Lawyers unite to help warzones

The International Bar Association and ABA are behind an initiative to help war-torn countries reassert the rule of law.They are working on forming the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), which will establish a panel of lawyers to go into areas such as Kosovo and East Timor to make an initial assessment of the steps needed to reconstruct the administration of justice.ILAC will also seek to introduce systems of accountability for those who work on the reconstruction of war-torn countries, something the lawyers say is largely lacking at the moment.The initiative for ILAC came from a Stanley Foundation conference on the issue.

The US-based foundation funds conferences and research on behalf of the United Nations.The IBA's executive director, Paul Hoddinott, says the aim is for ILAC to produce a 'road map' to help the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are involved in reconstruction projects.

Last year, there were 273 NGOs registered as working in Kosovo, 'all tripping up over each other', he said.

In East Timor, offers to help with the legal system were coming from civil and common law countries with no co-ordination, he added.However, at this stage, ILAC would not look to become actively involved in the reconstruction itself.

'Perhaps that will happen in the future, but NGOs are fearfully independent,' said Mr Hoddinott.

'Until they have seen ILAC and seen that it can perform, they may not be willing to submit themselves to it.

But it's a role we hope we can grow into.'ILAC will be separate from the IBA and the ABA's Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (CEELI), which are the major forces behind the project.

The groups are currently sounding out other international legal organisations -- such as the Union International des Avocats, LawAsia and the Arab Lawyers Union -- about their possible involvement before arranging funding and an inaugural conference later this year.Mr Hoddinott said that as well as receiving funding from governments and foundations, he hoped business lawyers such as top law firms and corporate counsel would contribute because of the possible benefits for them of trade being re-established in the affected countries.

Neil Rose