Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Professor Ryszard Piotrowicz of Aberystwyth Law School has been re-elected to GRETA, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. Professor Piotrowicz was elected as the British candidate to the 15-member body. Forty-five countries took part in the election in Strasbourg. GRETA is one of the major human rights bodies of the Council of Europe. It monitors how countries meet their obligations to protect the rights of trafficked people as well as their efforts to prosecute people traffickers. Professor Piotrowicz will serve a second four-year term, which will include visiting countries throughout Europe to assess their performance in anti-trafficking functions. In this function his work can have a real and positive impact by contributing to law and policy reform on human trafficking and, most importantly, helping victims of modern day slavery, which has been a major priority of the British government in recent years. Individuals nominated to ...

Aberystwyth Law School has secured two grants worth a total of almost £25,000 towards a project which offers free legal advice to veterans and their families. The Veterans Legal Link was set up in 2015 by Dr Olaoluwa Olusanya, a lecturer in Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University. Working with a range of partners, the project supports veterans and their families across Wales by giving them access to free legal advice and specialist support services. It relies on a network of volunteer legal clinics, charities and organisations including Citizens Advice, West Wales Action for Mental Health and the Ceredigion Armed Forces Community Covenant. The Veterans Legal Link also offers internship and volunteer opportunities to students in Wales, as well as conducting its own independent academic research. The project has now been made a successful applications for a grant of £20,000 from the Ministry of Defence and almost £5,000 from the Big Lottery Fund. Project Founder and Manager Dr Ol...

A pioneering module at the Aberystwyth Law School will offer free advice on family law to local people. The monthly drop-in sessions will be led by leading family law expert Emma Williams who graduated with a degree in Law from Aberystwyth University in 1996. Ms Williams has specialised in family law for the past 20 years in the UK as well as internationally, and now has her own practice in Llandeilo. From October 2016, she will be in the Elystan Morgan building of Aberystwyth’s School of Law on Llanbadarn Campus between 4-6pm every fourth Wednesday of the month. During the two-hour clinic, Ms Williams will be observed by third-year students on the Law and Social Justice In Practice module. Students will also assist with paperwork. “Students face a very steep learning curve when they leave university and are exposed for the first time to law in practice,” said Ms Williams. “This innovative module will allow them to observe real life clients with real life problems. It will also offer...

The first of two special support workers starts work this week as part of a major ground-breaking project aimed at ending abuse against older people. Based in Aberystwyth Law School’s Centre for the Study of Ageing, Abuse and Neglect, , the Dewis Choice project hopes to uncover the often hidden problem of domestic violence against the over 60s. It will also focus on finding solutions, including the promotion of restorative practice which fosters reconciliation between the victim and the abuser. Latest figures suggest more than 39,000 people over 60 suffer domestic abuse in Wales but such cases often go unreported, according to Sarah Wydall who’s one of three Joint Principal Investigators on the Dewis Choice project. “We know that we have an increasingly ageing population but the truth is that older people aren’t newsworthy and don’t get as much attention as the younger generation. They are often invisible to society and as a result, they don’t always get the support they need,” said ...