Lord Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, PC was a Northern Irish barrister and a senior judge who was Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and then a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving Supreme Court Justice and the last original member of the Court.

Following his passing, the Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA) received a gift donation from his family to create an opportunity that celebrates the formidable legal career that Lord Kerr had through his influential judicial understanding of human rights and the law. From this gift, the HRLA and the Young Lawyers Committee (YLC) have created an essay competition that focuses on a contemporary human rights issue.

The UKSC Blog has partnered with the HRLA and, as an additional prize, the winning essay will be published on the UKSC Blog.

The essay question is:

“Is eco-anxiety capable of amounting to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, within the meaning of Article 3 ECHR?”

Further details and full rules can be found at www.hrla.org.uk. The deadline for entries is Friday 20 May 2022 – good luck!

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