International Legal Assistance Consortium
Rebuilding Justice Systems
On 06 November, ILAC member organisation the Law Society of England and Wales arranged a UK launch for the new ILAC assessment report on the justice system in Guatemala. The public seminar brought together legal practitioners, law students, academics and NGO expertise on Guatemala and Latin America for a well-attended and wide-ranging discussion of the report.
Iván Velásquez, head of UN-backed International Committee against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and Thelma Aldana, former Guatemalan Attorney General. ©Oficina de Comunicaciones CICIG
Date: Friday, November 23, 2018
Time: 10:30 – 12:00
Location: Sida, Valhallavägen 199, Stockholm
In collaboration with Sida and the Right Livelihood Foundation, ILAC will participate on a public discussion on the challenges Guatemala currently faces in its struggle against corruption and impunity. [Read more…]
ILAC Guatemala Assessment Mission experts Luis Maria Palma, Carolina Valenzuela and Rhodri Williams present the report in Washington DC. ⓒ Hope Ann Roberts
Rule of law practitioners, ambassadors and experts on Latin America joined ILAC for the launch of its report on the Guatemalan justice sector in Washington DC last month. The launch was organised by ILAC member the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative and hosted by another member, the International Association of Women Judges.
Read report in English |Lea el informe en español | Watch the launch here
©Wikimedia Commons
The International Legal Assistance Consortium will initiate the public launch of its report on the Guatemalan justice sector today in Washington, D.C at 14h30 (Washington DC local time). The report, which is available in English and in Spanish, describes the challenges Guatemala faces in building greater respect for the rule of law and sets out recommendations to assist national actors and international partners in this effort. [Read more…]
Advocate for fundamental and civil rights, Mr Bennazar is a founding member of ILAC and former Board of Directors member.
Juan Bennazar has been an active and valued voice within ILAC since its inception. Our Consortium now counts as members over 50 professional legal organisations and experts from all over the world, reflecting a wide-range of legal expertise and competencies which can be drawn upon to help rebuild justice systems in countries that are fragile or conflict-affected. A passionate defender of the rule of law, Juan has contributed extensively and importantly towards ILAC’s achievements over the past 17 years. Juan’s sharp mind and quick wit together with his unfailing sense of humour and traditional Spanish courtesy have always been much appreciated by his colleagues within ILAC. [Read more…]
Date: Wednesday, 10 October 2018
Time: 2:30 pm-4:00 pm, registration will begin at 2:00 pm
Venue: International Association of Women Judges
1800 Massachusetts Ave NW Suite 401, Washington, DC 20036
Judge Thomas Buergenthal is announced 2018 Stockholm Human Rights Award laureate
Stockholm, Sweden
Holocaust survivor and human rights advocate judge Thomas Buergenthal is announced today as the 2018 Stockholm Human Rights Award laureate. Having devoted his career to the protection and promotion of human rights and international law, Judge Buergenthal will be honoured at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden on 20 November 2018. The award is given in recognition of work advancing international justice and strengthening respect for human rights. [Read more…]
ILAC is looking for two interns for Spring 2019!
Support ILAC programme officers, legal analysis department and staff members in developing and implementing new and existing assessment and programme activities.
Build the capacities of the intern in the field of international rule of law work, human rights and technical legal assistance.
Stockholm, Sweden
Based on the findings of its recent assessment report on Guatemala, the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) calls on the Government of Guatemala to demonstrate its commitment to overcoming corruption and impunity by reaffirming its support for the work of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) under its current Commissioner, Mr. Iván Velásquez.
Dr Rodger Chongwe at 2018 ILAC Annual General Meeting
I first came to know of Rodger Chongwe in 1997; he had been shot in the head by paramilitary police in his home country, Zambia. Rodger was at that time the Chairman of a coalition of opposition parties that was campaigning to rein in the corrupt practices of the President and Government; Rodger had been the Justice Minister in that Government and had remonstrated with the President, at first in private and later in cabinet, about unconstitutional and illegal actions; eventually Rodger felt he could not in good conscience remain in post, he resigned and continued to campaign publically for Presidential probity and integrity. [Read more…]
Blog piece by Shane Quinn
As Tunisia steadily moves forwards with its decentralisation reform, there is an onus on administrative justice institutions to ensure that they can maintain the pace in terms of organisation, responsiveness and accountability. Building or reforming institutional capability in politically shaky settings is not easy at the best of times – doing so on the back of a revolution under the inscrutable and watchful eye of an informed and demanding population adds vital momentum. And so it should be. Yet, the pace of reform has been slow even if the stakes are high. [Read more…]
In 2017, we celebrated our fifteenth year as a Consortium, reconfirming our vision and mission as well as setting our strategic priorities for the next five years.
Since we were founded, our Consortium has gathered over 50 professional legal organisations and experts from all over the world that reflect a wide-range of legal expertise and competencies which can be drawn upon to help rebuild justice systems in countries that are fragile or conflict-affected. [Read more…]
Representing the International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA), Chief Charles Taku speaks at 2018 Annual General Meeting
ILAC is delighted to welcome the International Legal Foundation and International Criminal Court Bar Association to our Consortium as organisational members. Both organisations were unanimously elected to join ILAC by our 2018 Annual General Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. [Read more…]
On May 31, ILAC together with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), organised a seminar on “Promoting Complementarity: How Can International Rule of Law Assistance Support Engagement with Customary Justice in Fragile Settings?” at Sida’s headquarters in Stockholm. [Read more…]
ILAC Executive Director Agneta Johansson speaks at ILAC 2018 Annual General Meeting
ILAC congratulates our members and secretariat for yet another successful Annual General Meeting.
ILAC hosted over forty of our member representatives for our sixteenth Annual General Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden earlier this month. In addition to Consortium housekeeping, such as updating ILAC’s by-laws and holding elections, the Meeting discussed dissemination targets for our recently released Rule of Law Assessment Report for Guatemala (2017) as well as renewed efforts to update ILAC’s assessment methodology and how we set geographic priotrities. [Read more…]
Stockholm, Sweden — The International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) today released a new report that examines the situation of the judiciary and public prosecution in Guatemala. ILAC’s Rule of Law Assessment Report on Guatemala provides a baseline for efforts to analyze the rule of law in Guatemala, including challenges such as the justice for crimes committed during the 1960-1996 internal armed conflict, disputes over land and natural resources, criminalization of protests, discrimination against women and LGBTI persons, and marginalization of indigenous communities. [Read more…]
© Jacques Jagoeux
On 31 May, Thursday, ILAC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) will co-host the seminar “Promoting Complementarity: How Can International Rule of Law Assistance Support Engagement with Customary Justice in Fragile Settings?”.
Date: Thursday, 31 May, 2018
Time: 14.00-16.15
Venue: Sida, Valhallavägen 199, Stockholm
ILAC Senior Legal Expert Rhodri Williams welcomes discussants and audience to the session on “Legitimacy, Accountability and Access to Justice” at the 2018 Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development. ©Vanessa Passos
For the third year running, ILAC partnered with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) to contribute to the annual Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development, held 7-9 May. The Stockholm Forum is co-hosted by SIPRI and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and promotes interdisciplinary exchanges among global thought-leaders aiming to influence key policy and research agendas.
© Abbas / Magnum Photos
by Rhodri Williams, Senior Legal Expert, International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC)
This Spring, for the third year running, the International Legal Assistance Consortium(ILAC) will be participating in the SIPRI Stockholm Forum on Peace and Development. ILAC is a consortium of 50 rule of law organizations worldwide, many of which participate in ILAC assessments and capacity-building work with justice sector actors in conflict-affected and fragile countries. The theme of this year’s Forum, on the “Politics of Peace” reflects both opportunities and challenges for rule of law actors seeking to contribute to broader efforts to end conflict and support sustainable development. [Read more…]
ILAC launched today the Discussion Paper on Judges as Peacebuilders: How Justice Sector Reform Can Support Prevention in Transitional Settings.
The first-of-its-kind Paper identifies key lessons showing the critical need in supporting judges as peacebuilders. Although justice systems in transitional settings are frequently badly weakened and tainted by allegations of corruption or complicity in human rights abuses, rebuilding their ability to dispense justice and regaining public trust in their integrity is indispensable to peacebuilding efforts. [Read more…]
Richard Sannerholm, ILAC´s Director of Assessments and Legal Analysis
ILAC is delighted to announce Richard Sannerholm as our new Director for Assessments and Legal Analysis.
For the past fifteen years Richard has worked and conducted research in the field of Rule of Law assistance in conflict and post-conflict settings. Richard has focused particularly on developing and implementing assessment and self-evaluation tools in the area of governance and Rule of Law. [Read more…]
ILAC experts and members of the regional administrative chamber of Sousse meet during the mission
ILAC is delighted to announce Guro Wiik as our new Syria Programme Manager. Guro brings to ILAC over ten years’ experience in international development, both from conflict and post-conflict settings. Throughout her career, Guro has had a particular focus on management of programmes on women’s rights and gender equality.
Guro joins ILAC from the United Nations Entity for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality (UN Women) Headquarters in New York, where she most recently held the position as Programme Specialist in the Programme Division. [Read more…]
The International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), established in 2002, is a Stockholm-based association for legal practitioners and scholars from around the world who offer expert guidance to countries to rebuild justice systems after conflict. It is in these challenging contexts where through better planning, coordination, and cooperation technical assistance can be more productive, sustainable, and cost efficient. Through its fifty member organisations, ILAC represents over 3 million legal professionals – judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and court administrators – worldwide.
The Principals of the ICC received the Stockholm Human Rights Award from HM King Carl XVI Gustaf. Photo: Tom Knutson
The International Criminal Court (ICC) received the 2017 Stockholm Human Rights Award recognising the institution’s outstanding contribution to the rule of law and human rights at a ceremony this week.
The Principals of the ICC – President Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, and Registeur Herman von Hebel –accepted the Award collectively from His Majesty the King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf.
Bosnian and Syrian legal professionals together for workshop about missing persons and property rights
Legal professionals from Syrian and Bosnia and Herzegovina are assembled for a workshop on land issues and missing persons which started last week in Sarajevo. Co-organised by ILAC, this exchange brings together justice sector peers from two countries involved in similar conflicts .
Bosnian legal professionals will share lessons related to the role of the justice system in their peacebuilding process. This project offers Syrian judges and lawyers tools to consider which experiences could apply and work in their context and which ones would have to be addressed differently. [Read more…]
The Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström recently appointed ILAC´s Executive Director, Agneta Johansson as one of fifteen inspiring women comprising the Swedish Women´s Mediation Network in recognition of her work in peacebuilding and rule of law.
I am very honoured to have been invited to contribute to the important work of the Women’s Mediation Network. The rule of law is a key component of sustainable peace and must be considered when determining what to include at each step of peace negotiations, says Ms. Johansson.
Chatham House seminar on The Syrian Justice System
ILAC and Chatham House held a seminar based on ILAC’s 2017 Syria Rule of Law Assessment at Chatham House in London last Wednesday. The panel discussed non-state courts in Syria and their role in areas outside the Syrian government’s control.
Drawing on the assessment findings, ILAC´s Legal Adviser and report writer Mikael Ekman offered an outline of the judicial bodies across Syria and how they differ from the government justice system.
No effort to build rule of law starts from zero,” said Ekman. “ILAC´s Syria report is an attempt to show what is there in terms of justice sector institutions in all parts of Syria. This is where the reconstruction of Syria will start, irrespective of what a future peace will look like.
Experts team having meeting in Guatemala
ILAC completed a rule of law and justice sector assessment mission in Guatemala on Friday, 20 October 2017. Our team, composed of 8 experts, investigated ongoing efforts to strengthen the rule of law in Guatemala to provide a reliable roadmap for more effective ways forward.
ILAC’s mission comes at a critical moment in Guatemala’s history, when corruption and impunity continue to pose serious challenges despite sustained efforts to reform the judicial system. [Read more…]
International Legal Assistance Consortium
Stockholmsvägen 21
122 62 Enskede, Sweden
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