Log in
The research has changed the conceptualisation among policy-makers and practitioners of the nature of the right to asylum (from a right of states to grant it to a right of individuals to receive it). The research has led to a change in the law and policy of the United Nations and of the European Union in this field. According to UN data, an estimated 441,300 asylum claims were lodged in industrialised countries in 2011, representing an increase of 20% in relation to the previous year. In 2012 more than 45.2 million people were in situations of forced displacement, the highest figure in the last 18 years. Hence, the reach of the impact is global and its significance lies in strengthening human rights protection in situations of forced displacement.
Prof. Robert Wintemute has presented his comparative law research on sexual orientation discrimination to the European Court of Human Rights or ECtHR (through written and oral arguments on behalf of intervening non-governmental organisations or NGOs), and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights or IACtHR (through oral and written evidence as an expert witness). His research has helped to persuade these Courts to adopt landmark judgments that greatly improve legal protection of the rights of same-sex couples and parents in the 47 countries with combined populations of over 800 million people that are parties to the European Convention on Human Rights (EConHR), and the 23 countries with combined populations of over 550 million people that are parties to the American Convention on Human Rights (AConHR).
Professor Geoff Gilbert's research on exclusion in international refugee law has influenced policies of international organisations and courts around the world. His research on extradition prompted the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to invite Gilbert to write the Global Consultation on exclusion, adopted in 2001 at the 50th Anniversary meeting for the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This Consultation directly influenced UNHCR's 2003 Guidelines on Exclusion that have been cited worldwide in hundreds of cases during the impact period. Canadian and German appellate courts have also favourably cited Gilbert's work directly.
Research conducted by Durham University on the reconciliation of free speech with rights of privacy and reputation has significantly affected contemporary law and policy around the law of privacy, media injunctions and libel reform. Specifically, it has:
(1) resulted in a substantial contribution to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Libel Working Group and hence to the Defamation Bill 2012 which followed (now the Defamation Act 2013);
(2) strongly influenced the report of Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights on the human rights aspects of that Bill;
(3) influenced a major parliamentary inquiry on privacy;
(4) helped change Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidelines on prosecuting the media for privacy-related offences including phone-hacking;
(5) been used in argument by an NGO intervening in two important cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
A series of projects which examined judicial reception of evidence and enabled development and uptake of guides for best practice in asylum determination has contributed to international good practice in a field where it is difficult to ensure objective and fair decision making. The projects included analysis of: gender guidelines; medical evidence; Country of Origin Information (COI); and best practice where children are subject to the asylum process, including COI and evidence relating to age assessment. The research has stimulated and contributed to debate among practitioners. Further, medical evidence guidelines proposed by the research team have been adopted by the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ) affecting judicial activity internationally. In addition, research into reception of evidence surrounding COI led to a position on an Advisory Board and development of a further best practice guide.
Home's continuing research on planning and accommodation for Gypsies/Travellers originated as far back as 1980, and contributed key evidence to the Parliamentary Committee in 2004 leading to a statutory requirement on local authorities to undertake local Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Assessments (GTAAs). The research-based methodology pioneered in the Cambridge sub-region GTAA has become best practice for GTAAs in the current REF period, and in 2011 media coverage of the high-profile Dale Farm evictions drew upon his research through media contributions by him (in TV, radio and newspapers).
Interdisciplinary research at Manchester Metropolitan University on transgender law, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) politics, polyamory, and bisexuality has had a direct role in transforming legal and professional practice, and in improving the treatment of LGBT people within Europe and globally. Specifically, this research has advanced health care, public policy, and the legal status of transgender people throughout Europe and worldwide through research with activist, national and supra-national governmental bodies. Research with LGBT/polyamory communities has benefitted physicians, activists and artists in the LGBT rights struggles in the UK, and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
Two particular examples of impact on legislative change and legal practice are described: impact on the parliamentary process and impact on mental health practice and procedure. The first example describes contribution to debate during the parliamentary process for the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill and contribution to the decision to reject rushed emergency legislation. The research team's response to the consultation by the Justice 2 Committee was widely referred to by organisational representatives and individuals in the debates. The second example focuses on the impact from a key text, which has been used by both sides and judges in Sheriff Court appeals. The impact here is in its verifiable effect on the practice of law in courts and in the making of legal determinations.
Of the over 300,000 applicants seeking asylum in the European Union each year, 85% enter the EU through Greece. A landmark legal case relied on EU-wide research, the UK component of which was led by University of Glasgow, to show that Greece was not implementing minimum EU standards in processing asylum claims. The research and the Judges' finding challenged the assumption, made by the UK and other states, that asylum applications were treated in an equivalent manner across the EU and the requirement, based on that assumption, that applicants make their claim only in the country through which they entered the EU. The findings and the legal action shaped widespread calls for asylum reform in Europe, leading to an `Action Plan on Greece' from the EC's European Asylum Support Office.