The conference was attended by graduates of the Human Rights House Network project "International Law in Advocacy. Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers" – practicing lawyers and attorneys from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, as well as experts from the professional associations of lawyers in Europe and the USA. This meeting allowed participants to discuss the challenges, problems and resources in the international, European and national law and in practice of member countries in the field of the legal profession.
"Often, the legal profession is still viewed as a professional corporation, which is aimed at protecting the interests of clients.The social significance of lawyers and bar associations in the protection of human rights and their role in ensuring the principles of a fair trial is not covered with necessary persistence. Meanwhile, being "professional" human rights defenders, lawyers, defending their client, can make the courtroom a forum where common problems associated with defects in the legislation, judicial practice and unlawful actions of branches of government to restrict human rights can be voiced, "- said "International Law in Advocacy" program manager Liudmila Ulyashyna in her welcoming speech.
During the conference special attention was drawn to the issues of protection of the key principles of legal profession, amongst others, independence and a fair trial, as well as the lawyers’ solidarity and support from the international and professional associations. Representatives of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe and the professional associations of lawyers from Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the United States shared their experiences in the field of the legal profession and offered participants new ways and forms of cooperation. The conference was also attended by Cecilie Schjatvet, a member of the Board of the Human Rights House Foundation. Her participation and her speech promoted better mutual understanding among lawyers engaged human rights protection in different legal systems.
Vice-Chairman of the Committee of the Council of the Bar and Law Societies of Europe Rytis Jokubauskas gave examples of cooperation between the Council and national professional societies and actions of solidarity with lawyers from the countries participating in the program "International Law in Advocacy".
Judith Lichtenberg of the Netherlands Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) foundation told the participants of the conference about the the possibilities of lawyers’ protection : «Lawyers certainly play a crucial role in the adequate protection of human rights, but they can only do so effectively if they are able to perform all of their professional duties independently, without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference. It is important and relevant for lawyers of all countries – not to suffer, or be threatened with prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics. Our organization consists of professional lawyers, and when providing relief to lawyers under pressure, we can take steps to attract attention to their problems, like dissemination of information among our network of international and national bar associations, lawyers organizations as well as governmental institutions and civil society organizations, including the IBA, the Council of Europe or the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.We are always ready to share our experiences or to provide a platform for people to be able to tell about their problem themselves." It is worth noting that the organization «Lawyers for Lawyers» actively helped and drew attention to the problem faced by the Belarusian lawyers after the 2010 presidential election.Then the number of lawyers who were deprived of their license to perform professional activities on the initiative of the Ministry of Justice and were associated in some way with the criminal case on the events of 19 December reached 7 people.
This conference has become another way to support and enhance the interaction of lawyers with civil society organizations and between each other. Jasmine Cameron presented the activities of the Justice Defenders Program of the Centre for Human Rights of the American Bar Association to the participants of the conference: "Protection of lawyers is crucial, because if they do not feel independent and secured, it would violate one of the fundamental concepts of democratic state where lawyers are important link which accomplishes independence of legal system.When speaking about the independence of lawyers, people mean independence from the state, but independence from the client is also important – a lawyer should not be identified with his or her client.Our Justice Defenders Program provides technical assistance to lawyers who fight for human rights. We find independent qualified experts who can advise them or protect them. We also conduct monitoring of trials with the help of our experts, because an independent, competent assessment of events is very important, as it helps to build a more effective defence."
Liudmila Ulyashyna also underlined the importance of such cooperation, providing of support and security: "The situation of lawyers who advocate those who are dissidents in their own country, and this group in many countries, unfortunately, often includes human rights defenders, is vulnerable.They themselves need to be protected by national and international corporations and organizations of lawyers. As practice has shown, the lawyers can not always protect themselves and the national communities of lawyers instead of resistance to pressure, take the position that does not meet the professional code of Bar association of a democratic society. "
The conference was able to direct national teams to work on information exchange, documentation and solidarity towards lawyers. In the framework of Human Rights House Network program "International Law in Advocacy" information platform "Human rights lawyers – risk group" has started to operate. In addition during the conference multinational working groups that will be able to prepare a joint analysis of the legislation and its implementation in the sphere of legal profession in member countries were formed.
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The main goal of the project "Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers" is to strengthen the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights under the rule of law by building the capacity of lawyers through training, networking and awareness-raising on direct application of human rights standards at the national level.
The first international conference of the project was held in September 2010. Since then several such conferences were organised. The conferences have opened up new opportunities for lawyers to discuss joint approaches for using legal standards in their countries.Participants and graduates of the project created a strong interregional professional network, promoting the work of local human rights organizations, including the members and partners of Human Rights House Network.
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