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Helena Kennedy Centre

Helena Kennedy Centre

Helena Kennedy Centre

The Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice is a leading centre for social justice and human rights. It provides a vibrant environment at the cutting edge of legal and criminal justice practice which prepares students for excellence in their chosen professional career.

The centre is home to a range of social justice and human rights activities that include:

  • research and scholarship work
  • global engagement
  • impact on policy
  • professional training and advocacy

Its central values are those of widening access to justice and education, the promotion of human rights, ethics in legal practice, equality and a respect for human dignity in overcoming social injustice.

The law is the bedrock of a nation; it tells us who we are, what we value, who has power and who hasn't. Helena Kennedy QC

The Helena Kennedy Centre's scope of expertise covers:

  • human rights
  • criminology
  • law
  • policing
  • probation

The centre works on the high profile projects in a variety of human rights and social justice areas. Research and projects concern Modern Day Slavery, gender-based violence, hate crime and many more.

News

A man with a sign saying Free Uighur

Big brands 'at risk of using forced labour cotton'

Sheffield Wire covers a recent report by Professor Laura Murphy which found 103 global brands are at risk of having cotton produced through forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China in their supply chains.

Illustration by Jialun Deng

China cannot silence me

Nyrola Elimä, in her powerful essay published by The New Yorker, speaks about the crimes committed against her family and other Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

A red folder with Sports Law sign on it and a gavel

Why LLM in Sports Law is a passport across industries

In the article covered by the LLM Guide our LLM International Sports Law in Practice features among the top institutions worldwide for Sports Law programmes.

Featured projects

Text saying an investigation into how forced labour produced cotton based goods from the Uyghur region wend their way into international supply chains

Laundering Cotton

Laundering Cotton: How Xinjiang Cotton is Obscured in International Supply Chains is an investigation into how forced-labour-produced cotton and cotton-based goods from the Uyghur Region wend their way into international supply chains

Magnifying glass with the distorted picture of a forest in the background

Understanding the impact of inspection on probation

This report outlines the findings from a British Academy/Leverhulme Trust funded study on the impact of inspection on probation, written by Dr Jake Phillips.

Home Office call for evidence on Violence Against Women and Girls - Recommendations from the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice

Home Office call for evidence on Violence Against Women and Girls VAWG

Academics and researchers from the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice contributed a number of recommendations to the Home Officer call for evidence on its Violence Against Women and Girls VAWG Strategy. Read the full submission.

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Leading pioneering research in the fields of law, economics, education and more

Social and Economic Research Institute