Human Rights - what we do
Posted 31st October 2007
Upholding the Rule of Law and Access to Justice: We design and implement projects that aim to support developing legal systems and professions abroad.
Promotion of human rights worldwide: We raise awareness of human rights international standards and conventions and lobby for better adherence to international law in practice. We respond to individual breaches of human rights suffered by lawyers in the course of their work.
For an overview of the Law Society's international project and human rights work see our Topics page. For more detailed information please read our 2010 and 2009 reports. For examples of our project work, please see the links below.
Examples of International Projects:
Nigeria Law Project
Antigua Project
Uganda - Legal Aid Project
Turkey Partnership
China Training Scheme
Middle East Training Programmes
Russia Partnership
Libya Legislative Review Project
International Projects: Nigeria:
- Following long standing concerns about the disregard for international human rights standards the project addressed the need for free legal representation to defendents in the absence of a state-funded legal aid system. The Duty Solicitor Scheme was developed which today sees nearly 500 lawyers providing 20,000 pro bono lawyer-days-in court per year in 15 states. 700 lawyers are being trained in international human rights and we are working with three targeted state governments to fully institutionalise the scheme by the end of the programme in 2009. Back to top.
- This project aimed to improve access to justice in Antigua & Barbuda by strengthening the institutional capacity of the Legal Aid and Advice Centre to undertake and deliver its services to meet the needs of the poor with no access to representation. The objectives of the project were to: build the strategic planning skills to ensure long term sustainability of the centre; provision of information to the public on basic legal rights and access to justice; to improve client care and case management abilities of staff at the centres: to build local capacity by training trainers to train members of the pool of private lawyers volunteering to assist in cases.
- The Law Society worked in partnership with the Legal Aid Project (LAP) of the Uganda Law Society to strengthen the capacity of LAP to offer wider and more effective free legal services to their clients. This involved: advocacy and mediation skills training to legal aid providers; increased awareness of International Human Rights instruments and their domestic application through a training of trainers programme to enhance the dissemination and sharing of information and to improve the capacity of the Legal Aid Project to address its clients’ needs effectively and appropriately.
- A partnership between the Union of Turkish Bar Association and the Law Society of England and Wales to: Raise awareness of the European Union and the accession process in Turkey among the legal profession; To increase the professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness of legal services across Turkey to EU standards; To promote cross-border co-operation between the Turkish Bar Association and counterparts across the EU Member States: To enhance the capacity of bar associations at national and local level to facilitate access to objective information on EU and accession related issues to their members.
- The Lord Chancellor’s Training Scheme for Young Chinese Lawyers is a successor scheme to the highly successful Practical Training Scheme for Young Chinese Lawyers. It aims to: Give Chinese lawyers an understanding of English law and the English legal system; to provide an introduction to the practice of English law in contentious and non - contentious work and to provide Chinese lawyers with an insight into the management and organisation of legal practice in both solicitors' firms and barristers' chambers.
- The Law Society of England and Wales ran a series of international training programmes for Arab lawyers in eight countries, namely: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia. This included training on: International law including international trade agreements and trade law; International legal practice; transactions and skills; International standards for judges, lawyers and prosecutors: International human rights and English legal terminology.
- A legal co-operation partnership between the Law Society of England and Wales and the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers to contribute to the effective and efficient provision of legal services in Russia by the institutional development of the bodies that representative and regulatory bodies of the legal profession. Activities included: A study-visit to the UK to explore models of regulation and representation; A conference in Moscow to present results and examine best practice for the legal profession in Russia; The production of a toolkit on legal practice; The establishment of a twinning programme between regional chambers in Russia and local law societies in England and Wales.
- In recognition of the importance of legal reform to its economic reform agenda The Law Society of England and Wales was invited to lead a steering committee to review legislation and procedures on banking, commercial and dispute resolution and recommended policy options to ensure that legislation provided a more enabling business and investment environment.
