On 10 October 2016 I joined the British Institute of International and Comparative Law as the Bingham Centre Research Fellow in Citizenship Education and the Rule of Law. At the Centre I led an England-wide programme teaching young people about the rule of law, human rights and citizenship education. It was my first academic position and represented a tremendous achievement for me.
In 2018 my role was expanded by dropping the ‘Education’ element of the title to include a more holistic conception of citizenship. Active participation. The involvement of citizens in their democracy. The countervailing claims that complex interrelations of duties and rights have on governments. Part of this expansion involves the co-ordination of the organisation’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Rule of Law. An APPG is a cross-party, informal meeting of MPs to encourage the discussion of a particular topic. By focusing on the rule of law we bring the issues of equality, legality and legal certainty to the forefront of public discussion and provide parliamentarians with a practical understanding of the rule of law.
I gave a presentation in January 2019 in which I outlined major findings from the evaluation of the programme. This began the planning for the next phase, in which we would collaborate with the University of London to take the course online.
In 2020, we then launched an online course, ‘Citizenship and The Rule of Law‘ which I would then work to spread across the world over the next couple of years. By 2024 it has gone on to become one of the most successful human rights course in the world with over 23,000 students from every nation and territory in the world.
I left the Bingham Centre in Summer 2022 and am proud of everything I achieved in my six years at the organisation.
Abiodun Michael Olatokun 