Human rights: the case for the defence, with Baroness Shami Chakrabarti • City St George's, University of London

The City Law School welcomed the lawyer, campaigner, life peer and privy counsellor to deliver the inaugural Academic Programmes Public Lecture.

By Dr Shamim Quadir (Senior Communications Officer), Published Friday, 31^st October 2025

On Thursday 23 October, The City Law School, City St George’s, University of London, welcomed The Rt Hon. the Baroness Shami Chakrabarti CBE PC to deliver the inaugural Academic Programmes Public Lecture about her book, Human Rights: The Case for the Defence.

Baroness Chakrabarti is a human rights lawyer, campaigner, life peer (Labour) and privy counsellor. She was previously the director of Liberty (formally the National Council for Civil Liberties) from 2003 to 2016 and the Shadow Attorney General from 2016 until 2020. She is also a Master of the Bench of the Middle Temple and carried the Olympic Flag at the London Games in 2012.

Professor Mark O’Brien, Deputy Dean of the School, began proceedings with a special acknowledgement of all the London Borough of Lewisham secondary school students in attendance in the audience, thanking them for taking what he felt could be an important step toward many of them studying at the School in the future.

Professor Mark O’Brien (right) warmly welcomes Baroness Chakrabarti (centre) to The City Law School. With Professor Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos (left)

In his wide ranging, opening remarks introducing Baroness Chakrabarti, he outlined the impact of her years in service to date. Sharing in part:

For more than two decades, Baroness Chakrabarti has been one of Britain’s most prominent and persuasive voices on the subject of liberty, equality and the rule of law. Her work has led, and helped to shape, national debates about government power, civil rights and the moral responsibilities of democracy itself. All the more relevant for the age we currently live.

Human rights ‘in the dock’

Baroness Chakrabarti began her talk by remarking on the current breakdown of the global consensus on the universality of human rights. With skeptic voices being found on the political left as well as right, though with the commonality of nationalism, sharing:

they come most loud at the moment, let’s be clear, from the populist far right in the UK, but there are left wing skeptics too. Including very respectable scholars, some of whom I cite in the book, who are human rights skeptics. Often what all these people have in common is a certain element of nationalism. Your rights and freedoms really are given or taken away by the nation state where you live.

Baroness Chakrabarti reminding her audience of the current jeopardy of human rights law

She also clarified how very few rights are absolute. While right to life and right to not be tortured are absolute, most rights lie in balance to others or are qualified.

Baroness Chakrabarti discussed a variety of topical themes as they appear in her book:

She addresses the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) across a number of chapters, including Chapter 5. Modern Prometheus; the title a reference to the Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein. An allusion to AI being a new creation that we do not fully understand and may not be able to control.

She expressed a major concern of AI being its ‘black box’ nature and not knowing what is going inside. For example, how would we know whose faces are being prioritised and searched for in police live facial recognition technologies.

Baroness Chakrabarti commented on AI use in recruitment decision making, and the idea of a near future where one may have to demand the right to a human decision about one’s suitability for employment.

She also touched upon discussing in Chapter 6. War and Peace the complementary actions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions with human rights law. For example, the Geneva Conventions prohibit torture, but it is human rights law that defines what torture is.

In concluding her talk, she reminded her audience to just pick up her book, even if for only specific points of interest in some chapters. It fits easily in a pocket and is written for everyone even vaguely interested in human rights – not just those with a specialist interest in the field of human rights law.

In conversation

Sitting down in conversation with Professor Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, Head of Department (Academic Programmes) at the School, Baroness Chakrabarti reflected on the all too commonplace misunderstanding of human rights by the media. Likewise, the need for allyship in human rights if, in the near future, the UK government does swing to the populist right.

She agreed with Professor Giannoulopoulos, from his experience of educating in schools, that young people do ‘get’ human rights and that if informed about and framed correctly, the wider public do at heart support human rights too; it is the framing by politicians and the media which can get in the way.

Within the distressing context of current world politics, Baroness Chakrabarti reminded her audience that the moment is not at all hopeless. She advised anyone wanting to find ways of staying positive in our world of 24 hour media cycles and smartphones to yes, stay engaged – but not too much – sharing:

Getting that balance right is important as individuals, but it is also important to not just sit in front of the screen and to be with other real people too. Because something special comes from that: it’s solidarity – an old-fashioned lefty word, that can be translated into other languages too. Christians call it 'fellowship', Muslims call it 'ummah', South African people call it 'ubuntu.' This idea that 'we' are more important than 'me' when we’re a collective, and when we can draw on each other’s strengths.

The event concluded with a very thoughtful Q&A session with the audience.

Questions? - Professor Mark O’Brien (left) facilitates audience Q&A with Baroness Chakrabarti (right)

Reflecting on the event, Professor Giannoulopoulos said:

We were most privileged to hold our inaugural Public Lecture with thought-provoking analysis by Baroness Chakrabarti, on what is becoming the quintessential question of our times; who will come to the defence of liberal democracy, when the populist temptation to chip away at the fundamental structures that hold it together has become so strong for so many.

He added:

Launching a Public Lecture series that would address major legal and sociological-political challenges, bringing together Law, policy and practice, was central to my vision for the Academic Programmes department, as far as research and public engagement are concerned. I am thrilled that we have now set it in motion and our inaugural lecture has enabled fruitful and insightful exchanges between policy makers, academic scholars, university students, sixth form students and members of the public. I am very thankful to our Executive Dean, Professor Richard Ashcroft, our Deputy Dean, Professor Mark O'Brien, and academic and professional services colleagues, for their outstanding support with it.