Adil Meléndez Marquez: “When starting a legal case, there is no guarantee at all that it will ever be treated, let alone that environmental and human rights violations are actually punished”
Illustration: Joost Hölscher Adil Meléndez Márquez, 46 years old and born in San Onofre, department of Sucre, Colombia, lives in the north of Colombia in Cartagena de las Indias. He works as an environmental and human rights lawyer and mainly represents afro Colombian peasant communities and indigenous peoples. In 2020, Lawyers for Lawyers nominated Adil […]
Lawyers supporting protestors in China targeted by authorities
Lawyers for Lawyers is concerned about reports of lawyers being targeted by the Chinese state security police. The lawyers have been providing pro bono legal advice to people arrested during the recent anti-lockdown protests. In the past few weeks, peaceful protests have started in a number of cities in China. The protests were triggered by […]
Joint letter: on-going imprisonment of lawyer Buzurghmehr Yorov and current detention conditions
In a joint letter to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan, Lawyers for Lawyers and Freedom Now have expressed their concern about the on-going imprisonment of lawyer Buzurghmehr Yorov. On 6 October 2016, Mr. Yorov was found guilty for several violations of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 23 years imprisonment. In […]
Concerns over new situation of Belarusian lawyer Maksim Znak in prison
According to the information received, Belarusian lawyer Maksim Znak had been sent to a cell-type premise on 2 December 2022 and there is no clarity on when he will be able to leave the cell. He has already been placed in solitary confinement three times before. Being put into a cell-type room is the harshest […]
Supreme Court of Burundi quashes the judgement convicting lawyer Tony Germain Nkina
Lawyers for Lawyers welcomes the news that the Supreme Court of Burundi has quashed the judgement leading to the conviction of Tony Germain Nkina. The human rights lawyer from Kayanza, Burundi is well known and provides legal assistance to detained persons and victims of human rights abuses. His prison sentence seems to be connected to […]
Possible forced deportation of French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hammouri
Lawyers for Lawyers is concerned about the possible forced deportation of the French-Palestinian human rights lawyer Salah Hammouri. Mr. Hammouri has been held in pre-trial detention for nine months already, and is currently fighting the revocation of his Jerusalem residency. Mr. Hammouri is a renowned human rights lawyer who advocates for Palestinians in Jerusalem and […]
Kroniek van een aangekondigde dood, maar dan in Turkije
Tahir Elçi, advocaat en deken van de Orde van Advocaten van Diyarbakir in Zuidoost-Turkije, werd op zaterdag 28 november 2015 meteen na een persconferentie op klaarlichte dag door het hoofd geschoten en overleed ter plekke. De vrouw van Tahir Elci heeft vorig jaar november een korte tekst geschreven voor een online krant in Turkije. Daarin […]
Vacancy student-internship
On average 8 hours/wk, from 1 February 2023 Do you want to make a difference for endangered lawyers standing up for the rights of others? Do you want to learn how an NGO works and build a network with lawyers from small and large firms? And do you want to do that in a young, […]
Joint letter: arrest and house arrest of Elchin Sadigov
In a joint letter to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Lawyers for Lawyers and the International Observatory for Lawyers have expressed their concern about the pre-trial detention and house arrest of lawyer Elchin Sadigov. On 10 September 2022, Mr. Sadigov was arrested together with the journalist Mr. Avaz Zeynalli and charged with “complicity […]
Day of the Lawyer in Belarus
4 December marks Lawyers’ Day in Belarus, a professional holiday. Nevertheless, Lawyers for Lawyers continues to be concerned about the situation of Lawyers in Belarus. The Belarusian lawyers are subject to harassment, intimidation as well as improper interference while they are performing their professional duties. Additionally, the independence of the legal profession in Belarus is […]
Muhammad Jamil “the denial and concealment of public information must be ended now”
As a lawyer working for the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM), Muhammad Jamil seeks to protect the communities that are affected by the mining business by using advocacy and litigation tools to hold corporations that damage the environment accountable. This work isn’t without difficulties. ‘The main obstacles faced by Indonesian environmental lawyers is that many victims […]
Joint statement calling for the release of Li Yuhan
On the International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, Lawyers for Lawyers joined by a large group of organisations is calling for the release of Chinese human rights lawyer Li Yuhan. The full statement can be found here. The 29 Principles, Lawyers for Lawyers, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), the International Bar Association’s Human […]
The Democratic Republic of the Congo: UPR mid-term report
In preparation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2024, Lawyers for Lawyers has written a mid-term report. In this report, we set out to what extent the DRC has implemented the recommendations it accepted during the 2019 UPR process in relation to the role of lawyers. During […]
Lawyers for Lawyers monitor hearing in the murder trial of Tahir Elçi
On 23 November 2022, representatives of Lawyers for Lawyers and the Fédération des Barreaux d’Europe, observed the hearing in the trial on the murder of, the late president of the Diyarbakır Bar Association. Tahir Elçi was killed by a single gunshot on the streets of Diyarbakır on 28 November 2015, during a gunfight between the […]
Joint statement on behalf of various international bar associations and lawyers’ organisations on the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, the International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger, the Union Internationale des Avocats, Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, ASF Suisse, and Lawyers for Lawyers call on the Islamic Republic of Iran and its agencies to protect, promote, and support the following basic rights: the independence of the legal profession; the […]
Seminar – Day of the Endangered Lawyer (Afghanistan)
The Law Society of England and Wales and Lawyers for Lawyers are organising an online seminar for the Day of the Endangered Lawyer 2023, focusing on Afghanistan.The seminar will take place from 16:00 – 17.30 (CET) on the 19th of January, and you can register here. Since the capture of Kabul by the Taliban in […]
