The Airspace Tribunal – a people’s tribunal established by Kent Law School Emeritus Professor Nick Grief and Shona Illingworth (Kent School of Arts) – is holding its fourth international hearing online this week, hosted in Berlin.
The Tribunal is examining the case for and against a proposed new human right to live without physical or psychological threat from above. Hearings have already been held in London (2018), Sydney (2019) and Toronto (2020).
The Berlin hearing will be hosted on Wednesday 9 June and Friday 11 June by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), supported by the University of Kent.
Andreas Schüller, director of ECCHR’s International Crimes and Accountability program, will Chair the event and each session will be introduced by Shona Illingworth and Professor Grief.
Speakers include: Chris Woods (founder and Director of Airwars); Jutta Weber (science & technology studies scholar, University of Paderborn); Lisa Ling (whistleblower on US drone surveillance systems); Alirio Uribe Muñoz (lawyer, CAJAR); Sebastián Escobar Uribe (lawyer, CAJAR); Omar Mohammed (journalist, Mosul Eye); Pratap Chatterjee (journalist and Executive Director, CorpWatch)
The speakers will be questioned by Counsel to the Tribunal, Kirsty Brimelow QC, before taking questions from the audience (the Tribunal’s judges). At the end of the proceedings, members of the audience will be able to vote for or against recognising the proposed human right. It is not necessary to attend all three parts of the hearing – votes will be cast at the end of each session. Register online if you’d like to join the audience.
The Airspace Tribunal is part of and informs the development of Topologies of Air, a major new body of artwork by Shona Illingworth, commissioned by The Wapping Project, that will be exhibited at The Power Plant, Toronto in January 2022.
Image credit: Flight Path with Ash – Blue, North Atlantic Airspace, Working Still (2017) by Shona Illingworth. With thanks to NATS.