union law, suggestions are made to widen the scope of the right, refine its safeguards and better define effective participation. The application of the right is much harder because other Article 6 cases have weakened judicial enforcement of the right pre-trial. Further directions for research are explored around this problem.  

If you have any questions, contact Mitchell Longan, the Research Seminar Series leader, at mitchell.longan@bcu.ac.uk

Date: Wed 30 Oct 2024, 5-6pm.