Solicitors have grouped together to re-form a dormant organisation aimed at combating international breaches of human rights.

The Solicitors International Human Rights Group (SIHRG), which closed down several years ago, has been recreated to combat concerns among leading practitioners in the field that human rights are being ignored across the world, resulting in situations such as Guantanamo Bay and atrocities in countries including Iraq and Nepal.


SIHRG is headed up by leading practitioners in the field, including Geoffrey Bindman and Michael Ellman, a consultant at London firm Elizabeth Muirhead and former vice- president of the International Federation for Human Rights.


The group has the support of the Law Society's international human rights committee and will be open to all members of the profession. The founders felt that, although the bar and Law Society have done their best to combat human rights breaches, solicitors needed their own independent organisation.


Mr Ellman said the group hoped to have regular meetings with a view to sending members abroad to investigate and advise on problem situations, ranging from corporate manslaughter connected to asbestos-related diseases, to people detained illegally throughout the world. 'There are situations of torture, civil war, genocide and massive breaches of human rights where solicitors can have an impact,' he said. 'However, solicitors as a profession have to date had limited opportunities to offer their skills in the fight for human rights.'


Mr Bindman insisted that political and economic globalisation demanded matching international safeguards for individual rights. 'I believe the many solicitors who see the growing importance of the international protection of human rights will welcome the new group, which will help to channel their concern into practical involvement.'


The new SIHRG will kick off with a half-day seminar for solicitors and trainees on 6 October; for more details, contact Mr Ellman, tel: 020 7281 7944 or 07813 813362.