LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS

Transcription

1 LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS DEVELOPING AND STRENGTHENING THE LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS NETWORK "... Serving the most vulnerable" With the support of

2 SUMMARY I. The project of the Lawyers Without Borders network The objectives Key actions Expected results II. PRESENTATION OF THE EXISTING LWB ORGANISATIONS Lawyers Without Borders in Belgium Lawyers Without Borders France Lawyers Without Borders Mali Lawyers Without Borders Netherland Lawyers Without Borders Italy Lawyers Without Borders Switzerland Lawyers Without Borders Sweden Lawyers Without Borders Canada Québec Lawyers Without Borders Cameroon Lawyers Without Borders Mauritania Lawyers Without Borders Guinea (Conakry) Lawyers Without Borders Brazil

3 I. THE PROJECT OF THE LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS NETWORK It was during a meeting for international lawyers in Brussels in 1992 that the network Lawyers Without Borders grows with the creation of the first organisation bearing this name. It aims to defend whenever it is required, that is, when there are no lawyers for the task or where the local lawyers are threatened, to strengthen the national players of Justice and Law and thus promote the fight against the impunity and the reinforcement of the State under the Rule of Law. The first major operation conducted by Lawyers Without Borders was "Justice for All in Rwanda"; thinking from the end of 1994 and carried out during late 1996, it consisted of organising the defense by foreign lawyers of the defendants and victims of genocide before the Rwandan courts; this experience, constructive for the Movement, was also in the history of Justice, a great first and its success was universally welcomed; this project in fact, made the progress of the genocide trials possible under relatively fair conditions. It was then in 1998, that Lawyers Without Borders grew with the creation of national associations in France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Mali or even in Mauritania. Later, other national associations have been created in Canada, Cameroon, Brazil and Guinea Conakry. A first attempt of federation at the international level took place during late 1998 with the establishment of AsF Monde, LWB World. But the youth of the movement did not make it possible for this structure to take shape: each national association being captured by its development and not having enough energy and resources to adequately devote to this initiative. The collaboration between the LWB has therefore remained informal and casual. Currently, the various national components of the network have brilliantly illustrated themselves a bit everywhere through the quality and quantity of initiatives conducted in the field of law and justice. Their level of notoriety challenges the vision of the network and its consistency. They always receive more solicitations without being able to answer particularly because of an international representation that gives it coherence and visibility along with the means of its development. In order to continue their important work for the benefit of vulnerable populations and to serve the values of law and justice, the LWB organisations cannot remain on the margins of international justice progress and the process of coordination and harmonisation, with which is equipped the international cooperation.

4 The Objectives Overall objective: to improve and expand, in terms of access to law and justice, the service delivered to the most vulnerable populations. Specific objectives: - Provide the network with a common charter - Share tools and experiences for a better development of LWB - Coordinate and harmonise the actions of the existing LWB for a complementarity of their projects and a reinforcement of their identity - Represent and ensure the development of the network by creating new national associations - Promote an active solidarity between the existing associations Key Actions A general annual meeting to strengthen the ties within the network An annual seminar on the ethics of international solidarity in the legal and judicial field Active participation in annual events Exchange between the LWB to share and/or consolidate the tools of project management Installation of joint projects for an access to law and justice for vulnerable populations Development of new LWB (2 to 3 per year) in places where the needs are the most important An emergency funds for lawyers that are threatened Expected Results A coherent and efficient network to serve the goals of the LWB movement An ethical charter shared by all is adopted, setting out the principles and objectives of the network, the means to achieve them A better implemented network at an international level and best meeting the needs of the populations in terms of access to law and justice A strong and coherent picture of network in terms of cooperation and international solidarity in the field of legal assistance being strengthened A network that has contributed to the improvement of the State under the Rule of Law where the LWB organisations operate A network identified and recognised as being adequate to provide an active and professional support in the legal and judicial field.

5 II. PRESENTATION OF THE EXISTING LWB ORGANISATIONS Lawyers Without Borders Belgium In 1992, under the leadership of several lawyers and presidents of the Bar of various countries, the idea of an association "Lawyers Without Borders" was born. Thus a group of Belgian lawyers makes it concrete: Lawyers Without Borders was founded in Brussels in The main aim is to assist those people whose rights cannot be respected and it is in this sense that several immediate assistance missions have been established between 1992 and It is with the proposed "Justice for All in Rwanda" that LWB is changing from the status of association to that of international organisation. Today LWB Belgium leads various missions in the following countries: Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Nepal, Israel and Palestine, etc.. President : Mr Denys Lieven Director : Mme Francesca Boniotti Lawyers Without Borders - France Following the first major action taken in 1994 in Rwanda, Francois Cantier, a lawyer from Toulouse, took the initiative in 1998 to create the French branch of Lawyers Without Borders, under the name Lawyers Without Borders France. With an aim of thinking and implementation of the projects with the local actors, the first actions of LWB France were initially led in Burundi, Peru and Kosovo. Today, Lawyers Without Borders France includes some 800 members who have managed to win the trust of national and international organisations on the ground with which partnerships have been established. In 2004, LWB France gets Special Consultative Status from the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Organisation; then in 2005 is the International Organization of Francophonie (OIF) which grants it the consultative status in recognition for its work in partnership with local actors from French-speaking countries. Today, LWB France conducts various activities of international solidarity and of immediate defense in the following countries: Cambodia, Laos, Nigeria, Mali, French-speaking Africa (9 countries in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo; 8 countries in Central Africa: Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Chad), Mongolia (emergency action). The project of the International Observatory of lawyers has conducted several activities in Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Vietnam, China and Colombia. President : Mr François Cantier Director: Mr Hugo Moudiki Jombwe

6 Lawyers Without Borders Mali Created in late 1997 in Bamako, in addition to enforcing the basic principles of the legal profession, its goals are to defend Human Rights and populations, to defend and protect the public and private Liberties better. ASF-Mali grows on the initiative of some of its members, all of them lawyers, most of who had the opportunity to participate in the trial of the Rwandan genocide. Convinced that the Law is an indispensable tool for development, the members of LWB-Mali, lawyers for all of them, are now up 80. LWB Mali works in collaboration with all the associations sharing the same object and has already had many partnership opportunities with LWB-France. In partnership with LWB France, LWB Mali leads, since 2008, a legal tour project in its country; access to law and justice for the vulnerable populations, in the pilot cities of Koulikoro, Segou and Sikasso President : Hamadi Karembe Lawyers Without Borders Netherland Lawyers Without Borders Netherland was created en 1998 by a Dutch lawyers group working in the field of the State under the Rule of law. They were contacted by a group of Surinamese lawyers on the situation of minors in their country. So as part of a project of free legal assistance for minors in Surinam that LWB Holland was created. President : Hein Karskens Vice-President : Hans Gaasbeek Lawyers Without Borders Italy Lawyers Without Borders Italy was created in 1998 by 9 Italian lawyers, all interested in international law and some specializing in extradition and international cooperation, became interested in the failures of the communal legislation in the criminal law regarding respect for fundamental human rights of those people arrested and transferred from one country to another. The need for a better organization regarding the presence and assistance of specialized lawyers and translators up to the level of these very particular situations has been highlighted. This aspect now constitutes one of the problems of the M.A.E and of the European legislation (584/2002) towards which the Commission has repeatedly expressed its concerns. These lawyers had been invited to Brussels by the President of Lawyers without Borders Belgium in order to create an Italian branch of Lawyers Without Borders. President : Mr Paolo Iorio

7 Lawyers Without Borders Switzerland Following an initial launch in 1995 by Mr. Shahram Dini and after years of collaboration with LWB (Belgium), and with the help of a number of lawyers and public figures, LWB Switzerland was founded in December The association included in addition to the ad hoc support of the Bar of Geneva, about 60 lawyers. This organization still exists in law but is no longer active today due to a lack of demand for response and of means. The division of the country into three linguistic regions increases the difficulties for such an organisation to establish itself effectively. Two missions abroad have been made: interventions in trials in Albania and in Romania. Président : Mr Shahram Dini Lawyers Without Borders Sweden 1998 was also the year of creation of Lawyers Without Borders Sweden. It is during late 1999, in early 2000 that the association conducted its first monitoring project in Turkey to later spread with monitoring projects, seminars with lawyers and legal practitioners in China and in partnership with Shanghai University for 6 years. Today, LWB Sweden has about 75 members and conducts two monitoring projects in Turkey, one in Istanbul with the organisation "TOHAV" and another one with the Human Rights Association in Diyarbakir. President: Mr Claës Forsberg Lawyers Without Borders Canada-Quebec Founded in late 2002 under the corporate name of Lawyers without Borders Quebec, this association has been created by a group of lawyers from Quebec wishing to contribute to the international solidarity efforts, by drawing from their professional experience. Led by Mrs. Dominique-Anne Roberts, the first president of LWB Quebec, and following her meeting with the President of LWB France, François Cantier, LWB Quebec emerged from this initiative which rallied Mr. Peter Brown and Mr. Miguel Baz. These three founding members formed the association as a legal body on 23 rd October 2002 then, laid the foundations of the organisation, the financing and the initial response of international cooperation. Since January 2009, LWB Quebec has opened its office in Quebec and in support of the CEO, an administrative coordinator and two program officers have joined it. President : Mr Miguel Baz Director : Mr Pascal Paradis

8 Lawyers Without Borders Cameroon Young Association was created in 2003 by a group of Lawyers from the cities of Douala and Yaounde, and under the sponsorship of LWB Belgium and LWB France. Operating under the code of ethics of LWB, and with the constant help of LWB France, this branch LWB from Cameroon, which has nearly 100 members, has had to contribute significantly to the reform of criminal procedure and in the prison system of Cameroon. It was indeed involved in the fight for improved conditions of detention of persons prisoners, which led the government to consider the building of new detention centres meeting the standards of humane treatment required by the legal instruments protecting the human being. President: Mr Barnabe Nekui Secretary general : Honore Yana Ndzomo Lawyers Without Borders Mauritania Composed of lawyers and Human Rights activists, Lawyers Without Borders Mauritania was created in February Recognised in Mauritania as a non-partisan organisation with a non-profitable goal, the organisation's objective is the enforcement of effective universal human rights principles in accordance with treaties and conventions ratified by Mauritania in the fields of education, awareness, training and Human Rights protection. As a result of a lack of resources, the activities of LWB Mauritania are currently very limited. But a new team, led by Mr. Ly Saidou tends to revitalise the association to achieve its targets. President : Maitre Ly Saidou Lawyers Without Borders Guinea Regarding the Human Rights violations during the 2007 political events in Guinea, Mr. Emmanuel Bamba Kpana contacted LWB France. After several interactions and its participation in various training sessions offered by LWB France, the idea of LWB Guinea is born during late After drafting its constitution and its first General Assembly in June, LWB Guinea won the legalisation of its existence in September Aujourd hui, ASF Guinée compte 8 membres fondateurs avocats et un juriste. Today, LWB Guinea has 8 lawyers as founding members and a legal expert. President : Mr Kpana Emmanuel Bamba Lawyers Without Borders Brazil According to the World Social Forum in 2005 in Porto Alegre, several legal practitioners already involved in social and Human Rights issues, consulted each other to create a Lawyers without Borders in Brazil. But the lack of international experience and the lack of support prevented the realisation of this project.

9 It was in 2009 that this idea came to the agenda and under the leadership of John Carbonera, a lawyer of Italian-Brazilian origin, who, with his international experience, was able to contact and educate more lawyers, resulted in the creation of LWB Brazil. Following the meeting of some LWB European organisations and with the support of some NGOs on various continents, LWB Brazil was created in October 2009 in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. In the first month, LWB Brazil had 27 members and each week the organisation faces new demands. LWB Brazil is currently leading 2 projects: a project of legal advice to the Bissau-Guinean organisations from the civil society, within the framework of the 3-D programme (law, democracy, development) and a cooperation project with the University of Caxias do Sul, in Brazil, and a Masters in International Cooperation, Human Rights and sustainable development, in partnership with the Centre for Legal Studies and the University of Rome III. In 2010, the organisation is planning to undertake projects of "Defense of the defense, of training and capacity building, as well as access projects to international justice in the light of the Commission and American Court of Human Rights. President : Jean Carbonera Vice president : Daniela Felix

10 LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS Lawyers Without Borders (Belgium) Lawyers Without Borders Brazil - Advogados Sem Fronteiras Lawyers Without Borders Cameroon Lawyers Without Borders Canada - Québec Lawyers Without Borders France Lawyers Without Borders Guinea (Conakry) Lawyers Without Borders Netherland - Advocaten Zonder grenzen Lawyers Without Borders Italy Lawyers Without Borders Mali Lawyers Without Borders Mauritania Lawyers Without Borders Sweden Advokater Utan Granser Lawyers Without Borders Switzerland