The FPC is working again with the SEPAD (Sectarianism, Proxies and De-sectarianisation) project at the Richardson Institute for Peace at Lancaster University on a series of virtual public seminars focused on peacebuilding in Lebanon, Bosnia, Syria and Yemen. The project will address each country situation individually but it will seek to learn from the experiences of Lebanon and Bosnia (both the successes and ongoing/growing problems) in terms of power sharing and how ...

The FPC is working again with the SEPAD (Sectarianism, Proxies and De-sectarianisation) project at the Richardson Institute for Peace at Lancaster University on a series of virtual public seminars focused on peacebuilding in Lebanon, Bosnia, Syria and Yemen. The project will address each country situation individually but it will seek to learn from the experiences of Lebanon and Bosnia (both the successes and ongoing/growing problems) in terms of power sharing ...

Unsafe for scrutiny: How the misuse of the UK’s financial and legal systems to facilitate corruption undermines the freedom and safety of investigative journalists around the world.   This webinar, held on International Anti-Corruption Day, will launch the Foreign Policy Centre’s latest publication in the Unsafe for Scrutiny series, which will examine the impact that the UK’s continued role as a key facilitator of global financial crime and corruption has ...

This event, took place on the fourth anniversary of President Mirziyoyev’s election as President, will seek to take stock of the current political and social situation in Uzbekistan. It will look at what has changed since 2016 and what has not, assessing what the much talked about reform process has delivered and where there is more to do. It will discuss the key issues identified in the July 2020 Spotlight ...

This public zoom event is part of the Foreign Policy Centre’s ongoing Finding Britain’s role in a changing world project responding to the UK’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. It will comprise a short keynote speech from Tom Tugendhat MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, expert responses and an audience Q&A session. The event will take stock of the deliberations around the Government’s Integrated ...

When the coronavirus outbreak hit Europe in early 2020, Italy and Spain were the first countries facing a serious health crisis. Images of overcrowded hospitals and lockdowns in Lombardy, Catalonia and Madrid symbolised the initial stages of the pandemic outside China and would soon be followed by similar scenes in various parts of the world, including the UK. This Aston Centre for Europe and Foreign Policy Centre webinar will explore ...

Multiculturalism and diaspora relations have long been important issues but in the context of Brexit and a raging world pandemic there are growing concerns that issues facing some newly emerging economic Diasporas in the UK may be falling off the political radar. This is now particularly true in the case of the Romanian diaspora in the UK. This Foreign Policy Centre event will ask and try to answer a number ...

Investigative journalists from across the world have repeatedly exposed how financial and legal systems – including those in the UK and its overseas jurisdictions – have been abused to facilitate corruption by their ruling elites, opaque businesses and criminal enterprises. They have often done this in the face of significant challenges to their own safety and security. This event, held as part of the Foreign Policy Centre’s ‘Unsafe for Scrutiny’ ...

Recent developments, from Brexit to COVID-19, have serious ramifications for the UK’s live music industry, which faces a series of stark challenges. The combination of event cancellations due to COVID-19 and potential disruptions to supply chains and free movement following Brexit, risks damaging the nation’s interdependent local economies and local music ecologies. Even beyond these pressing problems, the ‘cultural pushback’ from perceptions of Britain post-Brexit could further limit future opportunities ...

This Foreign Policy Centre and Justice for Journalists Foundation event seeks to examine the crucial role played by journalists in covering the protest movement in Belarus and the human rights abuses being perpetrated by the Lukashenko Government. It will seek to examine the role played by journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens of Belarus in documenting and sharing the situation on the ground. It will highlight the role played by independent ...

This webinar, hosted by the Foreign Policy Centre in partnership with Freedom House and the University of Exeter, highlights recent trends on Transnational Repression in the age of Globalization. Drawing from the Freedom House Special Report, Perspectives on “Everyday” Transnational Repression in an Age of Globalization, the event will examine how authoritarian states exercise influence and maintain control over their populations abroad, from exceptional measures such as assassination to everyday modes ...

This webinar is being held to examine findings of a new Aston Centre for Europe and Foreign Policy Centre publication Religion and Forced Displacement in the Eastern Orthodox World. The event and publication will examine the relationship between religion-state relations, forced displacement, religious diplomacy and human security in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, with a focus on eight countries in the region, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine. ...

This Foreign Policy Centre event will debate the findings of a new essay collection – ‘Spotlight on Uzbekistan’ – that examines in detail the evolution of Uzbekistan under the presidency of Shavkat Mirziyoyev since late 2016. It assesses the depth, breadth and potential longevity of the much vaunted reform programme, looking at what has worked and where there is still more to do. The event and publication will examine issues ...

This virtual seminar hosted by the Foreign Policy Centre in partnership with the SEPAD (Sectarianism, Proxies & De-sectarianisation) project at the Richardson Institute for Peace at the University of Lancaster will examine the future of the Middle East in 2020 and beyond. The role of the US in the region is increasingly contested and Washington’s key allies – Saudi Arabia and other GCC states – have felt increasingly pressure from ...

This Foreign Policy Centre and Oxfam event will launch our new collection of short essays that seeks to re-examine and re-imagine the UK’s foreign policy and discuss its findings about how Britain can best respond to global challenges. The collection of essays features the panellists listed, as well as Rt Hon Tobias Ellwood MP (Chair of the Defence Select Committee), Caroline Lucas MP (former Green Party Leader), Stephen Twigg (former ...

From videos of rights violations, to satellite images of environmental degradation, to eyewitness accounts disseminated on social media, human rights practitioners have access to more data today than ever before. Modern technology—and the enhanced access it provides to information about abuse—has the potential to revolutionise both human rights reporting, and documentation, as well as the pursuit of legal accountability. However, these new methods for information gathering and dissemination, have also ...

This Foreign Policy Centre seminar, in partnership with the University of Lancaster, will look at the role played by non-state actors and particularly journalists in re-establishing a shared historical record in post-conflict societies, with a particular focus on Kosovo. In a Kosovan context where state-sponsored initiatives for transitional justice may lack capacity and struggle to gain the confidence of all communities, this seminar will examine the vital role journalists and ...

The situation of human rights in de facto states of Europe such as Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria and South Ossetia often stay outside of the spotlight of the international attention. In order to shed light on current situation in de facto states, the side-event will gather speakers who directly work on the ground and can share first-hand experience of existing challenges and available means of solution. There will also be a ...

This Foreign Policy Centre event is seeking to explore Turkmenistan, perhaps the least well known or understood of the Central Asian states. It will focus on how the country is being governed and what this means for the rule of law, corruption, the economy and human rights in Turkmenistan, while analysing its relations with neighbours and the international community. Turkmenistan is currently in the midst of an economic crisis that ...

Britain’s place in the world, and its future role internationally are the subject to both great uncertainty and increased scrutiny in the context of the Brexit Debate. Britain’s political class are divided over whether it will further erode and diminish our global influence or whether it will spark a new ‘Global Britain’ approach, enhancing our international prestige and renewing our relationships. It is a debate taking place against the backdrop ...

This Foreign Policy Centre and Article 19 seminar seeks to examine the similarities and differences between the approach being taken by Russia, the UK and a number of EU member states in managing the online lives of their citizens. The event will explore ways to tackle challenges related to protection of freedom of expression online. The seminar will examine how Roskomnadzor, the Russian state censorship agency, operates a blacklist of websites and ...

2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the cease fire agreement in the conflict over the former Autonomous Oblast of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-majority area within Azerbaijan during the Soviet-era. The brutal war that ended in May 1994 has been replaced by a bitter stalemate, a ceasefire that is regularly broken by bouts of violence along the line of contact that sees scores of soldiers and civilians killed each year. Seven neighbouring ...

This Foreign Policy Centre and Aston Centre for Europe seminar will explore how Anglo-Turkish relations have historically fluctuated between animosity and partnership. Following high-profile government visits on both sides in the past two years, the seminar will explore whether the relationship is at the start of a potentially new phase. Following the Brexit referendum and the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, both countries seemed to have approached each other ...

This Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) event, supported by the Justice for Journalists Foundation, will examine the safety risks faced by journalists searching for the truth against powerful interests. The event will focus on what steps can be taken to help prevent attacks on journalists, increase their security and find ways to deter those who would wish to stop their work through violent means. It will examine the main obstacles faced ...

This Foreign Policy Centre event will seek to address the often overlooked Southern Question, exploring the longstanding roots of the Southern Movement in Yemen (al-Hirak al-Janoubi) and the key challenges facing southern Yemen today, including the creation in 2017 of the Southern Transitional Council who are kindly supporting this event. The event will explore the position of ‘the South’ amid the competing factions for Yemen’s future and the current state ...

This Foreign Policy Centre and Aston Centre for Europe seminar will examine the worsening conditions in refugee camps and increasing border violence in the EU’s transit zones, particularly in Greece, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. It will explore the impact of EU policies both specifically in the area of asylum and border closures, and more broadly such as the EU-Turkey deal and initiatives funded through the ECHO programme. There are concerns ...

The Foreign Policy Centre, Article 19 and the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis are organising a joint seminar to examine Russia’s use of counter-terrorism and anti-extremism legislation, looking at how civil society and the Council of Europe are concerned that this broadly written and often arbitrarily applied legislation is being used to stifle freedom of expression and restrict access to information. The seminar will also examine how the majority ...

This seminar organised by the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) and Aston University seeks to explore the UK’s role in the World post-Brexit. In the post-war era the traditional view of the UK’s international influence was rooted in its membership of NATO, the UN Security Council, the European Union and its close relationship with the United States, enabling it to claim that it was ‘punching above its weight’ on the world ...

As Britain prepares to leave the European Union, London is looking to develop bilateral relations with non-EU countries. Turkey has been identified as an important trade and strategic partner. British-Turkish relations are worth $16 billion and there are 3,000 British companies, which operate in Turkey. Both are NATO members and are part of the Global Coalition against ISIS, while the UK has traditionally been an advocate for closer collaboration with Turkey. However, ...

The Foreign Policy Centre hosted a Westminster seminar to explore the current political situation in Hungary and Poland. This event comprised an expert panel discussion and the first UK presentation of a 35 min documentary film, ‘State Capture: The story of Hungary 1988-2018’. The event examined the growing concerns about rule-of-law (including judicial freedom), media freedom, protection of minorities, commitment to democratic pluralism and the rise of oligarchic elites, with both ...

The Foreign Policy Centre and the Richardson Institute at Lancaster University are holding this Westminster seminar to launch and debate the findings of a new publication entitled Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Struggle to Shape the Middle East, part of the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianisation (SEPAD) project. The event and publication will look at how since the Arab Uprisings in late 2010 and the fragmentation of regime-society relations that followed, relationships ...

This seminar launched and discussed a new Foreign Policy Centre publication looking the growing influence of illiberal, anti-Western and socially conservative civil society groups, popular movements and political forces in five post-Soviet states (Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova), looking at who these groups are, what they are doing and why. The event looked at the local social, cultural, historic and economic roots of such groups, some of whom have ...

The Foreign Policy Centre, Article 19 and Reporters Without Borders are organising an important seminar to shine a spotlight on the challenges against free speech in Turkey. Since the 2016 failed coup attempt, human rights activists argue the State of Emergency measures imposed by the government have been used to silence dissent and restrict any political opposition in Turkey. While issues of censorship and media oppression predate the failed coup, numbers of ...

The Aston Centre for Europe and the Foreign Policy Centre are pleased to invite you to their forthcoming policy and outreach seminar on UK-EU internal security cooperation on 19 April. As the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union, it is now faced with having to develop new forms of cooperation with its European neighbours to fight ever more transnational security threats. As a country with a key role ...

The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) and the Open Society European Policy Institute (OSEPI) are delighted to host a lunchtime seminar on 12 April to conclude the initial work of the FPC’s Exporting Repression project. This event will explore the FPC’s recent research into the way in which authoritarian values are promoted and developed both within and from the countries of the former Soviet Union. It will look at how these ‘new ...

The Foreign Policy Centre and Civil Rights Defenders are organising an important seminar to shine a spotlight on the deteriorating human rights situation in the Russian Republic of Chechnya. Since coming to power in 2007 the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has imposed order in the wake of two bloody wars with Russia through a mix of lavish spending and the establishment of a brutal local dictatorship. Chechnya has long been ...

The Foreign Policy Centre and ARTICLE 19 are delighted to host a Westminster seminar exploring the ways in which citizens and journalists in Russia can hold their local and national government to account. On paper Russia’s 2010 Law ‘on Providing Access to Information on the Activities of State Bodies and Bodies of Local Self-Government’ has provided citizens with the right to request and receive information, setting out a clear procedure ...

This event will examine how countries, particularly in Europe, are making it more difficult for activists and others from the former Soviet Union who are at risk of persecution to seek refuge or secure asylum. It will discuss at the ways in which countries are increasingly sending those at risk back to their country of origin, sometimes misusing the concepts of ‘Internal Protection’ and ‘safe third countries’ . The event will explore the need for asylum systems to ...