Pursuing humanity

Carolyn Kirby talks about the continuing efforts of the Law Society in its fight to support global human rights

While lawyers in England and Wales have many challenges to deal with in their professional lives, one aspect we don't have to worry about is being threatened, arrested or tortured simply for carrying out our professional duties.

Others are not so lucky.

I want to highlight the work done by the Law Society in pursuing human rights around the world of which we can all be proud.

This work has a number of strands.

We try to give support both to lawyers whose own rights have been violated, as well to those working to promote human rights in their own countries - often in the face of hostile governments.

And at home we seek to increase awareness of current human rights issues among members of the profession in England and Wales.

One of the main approaches to supporting lawyers under threat overseas is by writing letters of intervention to foreign governments, pressing them to respect the human rights of lawyers undertaking their professional duties.

Every year the president, and other office holders, write many letters of intervention addressed to numerous governments around the world - we have signed 70 so far this year.

Local law societies have also become involved, and this kind of pressure can be extremely effective.

Newcastle Law Society, for example, supported a young Kenyan lawyer forced to leave his country following threats and harassment that arose as a result of his legal work, including a land rights' compensation claim against the Kenyan government.

Following Newcastle Law Society's intervention, charges against the lawyer were dropped.

The importance of its involvement was clear - he told the society: 'because of you, I am free'.

We don't campaign only to protect lawyers whose own human rights have been violated - the Society also works to support lawyers around the world fighting to promote the human rights of others.

Death penalty cases are among the most worrying.

This year alone, the Society has made 30 interventions in cases where the death penalty has been invoked.

The Society has also become involved with a number of death sentence cases in the US, where concerns are growing over rates of wrongful conviction.

In Nigeria, the case of Amina Lawal - who was sentenced to death by stoning for having a child outside marriage - has continued to attract public attention around the world.

The Society wrote a letter of protest to the president of Nigeria last year when this case first came to light, following the Sharia court of appeal's decision to uphold Ms Lawal's death sentence.

The Society also contributes to a number of projects which promote human rights around the world, from the middle east and China to eastern Europe.

We are currently working with the Ugandan Law Society to enhance the capacity of its legal aid project by training Ugandan legal aid lawyers.

A seminar, organised by the Law Society, attended by around 100 African legal aid practitioners, took place earlier this month.

It covered a wide range of subjects including international human rights, alternative dispute resolution and public interest activities, and also provided a forum for discussing the possible establishment of a local and east African legal aid network to promote social and equitable justice.

Other projects include the Palestine training project, initiated by the Law Society's international human rights committee, to train Palestinian lawyers and judges to support human rights and the rule of law in Palestine.

In Nigeria, the Society has been involved in training a group of 24 lawyers to teach international, regional and domestic human rights.

That core group has now trained more than 700 other Nigerian lawyers.

Another positive consequence of this international work is the enhancement of the reputation of lawyers in England and Wales.

This often helps open doors to liberalisation of practice rights for law firms that wish to work in these countries.

But it is not just the work overseas that is important.

We also want to encourage a greater awareness and appreciation of international human rights among the legal profession in England and Wales.

The Society organises a number of events and other activities throughout the year.

I am particularly proud of the annual Graham Turnbull essay competition established by the Law Society's international human rights committee.

Now in its sixth year, the competition commemorates Graham Turnbull, who was an English solicitor murdered in Rwanda in 1997 while working as a UN human rights monitor.

I can only capture here a small snapshot of the range and scope of the human rights work carried out by the Law Society.

But I hope that it will encourage some of you to find out more and contribute to our efforts.

The Society's new Web site will offer the opportunity for you to help a fellow lawyer, or to help save a life, by downloading appeals that take only a few minutes to sign and send off.

In doing so you can add weight and credence to the appeals made by the Society.

This work does matter and it does make a difference.

It is no bad thing to remind ourselves from time to time that the core values to which we adhere as lawyers can make a real difference to the lives of others around the world.

Carolyn Kirby is the Law Society President