Third Annual Paragon Human Rights Lecture
hosted by the
University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre and
Paragon Law
Monday, 12 May 2008
Prince Hotel
Prince Room 2, Level 3
Programme
Registration
Welcome by Prof. Brian Atkin, Vice-President of the University of
Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Introduction by Prof. Michael O’Flaherty, Co-Director of the
University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre
Presentation by Ms Shanthi Dairiam, Member of the UN Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
Presentation by Prof. Vanessa Munro, Professor of Socio-Legal
Studies, University of Nottingham
Question and answer session chaired by Prof. Michael O’Flaherty
Vote of thanks proposed by Ms Kirin Abbas, Director, Paragon Law
Presentation of Gifts
Reception
Third Annual Paragon Human Rights Lecture
"The Role of Women in Society: Malaysian and United Kingdom
Perspectives"
Speaker Profiles
Shanthi Dairiam
Member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women;
Director of International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific
Ms Shanti Dairiam has been an elected member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) since 2005, and she has recently also been
appointed as the Committee’s Rapporteur.
Ms Dairiam is also founder and Director of the International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia
Pacific (IWRAW-Asia Pacific), an independent regional NGO which collaborates with various
entities in several Asian and Pacific countries to monitor and facilitate the implementation of the
CEDAW Convention.
She has worked as advisor for the governments of Bangladesh and Malaysia on various women
and CEDAW-related issues and has undertaken collaborative projects with women’s NGOs,
governments and international institutions that aim to contribute to the effective implementation
of international human rights standards for the advancement of women. Her work has included
creating and developing conceptual clarity and tools in regard to the practical application of the
CEDAW Convention, methodologies for research oriented advocacy, and training. She has a
wealth of experience as facilitator and trainer on State obligations under the CEDAW Convention
for various Asian Pacific States.
Ms Dairiam is also member of the National Advisory Council on Women, Malaysia and Executive
Committee Member of the National Council of Women’s Organisations of Malaysia and of the
Women’s Aid Organisation of Malaysia.
Vanessa Munro
Professor of Socio-legal studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and Education, University of
Nottingham
Professor Vanessa Munro joined the University of Nottingham School of Law in September 2007,
having previously been a Reader in Law at King’s College London. She has published various
articles on feminist legal and political theory. She is author of Law and Politics at the Perimeter:
Re-Evaluating Key Debates in Feminist Theory (Hart, 2007) and co-editor of Sexuality and the
Law: Feminist Engagements (Cavendish, 2007). She combines this theoretical work with
empirical projects examining popular and penal responses to gender violence. She has conducted
a comparative study of legal responses to sex trafficking and an empirical study of juror
deliberation in rape cases involving intoxication. With the support of the British Academy and the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), she has co-convened an inter-disciplinary expert
group on supply / demand dynamics in prostitution, resulting in the production of an edited
collection entitled Demanding Sex? Critical Reflections on the Regulation of Prostitution (Ashgate,
2008). In 2006, she was appointed as a special advisor to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on
Human Rights Inquiry into Human Trafficking. She is currently working on an ESRC funded study
on the impact of expert evidence on credibility assessment in rape trials, and is part of an Expert
Group that is investigating future sexual offences reform. She is also involved in a pilot project on
rape and asylum. She was a founding member of the Sexual Offences Research Initiative and has
been a visiting fellow / speaker at various UK academic institutions, as well as at the University of
North Carolina, Australian National University, University of Auckland, Victoria University of
Wellington and the New Zealand Ministry of Justice.