Tahir Elçi , President of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, was a fearless human rights defender and consistently principled advocate for minorities across Turkey. A victim of torture himself, Mr Elçi was instrumental in bringing cases of torture, detention and disappearances against Turkey before the domestic courts as well as the European Court of Human Rights. On 28 November 2015, Tahir Elçi was shot dead following a press conference in Diyarbakir in which he was calling for an end to violence between the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and the authorities. As freedom of speech comes under increasing attack in Turkey, this seminar will discuss what can be done to improve human rights in the country.

On Tuesday 8 March 2016, BHRC and the Law Society organised a round-table discussion with three Chinese human rights lawyers visiting the UK. They talked about the escalating repression of lawyers and human rights defenders in China, and the risks and challenges facing lawyers in defending their clients. Last year, BHRC and the Law Society...