About the event
Hosted by the Centre for the Study of Democracy, Tim Loughton MP, the chair of All Party Parliamentary Group on Tibet, joins Professor Dibyesh Anand for a conversation exploring questions of human rights, advocacy, China and Tibet.
The event is open to all the students and colleagues of University of Westminster as well as members of public.
Location
This event takes place in Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW.
About the Centre for the Study of Democracy
The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) is based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. The Centre undertakes research across a range of critical social and political challenges, promoting an interdisciplinary environment. There is an explicit focus on engagement with communities and impacting upon public debates around these contentious subjects. Read more about the Centre.
About the speakers
Tim Loughton
Tim Loughton was first elected to Parliament in 1997 as Member for East Worthing and Shoreham and has been re-elected ever since. Tim has held various positions during his time in Parliament. He was Shadow Minister for Environment from 2000 and Shadow Minister for Health and Children from 2001 during the Conservative Party’s time in opposition. He was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Children and Families following the 2010 General Election. In 2019 he successfully piloted one of the most comprehensive Private Member’s Bills through Parliament which instituted civil partnerships for opposite sex couples, gave power to coroners to investigate stillbirths and enabled mothers to enter their name on marriage certificates for the first time.
Tim has co-chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tibet for several years, which champions the cause of Tibet and Tibetans worldwide within Parliament and tirelessly calls out the Chinese Communist Party Government for its human rights abuses. Tim has met His Holiness the Dalai Lama on several occasions last visiting Dharamsala in 2018. In 2019 he introduced the Reciprocal Access Bill in the House of Commons which requires the British Government to take measures against Chinese officials denying access to Tibet and report annually on restrictions on UK nationals. Tim was one of five MPs sanctioned by China in 2021 and is a leading member of IPAC, the International Parliamentary Alliance on China. He remains a vocal proponent for a free Tibet.
Professor Dibyesh Anand
Professor Dibyesh Anand is the Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. He is the author of the monograph Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in Western Imagination and has published on varied topics, including on colonial practices of China toward Tibetans and Uyghurs.
