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Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

 
Venue: 
Rooms 8 & 9, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies
Event date: 
Wednesday, 22 January, 2020 - 17:00 to 18:30

China Research Seminar Series talk given by Prof. Eva Pils, Professor of Law, King's College, London

China’s human rights lawyers, a relatively small group of legal professionals who emerged in the post-Mao era, insist that the Party-State follow the law in all cases, including those deemed ‘sensitive’ by the authorities. Throughout their existence, they have faced a highly repressive system. Drawing on my work on Chinese human rights lawyers since 2006, I will argue that the contrast between their liberal outlook and a system in or neo-totalitarian regression has become sharper in Xi Jinping’s ‘New Era,’ further pushing the lawyers to engage in legal advocacy as a form of liberal resistance.

Eva Pils is Professor of Law at King’s College London. She studied law, philosophy and sinology in Heidelberg, London and Beijing and holds a PhD in law from University College London. Her most recent book, Human rights in China: a social practice in the shadows of authoritarianism, was published in 2018. Before joining King’s in 2014, Eva was an associate professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law.

Contact
Professor Hans van de Ven FBA: jjv10@cam.ac.uk