International Humanitarian Law and London

November 19, 2008 1:42 AM

I am being sponsored to travel to the UK for the purpose of educating myself about international humanitarian law. Apart from the British Red Cross, are there any places of interest / etc that I should visit that would be relevant to this area of law?
posted by nihraguk to society & culture (6 answers total)

Amnesty
posted by pompomtom at 2:32 AM on November 19, 2008

I'm sure that the British Library would have interesting reference material, no matter what your area of interest was.
posted by Magnakai at 2:45 AM on November 19, 2008

The life of Robert Owen - founder of New Lanark in Scotland - might interest you.
posted by rongorongo at 3:24 AM on November 19, 2008

Well it isn't in the UK, but you should make your way across the Channel to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, and the International Court of Justice at The Hague, in the Netherlands. Also in Strasbourg is the Council of Europe (not to be confused with the European Council or the Council of the European Union), which is one of the oldest international organizations specifically dedicated to human rights. These aren't exactly day trips, but they're easily reachable from London.

As far as non-governmental organizations, the London School of Economics has a Centre for the Study of Human Rights, as well as the London chapter of Human Rights House, which houses three different NGOs.

I make no warranty about the extent to which any of these organizations accommodate visitors, but they're all worth checking out.
posted by valkyryn at 5:06 AM on November 19, 2008

Liberty - more domestic than international, but has views on all things.

Chatham House is a think-tank specialising in international affairs and might be worth a look.
posted by patricio at 8:20 AM on November 19, 2008

dittoing Amnesty International. There are two AI offices in London (the international and UK offices), I would recommend to come to the Amnesty International UK Human Rights Action Centre in Shoreditch. There is a research room and there and there are many many free events on in the evenings in the auditorium.
posted by vodkaboots at 11:02 AM on November 19, 2008