Jonathan Cooper OBE

Prior to returning to full time practice at the Bar at Doughty Street Chambers, Jonathan was Assistant Director of JUSTICE. He continues to work on a project-by-project basis for a number of organisations including JUSTICE, Interights and the National Aids Trust.

Jonathan has taken several cases to the European Court of Human Rights and written numerous publications on human rights topics. He is the editor of one of the leading human right law journals, the European Human Rights Law Review (Sweet & Maxwell) and co-editor of: Legislating for Human Rights, a guide to the Parliamentary Debates on the Human Rights Act 1998 (Hart Publications, 2000); Understanding Human Rights Principles (Hart Publications, 2001) and Delivering Rights (Hart Publications, 2003).

Jonathan is a human rights specialist and is able to advise on all aspects of domestic and international human rights law. He has been instrumental in training public authorities and lawyers in the UK on the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998 and was responsible for devising and carrying out human rights training for various government departments, including the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and, what is now, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Additionally, he has trained a number of public bodies including all the equality commissions and the Information Commissioner. He has also advised the MoJ and the Home Office on aspects of UK government human rights policy. Similarly, he has advised on aspects of Jersey's criminal justice system for compliance with international human rights law.

He continues to create human rights training programmes which are used around the world. He works closely with the FCO, governments in other jurisdictions, from Ireland to Turkey, as well as international organisations, such as the Council of Europe, on how to implement human rights standards. He is often asked to train judges and lawyers in other countries. These have included Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Albania, Lithuania, Cameroon, Gambia and Sudan. In 2007 he carried out a comprehensive human rights training programme for judges and prosecutors in the Turkish Military.

Jonathan devised the human rights and terrorism programme and manual for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). That manual Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights was launched at the OSCE in Vienna in 2008. He has carried out counter-terrorism and human rights training programmes in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, the United Kingdom and, regionally, for the Balkans as a whole.

He is the Director of the Human Rights Programme for the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals (UCL) and the course convener for the highly acclaimed Certificate in International Human Rights Law and Practice organised by the LSE. He is a member of the FCO's rule of law panel.

Jonathan is the chair of the Executive Committee of the Human Rights Lawyers' Association (HRLA).

In 2007, Jonathan was awarded an OBE for services to human rights.

last updated March 2008

Year of Call

1992

Education

BA (Hons)

Email Address

j.cooper@doughtystreet.co.uk

Specialist Teams

Member :

• Human Rights
• International Law Group
• Public and Administrative Law