Lawyers Without Borders
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LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS DEVELOPING AND STRENGTHENING THE LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS NETWORK "... Serving the most vulnerable" With the support of LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS NETWORK 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 LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS NETWORK 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. LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS NETWORK 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. LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS NETWORK 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 1992. 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 1994. 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 LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS NETWORK 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