When: Monday, 2. June 2014
To: Tuesday, 3. June 2014
Where: Vilnius, The Narutis Hotel, Pilies g. 24
Contact: (belarus@humanrightshouse.org / Tel: +370 5 2127703)

During the conference participants will analyze the international and European experience in the field of advocacy, as well as discuss the guarantee of the institute of the Bar in the legislation and practice in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.

The conference will be attended by the graduates of the project, experts in the legal profession from the participating countries as well as representatives of member organizations of Human Rights House Network and project partners. International experts will share their experience in the field of the institute of the Bar – representatives of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe as well as professional associations of lawyers from Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the USA will address the participants of the conference. The participants will discuss the strategies of reforming the Bar in their respective countries based on their own experience and the examples from the practice of the international experts.

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. A number of similar conferences were organised since then.The conferences have opened up new opportunities for lawyers to discuss joint approaches for using legal standards in their legal systems. 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.

The conference is organized by the Human Rights House Foundation (Norway), the Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House (Belarus-Lithuania), the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland, Human Rights House), the Legal Education Society (Azerbaijan, Human Rights House), Embassy of Human Rights (Moldova), Russian Research Centre for Human Rights (Russia, Human Rights House), Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union ( Ukraine, Human Rights House) with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The conference will be broadcast live on the Internet at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/project-ilia 

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The Human Rights House Network (HRHN) unites 87 human rights NGOs joining forces in independent Human Rights Houses in 16 countries in Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, East and Horn of Africa, and Western Europe. HRHN’s aim is to protect, empower and support human rights organisations locally and unite them in an international network of Human Rights Houses.

The Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF), based in Oslo (Norway) with an office in Geneva (Switzerland), is HRHN’s secretariat. HRHF is international partner of the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders and the emerging Balkan Network of Human Rights Defenders.

HRHF has consultative status with the United Nations and HRHN has participatory status with the Council of Europe.