Recently the International Bar Association has played a leading role in the establishment of the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC). ILAC is an alliance of international and national legal organisations and individual experts working together to provide assistance to nations with post-conflict justice needs.
In addition to the formation of ILAC, the IBA has also taken a prominent role in its inaugural conference, which started on 10 December and concluded on 12 December 2000 in Stockholm.
The conference was attended by more than 80 delegates from 44 countries, with many of the delegates being senior judges and lawyers with experience of rebuilding justice systems in war-torn countries.
Strong support has been given to ILAC as it is recognised that its creation provides an international mechanism to facilitate global efforts for judicial rehabilitation and post-conflict accountability in countries emerging from domestic or international conflict.
Through a series of international conferences, held under the auspices of the Stanley Foundation, it has been identified that ILAC can fundamentally assist countries emerging from conflict by undertaking the following two key roles, both of which are recognised as being essential by the UN and NATO.
The roles are:
| Firstly - | to provide a rapid response unit of legal professionals who will
go into a war-torn country at, or immediately after, military intervention to
make an assessment, usually for the UN, of what is needed to 'kick start' the
administration of justice.
|
| Secondly - | to provide technical assistance and training in support of accountability mechanisms that must be established as part of any post-conflict arrangement. |
This means that the next time there is a situation like Rwanda, Bosnia or Sierra Leone, the international community will be much better prepared to re-establish the justice system, which is a vital component of building peace.
ILAC is truly international, as the composition of the conference showed and it will thereby be able to draw upon senior and experienced persons of relevant backgrounds and skills to fulfil ILAC's roles within diverse legal cultures.
To bring ILAC to this point, generous funding has been provided by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), the Stanley Foundation, the International Bar Association (IBA) and the American Bar Association's Central and East European Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI). However, there is a need to provide permanent funding for ILAC and, drawing upon ideas that emerged from the Stockholm conference, an aggressive fundraising programme is now underway.
ILAC is an initiative that has captured the imagination of the world's legal profession, and as it moves forward, the IBA will be at the forefront of this unique opportunity to assist colleagues with the reconstruction of the administration of justice and the rule of law in the troubled regions of our world.
For further information please contact:
Lynn Hazlewood
Head of Public Relations and Marketing
International Bar Association
271 Regent Street
London W1B 2AQ
England
Tel: +44 (0)20 7629 1206
Fax: +44 (0)20 7409 0456
E-mail: lynn.hazlewood@int-bar.org.