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“Confronting impunity: Protect Lawyers and Judicial Independence” is the title of the  VII International Caravan of Jurists Report in Colombia, in which 6 delegates from the International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger participated. The full report is now available in English and is summarised below.  Executive Summary of VII Caravane Report This report  documents the findings of the visit in August 2022 by the VII International Caravana of Jurists to Colombia. The backdrop to the Caravana was the high murder rate of human rights defenders (HRDs) and social leaders, the alarming increase in territorial violence, and the acceleration of repression and criminalisation of social protest in recent years. As the delegation commenced, the incoming Petro government was promising to fully implement the Peace Agreement. Delegates were also aware of concerns about the Duque government’s failure to fulfill key commitments in the Agreement. With this in mind, the VII Caravana focused on the need for an independent judiciary and the protection of human rights lawyers and defenders, to confront impunity and guarantee access to justice for all. Convening first in Bogotá for preliminary meetings with Colombian colleagues, the Caravana delegates travelled to four regions, Bolívar (Cartagena), Norte De Santander (Cúcuta), Santander […]

11 April 2023   The Observatory is pleased to announce the creation of the Observatory Human Rights Award, which will be presented to a lawyer or lawyers’ organisation acting in favour of human rights in the world.  The purpose of the award is to highlight and support the work done by the laureate(s), as well as to condemn the danger he/she has suffered in the exercise of the profession, and he/she should have honoured it by upholding the highest values of professional and personal ethics in the field of human rights. The Observatory therefore calls on all its active members to submit their candidates before 5 May 2023. For this first year, the prize will be awarded at the General Assembly in June 2023, by Mr. Jérôme Gavaudan, President of the Observatory. For more information about the award and the terms of reference, please contact contact@protect-lawyers.org.

The Left / Flickr / 2012 In a joint article published on the website of “La Croix” on 22 December 2022, Jerôme Gavaudan, President of the Observatory (OIAD), and Jean-Claude Samouiller, President of Amnesty International France, denounced the decision of Israel to expel the lawyer Salah Hamouri.  Read the full article below: “Nine months. It has been more than nine months since the French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri was arrested, then placed in administrative detention in an Israeli prison. Without the right to a fair trial, without any charges being brought against him, and under the pretext that he “would threaten the security of the region”, he has seen his prison sentence renewed every three months by decision of a military court since March.  This Sunday, he was deported from Israel to France, without further trial, while the hearing to set the date of his deportation was scheduled for January 1st. Today, we ask the Israeli authorities to reverse this decision, by allowing him to return to work in his country, and live in his native land with his family.  A dangerous precedent  The revocation of his right of residence and his expulsion from Israeli territory, which had been hanging over […]

Engin Akyurt / Pexels / 2010 Efkan Bolac, a lawyer at the Istanbul Bar Association and a member of the Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD), appeared before the 52nd Chamber of the Caglayan Court on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, for having published a cartoon featuring Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2018. The “incriminated” cartoon, which appeared in the press a first time in 2014, refers to the mining accident that occurred the same year in the city of Soma causing 301 victims, the most serious industrial disaster in Turkey. The cartoon depicts a man with features similar to President Erdogan, being kicked by a miner. During the protests against the neglect of the disaster, one of Erdogan’s advisors kicked a miner who was pushed by the police and fell in front of him. Efkan Bolac, who had republished this drawing in 2018, is therefore prosecuted for insulting the President of the Republic. He faces 4 years in prison, even though Recep Tayyip Erdogan was Prime Minister at the time of the facts. At the hearing on January 24, the judge postponed the case to June 1st, 2023, on the pretext that the court was waiting for the written transcript of the audio recording of […]

Every year on the 24th of January, the International Day of the Lawyer in Danger mobilises the international community on the difficulties and threats to the practice of law. The situation of lawyers in Afghanistan was chosen for the year 2023. Lawyers have been targeted since the Taliban government took power on 15th of August 2021. The impossibility or even the prohibition for women to practice their profession and the obligation for men to obtain a new licence under the control of the terrible Taliban Ministry of Justice, undermine the free exercise of lawyers’ profession. Not to mention the dramatic deterioration of the rule of law, jeopardising the lives of thousands of Afghans, including many lawyers, forced to flee or hide in the country. On the occasion of this international day, the OIAD is organising a online conference on the 20th of January 2023 entitled “The defence of defence in times of crisis”, which will provide an opportunity to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, but also in Ukraine and Iran. *** Join us online, for this mobilisation day. The debates will be fully translated into English, French, Spanish and Italian. We also invite you to participate in the OIAD’s workshops. […]

The 3rd meeting of the Committee of experts on the Protection of Lawyers (CJ-AV) in charge of drafting an international legal instrument on the protection of lawyers was held in Strasbourg from 8 to 10 November 2022. The Observatory participated as an observer, represented by Laurence Roques, who summarised the content of the meeting as follows: “Massimo Audisio, who represented the OIAD at the first two meetings, recalled that these meetings had focused on the binding nature of the instrument, with a sub-question concerning the procedure for monitoring the binding nature of it. Even though a large majority of States were in favour of the binding nature of the instrument, given the lack of unanimity (Turkey opposed it), this question was postponed until later. This meeting was dedicated to study the substantive articles of the convention. It was agreed to postpone consideration of the preamble until the end, once all the articles of the convention have been agreed, which is more coherent as it will be easier to write it once a consensus has been reached on the content of the convention. Discussions were focused on both definitional and translation issues between the English version (the original version, as it […]

The Observatory, together with the International Caravan of Jurists, Lawyers for Lawyers, Lawyers Rights Watch Canada and Global Justice Association, has informed the Colombian authorities of its concern about information received regarding the situation of Luz Estella Romero Villalba and the rest of the members of the Asociación Colectivo Mujeres al Derecho (ASOCOLEMAD or Collective Association of Women in Law), composed of lawyers and human rights defenders in their country. In the communication, the OIAD and the other organisations have urged the Colombian institutions and authorities to: Take all necessary measures to guarantee the safety and physical and psychological integrity of those who make up ASCOLEMAD, within the framework of protection programs and international standards; Guarantee, under all circumstances, that human rights defence lawyers in Colombia can carry out their activities in defence of human rights without fear of reprisals and without restrictions and with respect for the United Nations Basic Principles of the Role of Lawyers, signed in Havana in 1990. Likewise, in particular, we have urged the Office of the Attorney General to observe due diligence and guarantee the rights to due process, defence, access to justice and the right to information in the investigation of the reported […]

Bogotá, 26 August 2022 – The VII International Caravana of Lawyers has travelled to the regions of Cali, Bucaramanga, Cartagena and Cúcuta where, by listening, observing and gathering the testimonies of victims of human rights violations and their relatives, their legal representatives, the judiciary and institutions, it has reached these preliminary findings.  One starting point is the concern about the lack of implementation of the Peace Accord, the continuity of the armed conflict, as well as the serious and increasing levels of violence perpetrated by illegal armed actors involved in drug trafficking and other criminal activities in the regions. Other key elements of the complex current situation include the high and rising levels of poverty and unmet basic needs of the communities, as well as the conflicts surrounding access to water, land and the presence of extractive projects that threaten water and other natural resources.  The Caravana is deeply concerned about serious threats to the rule of law that limit access to justice, the repression of political participation and social protest, and the lack of security guarantees for those carrying out vital human rights work in Colombia.  Repression and criminalisation of political participation and social protest: The Caravana is concerned […]

On May 19, 2022, the Observatory organizes an online and in person conference from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm (CET)

The International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger supports the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective in the context of the Cajar v. Colombian State hearings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This is the first case of illegal intelligence against human rights lawyers to reach the IACHR.  Alfredo Irujo, member of the executive committee of the Observatory, has denounced on behalf of the Observatory, the impunity for acts that violate the privacy and professional secrecy of CAJAR and all lawyers in Colombia. It also affirms that the hearings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on 12 and 13 May should make it possible to measure the impact of these threats to the work and life of human rights defenders in Colombia, as well as to point the way towards the comprehensive protection of the work and of human rights defenders.    Finally, it encourages the Colombian state to provide concrete and transparent information on the identification of the victims of illegal eavesdropping activities. In such a way that they can exercise their right of access to justice and effective measures are taken so that these serious human rights violations are not repeated and are clarified.  

 The Observatory supports women lawyers   March 8 is the International Women’s Rights Day. On this occasion, the Observatory wishes to put forward profiles of women lawyers who fight for the recognition of their rights in their country.    Many women lawyers are persecuted in the world, the Observatory affirms its support. As members of the profession, these women must be recognized the same rights as their colleagues.     The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held in Havana (Cuba) in 1990 reaffirms in its preamble that: ““the peoples of the world affirm, inter alia , their determination to establish conditions under which justice can be maintained, and proclaim as one of their purposes the achievement of international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion”.  Some of our colleagues have recently been victims of violence and intimidation in the course of their work.  In Afghanistan, Latifa Sharifi was threatened for her fight against domestic violence against women.   In the Philippines, Czarina Musni, committed to the protection of vulnerable people and […]

[Flickr / Karen] Lawyers José Arnulfo López and Arlene Muñoz explain in an interview with the newspaper “El País” about their hasty flight from Nicaragua to Spain with their two children, due to the high risk of Arnulfo’s arrest. Indeed, this is a well-founded risk. Since the popular protests against the Nicaraguan government in 2018, “more than 110,000 Nicaraguans have fled into exile, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) “[1]. The family denounces the state repression they have suffered in the form of threats and attacks, particularly since José Arnulfo began to legally represent political prisoners and opponents of the Ortega regime.    Read the full interview HERE   The Observatory has monitored the asylum case, accompanying and supporting lawyer José Arnulfo and his family in Spain, where they are currently waiting for their asylum application to be granted.  In this process, they have the pro-bono legal advice of the lawyer Sidi Talebbuia, an expert in international law and immigration, and a collaborator of the Observatory. On 24 February 2022, they both took part in the Round Table on the asylum procedure for lawyers in danger.     Watch the full video of the conference on our Youtube channel.        [1] […]

On the 24th of January, The Observatory held its webinar dedicated to Colombian Lawyers. ➡️Watch the replay on our youtube channel The webinar is also available in French, Spanish, Italian

7 February, 2022 Francesco Caia, President of the Observatory, has participated on Friday 4th of february at the Memorial Jacques Henry hosted by Barcelona Bar due to the Sant Raimon de Penyafort´s festivity. In this conference, he has been part of the first pannel « Human Rights tools for changing the world ». At this space, he has share the observatory´s work as fundamental tool to protect the lawyers. In his own words, « Protection of the Lawyers means protection of the people they represent. A free, independent and free of influence legal advice would ensure the Effective Legal Protection of the citizenship”.

25 January 2022 The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has issued a new ruling condemning Mexico for violating the right to life, the guarantees of judicial protection and the right to honour and dignity of human rights defenders. This is the case of Family of Digna Ochoa y Placido v. Mexico, in which the Court ruled on the responsibility of the State and its lack of diligence in the investigation of the  murder of human rights lawyer Ms. Ochoa, occurred in October 2001,  and the violation of her family’s right to know the truth about the facts. In May 2021, the International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger, together with the Spanish Lawyers’ Foundation, presented an Amicus curiae brief before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in collaboration with the legal team of the victim and her relatives, led by lawyer Karla Micheel Salas. The brief highlighted the prejudice suffered by the family of the Mexican lawyer due to errors in the investigation and the failure of the Mexican State to act despite the numerous requests filed by the family. This judgment obliges Mexico to complete the investigation to determine the circumstances of the murder of Ms. Digna Ochoa in 2001 […]

How has the practice of law evolved in Colombia? Daniel Prado is an independent lawyer associated with the Justice and Peace Commission (JyP), which carries out accompaniment processes with victims and communities using different approaches. Over the course of 30 years, Mr. Prado has witnessed the decline of the judicial system in Colombia and has suffered multiple threats because of his work. The lack of support and protection of lawyers by the State, led by conflicts of interest, puts human rights lawyers at risk.    

On 24 January 2022, on the occasion of the International Day of the Lawyer in Danger, the Observatory is organising an online conference from 5pm to 6.30pm (CET) translated into English, French, Italian and Spanish.   Read the programme.   Link to register for the conference : https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_k6GzW1M6RT-ccVH1av9hcA  To learn more about the International Day, we invite you to read the Observatory’s documentation.

[Unsplash / Mathias P.R. Reding / May 2020]. The Observatory has sent a letter to the authorities of France, Italy, Switzerland and Spain expressing its opposition to the candidacy of Mr. Herminio “Harry” Roque Jr. to the United Nations International Law Commission. As an official spokesperson for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity for extrajudicial killings and other violations in his so-called “war on drugs”, Mr. Roque has publicly defended and justified attacks on human rights, justice, due process and the rule of law. Access the full document HERE.

[Flickr / Alexander Schimmeck 2018] Lawyers of Acción Penal have been forced to continue their work from exile after being under constant attack for their legal defence of political prisoners. Acción Penal is an association created by criminal lawyers, all of whom previously worked as prosecutors in the Nicaraguan Public Ministry. This association was created in February 2019 to respond to the need for legal defence of political prisoners and legal assistance to victims of repression, in the context of the social and political crisis affecting Nicaragua. Acción Penal is composed of a permanent team of three lawyers who work occasionally with three other associate lawyers. The members of Acción Penal work to assist persons deprived of their liberty who are protesting for the respect of human rights in Nicaragua. In this way they promote access to free and quality legal defence, the creation of specialised documentation recording human rights violations, as well as the filing of legal actions against the Nicaraguan state for these violations. Acción Penal’s legal team has been working in a hostile context when dealing with legal issues related to the social and political crisis of April 2018. State repression has increased in the context of […]

Alexander Lukashenko’s election for a sixth term in August 2020, after being in power for 26 years, has raised a wave of protests and demonstrations in Belarus. Indeed, his 80% election victory raised serious doubts as to the legality of the election. Consequently, the climate of tension that prevails since the election between the demonstrators and opponents of the regime on the one hand and government forces on the other has increasingly worsened lawyers’ working conditions. Lawyers who provide legal assistance to anti-government protesters are being threatened with arrest, license suspension and even disbarment. According to the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), since the summer of 2020, more than 23 lawyers have been disbarred. The justifications for these disbarments are often debated. For example, the Belarusian lawyer Mikhail Kirilyuk, who provided legal representation to a protester, was threatened and had his license revoked for making “rude comments” and “unacceptable public statements” about government officials. More recently, on 6 September 2021, the lawyer Maksim Znak was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “plotting to seize power by unconstitutional means”, “creating and leading an extremist group”, and “calling for actions undermining national security” on the media. He had been providing […]

OIAD informs that the official launch of the final report on human rights violations in the Philippines by the Independent International Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations in the Philippines (INVESTIGATE PH) will take place on 13 September 2021. CLICK HERE for details and to register.

David Castillo, one of the directors of the Honduran electricity company DESA, was found guilty on Monday 5 July of being the mastermind of the murder of environmentalist leader Berta Cáceres. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 3 August, when the sentence will be announced. Berta’s family and legal representatives have described the ruling as “a historic step in the fight against impunity for crimes committed against human rights defenders”, as it is the first time that the director of one of the companies involved in this type of crime has been convicted of being the mastermind. The judges based their decision on the information gathered from the mobile devices, which allowed them to establish the plan to assassinate Cáceres and put an end to the opposition she represented to the hydroelectric construction project on the Gualcarque River. In addition, the legal team stressed that the evidence gathered in this process would be used to demonstrate the involvement of more powerful actors such as the Atala Zablah family, owners of the company who has important political connections. The prosecutor’s office has assured that it is working on this investigation. The International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger has been participating since […]

The Colombian Constitutional Court issued on 17 June 2021 a statement on the matter of jurisdiction review in the Dilan Cruz case. The OIAD submitted an Amicus Curiae brief to the Court on this matter. The Dilan Cruz case refers to the killing of the young man by a member of the National Police during the 2019 National Strike demonstrations in Colombia. So far, the case has been assigned to the Military Criminal Jurisdiction. However, the Constitutional Court, in line with the OIAD Amicus Curiae, reiterated that the natural judge is a guarantee of due process for both the accused and the victims. Likewise, it indicated that, in the specific area of criminal law, the natural jurisdiction is the ordinary one. In this regard, he recalled that the competence of other jurisdictions, and in particular the Military Criminal Justice system, is restricted and exceptional. In the specific case, the Court ruled that the criminal proceedings against the captain of the National Police for the death of Dilan Cruz should be transferred to the Ordinary Jurisdiction, thus protecting the fundamental rights of the victims to due process and to have an effective judicial remedy. Read HERE the statement of the Constitutional […]

  May 24th, 2021 The International Observatory of Endangered Lawyers (OIAD) and the Spanish Lawyers Foundation have submitted an Amicus Curiae brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court H.R) in the case “Family of Digna Ochoa y Placido v. Mexico”. Digna Ochoa y Plácido was a Mexican human rights lawyer who died violently on 19 October 2001 after having been the target of threats for years for reasons associated with her professional work. The elements of analysis and context offered to the I/A Court H.R through the amicus brief lead to the conclusion that the ideal conditions did not exist to ensure the protection of Digna Ochoa y Plácido, regarding the threats and the situation of risk that arose as a consequence of them. In other words, the public authorities failed in their duty to guarantee the victim’s protection, which includes investigating the threats received during the previous years. Although the lawyer had been granted protective measures by the Court, these measures were withdrawn two months before her murder on 19 October 2001. The amicus is mainly based on the findings described in the Report of the Spanish Lawyers Fondation “Impunity and Defencelessness: Case of Fernández Ortega […]

The Consiglio Nazionale Forense (Italy), with lawyer Francesco Caia, assumes the Presidency of the International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (OIAD) for this year. 5 May 2021 The President Victoria Ortega Benito handed over of the Presidency at the end of the General Assembly held on April 29, 2021 in accordance with the statute, which provides for the annual rotation of the Presidency among the founding members of the Observatory (Conseil National des Barreaux (France), Conseil National Forense (Italy), Consejo General de la Abogacía Española (Spain), Ordre des Avocats de Paris. The Geneva Bar Association and the Milan Bar Association are elected members of the OIAD Board. Five years have passed since the foundation of the OIAD, which main aim is to support lawyers all over the world who are threatened and persecuted by arbitrary arrests and convictions only because they are guilty of faithfully exercising the defensive mandate, in the exclusive interest of the client, without yielding to the pressures of governments and authoritarian regimes. Many are physically attacked and injured or even pay with their lives for their commitment. Currently, more than forty bar associations, including non-Europeans, are members of the OIAD. «I thank the President Ortega, all […]

Take action! 5th April, on the International lawyer’s day in Turkey, the International Observatory of Lawyers in Danger launches a fraternity card operation, intended for 10 lawyers currently in jail, in order to demonstrate the support from the international community of lawyers. The OIAD aims to support and and invite the international community to visibilize the situation of lawyers in Turkey. The targeted lawyers are: Selcuk Kozagacli Barkin Timtik Behic Asci Oya Arslan Yaprak Türkmen Süleyman Gökten Özgür Yilmaz Engin Gökoglu Aycan Cicek Aytac Ünsal. Click on the name of each lawyer to access to the corresponding postcard that you may print, share and publish freely. These postcards must mandatorily be written in Turkish language. If not, they will not be transmitted to their recipient. You may of course sign your postcards. The content is the following: Dear (Name of the lawyer recipient), As the International Observatory of Lawyers in Danger, we wish to emphasise that you constantly remain in our thoughts. Be assured of our warmest feelings and of our solidarity.   The OIAD encourages you to take action on this solidarity operation. A warm thank you for your support!  

GUATEMALA: The Legal Office of Indigenous Peoples and the Chomij’a Indigenous Women Lawyers’ Association condemns the act of intimidation following the burglary that occurred at their offices. 31 March 2021 During the weekend of 20-21 March, the offices of the Legal Office of Indigenous Peoples and the Chomij’a Indigenous Women Lawyers’ Association were violently broken into.  The Legal office of Indigenous Peoples has renowned experience in the support of various communities and human rights defenders, in particular defenders of the natives’ lives and territories. The office is currently involved in legal procedures related to the recovery of ancestral lands and the defence of human rights defenders. Regarding the Chomij’a Indigenous Women Lawyers’ Association,  it includes professionals specialised in the legal defence of rights, in particular those of indigenous women and of communities. On 22 March, in the morning, the attack was reported by one of the organisation’s workers who had arrived and discovered the destruction and lack of equipment in the offices. At 9 a.m., the National Civil Police (PNC) and the Public Prosecutor’s Office arrived to start the investigation. Approximately 8 computers were stolen, as well as the server that contains the security camera recordings of the premises and […]

A special focus on the situation of the legal profession.

Invitation to the Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.

The OIAD nominates American lawyer Steven Donziger for the International Bar Association Human Rights Award.

The objective is to examine and document violations of the right to a fair trial.

Public announcement on the deterioration of the situation of lawyers in Turkey.

The Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh nominated for the Freedom Prize Let’s vote for her!

[Foto: Jorge Mahencha / Wikipedia] 30 de octubre de 2019 Las organizaciones firmantes expresa su profunda preocupación por los repetidos ataques y amenazas a la integridad personal y profesional del Germán Romero Sánchez abogado perteneciente a la Asociación Red de Defensores y Defensoras de Derechos Humanos- DH Colombia. Accede al documento completo AQUÍ.

Documents of interest: Informational Brochure Report DEL Coalition: Turkey