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Skogly's research has significantly contributed to the understanding of how and to what extent states' human rights obligations go beyond the territorial borders of states. Increased globalisation has led to the need to address the human rights effects of states' international actions and operations, and Skogly's research in this area has directly influenced the development of authoritative principles regarding ETOs, and these are now actively used by NGOs and the United Nations. The case study focuses on how research findings have enabled NGOs and UN bodies to understand, articulate and apply states' extraterritorial human rights obligations.
Essex research on developing quantitative indicators for assessing countries' performance on human rights and democracy has informed the work of a number of international organisations. Professor Todd Landman's research has been used by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in its provision of assessment frameworks and by the UN Development Programme in its work on democratic governance and sustainable development. Landman's research on democracy underpins the main resources employed by the inter-governmental organisation, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), based in Sweden. These resources have been translated into four languages and are used to assess the quality of democracy throughout the world. He also provides training for International IDEA's 150 members of staff on the measurement and assessment of democratic performance.
Research conducted by Dr Liora Lazarus and colleagues at Oxford helped shape public and parliamentary debate on the merits of a domestic Bill of Rights for Britain. Some had argued that if Britain were to replace the Human Rights Act (HRA), which allows rights in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to be argued before domestic courts, with a British Bill of Rights, the government would gain greater flexibility, e.g. in addressing terrorist threats. The research showed that to be incorrect. This finding informed Reports to the Ministry of Justice, was influential in hearings of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and among human rights professionals, and was later used in Ministry of Justice training materials for judges on the nature of `proportionality' in human rights adjudication. It has situated one of the most controversial debates in British politics on a more secure evidential foundation, and provided reliable information to governments and others on the way courts can be expected to handle certain human rights cases.
Professor Sheldon Leader has worked on assessing the impact of foreign direct investment on human rights and sustainable development. This research has analysed investment contracts that have been damaging for human rights in developing countries, and Leader's work has resulted in recommendations for better human rights protection in future investment contracts. His recommendations have been adopted in new contracts, such as that between BP and the government of Turkey. His analyses of damaging investment, through his work as Director of the Essex Business and Human Rights Project, have informed the work of NGOs such as Amnesty International and Global Witness, and his consultations have contributed advice to the work of the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office to develop a government strategy on business and human rights.
a) Educational — improving the performance of school students in coursework and the knowledge and understanding of teachers and undergraduates at other HEIs. Dissemination by talks to schools, online publications and books and articles targeted at schools and undergraduate audiences.
b) The General Public — improving public knowledge and awareness through radio appearances, public lectures, online and book publications for non-academic audiences.
Reach: Direct, quantifiable contact (schools/lecture audiences, online `hits', single-authored books sales) at least 5,500 people. In excess of 160,000 if other reach is included — sales figures for journals, essay collections, radio programmes where Verney was a contributor.
Emerging from investigations of social exclusion during the 1990s, the Unit's research into minority rights has led to outputs and consultancy ranging across political participation, identity, rights protection and international criminal law. The impact claimed here falls in two main channels. Firstly, research on socio-economic group rights, amplified by Castellino's work as co-chair of the relevant UN delegated group, has made a significant input into the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015-30. Secondly, research has been incorporated into practice and capacity- building through projects involving judiciaries, advocates, statutory bodies, and NGOs. Beneficiaries include the public across 194 states who will benefit from implementation of SDGs over their 15 years lifespan; and civil society bodies and their users.
The research examines how the use of norms and standards of human rights and equality law are used to measure human rights performance through `human rights and equality impact assessment'. The work has been directly used by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Pacific and Geneva), the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, the Canadian Government, and the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC), and has been influential both in developing and in changing policy. It has also been used by a wide range of civil society organisations in the UK, Europe, Pacific, India and Canada, and has informed debates at all levels of government.
Research conducted by Durham University on security sector reform has had substantial national, transnational and international impact. Specifically, it has: (1) substantially influenced good practice promulgated by the United Nations' (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; (2) informed the Intelligence and Security Committee's (ISC) response to a Government-led review aimed at improving security and intelligence agencies' accountability and, through this, the content of the Justice and Security Act 2013; (3) influenced the Council of Europe's (COE) decision to strengthen rights protection for members of its member states' armed forces; and (4) substantially contributed to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) efforts to strengthen human rights protection for armed forces personnel across its 56 participating states.
Patrick Thornberry's research on human rights, particularly regarding international standards on racial (including caste) discrimination, minority rights, rights of indigenous peoples, and hate speech, has (1) influenced the development of legal principle through advice on policy and participation in the authorship of international standards, particularly those of the United Nations; (2) influenced the development of national legislation and practice including legislation in the UK; (3) facilitated the human rights work of international and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to defend the rights of minority, indigenous and caste communities.
Sustained published research in the area of UN human rights treaty body reform has positioned O'Flaherty as the principal international specialist in the area. He led the 'Dublin Process on the Strengthening of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Body System', a process that is acknowledged globally as the primary context/forum for the reform of the treaty body system. A number of specific proposals made by the Dublin Process on reforming the human rights treaty body system draw directly from his research.