10 December 2007
Today on International Human Rights Day, the Law Society is undertaking a co-ordinated series of activities on the rule of law, focusing in particular on a number of partner countries in which fellow lawyers and the rule of law are under threat.
Andrew Holroyd, Law Society President, has called upon Prime Minister Gordon Brown in an open letter*, to ensure that the British Government and its EU partners keep international human rights norms and standards at the top of the EU-African Union summit (12/13 December). In his letter Mr Holroyd mentions some of the ways in which the government of Robert Mugabe has systematically undermined the rule of law in Zimbabwe and calls upon EU leaders to ensure that this is the story that emerges from the Lisbon summit.
Last month the Society launched an appeal to collect £100,000 by the end of the year to help the Law Society of Zimbabwe maintain its services for lawyers and society in Zimbabwe.
In addition, Des Hudson, Law Society Chief Executive, Roger Smith, Director of Justice, Ifath Nawaz, Chair of Association of Muslim Lawyers, and Stephen Hockman, former Chair of the Bar Council will present a petition to Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street to condemn suspension of the rule of law in Pakistan.
The petition, which was endorsed by the Association of Muslim Lawyers, gathered 4781 signatures from bar associations, practitioner groups and individual lawyers in all jurisdictions around the globe. It asked legal professionals everywhere to show their support for the rule of law and to reemphasise that the rule of law is nothing without lawyers. The petition was endorsed by the Association of Muslim Lawyers and supported by the German Bar Association, the Israeli Bar, the Polish Bar, the Bahrain Bar, the Guyana Bar, the Law Society of Singapore and the Law Society of Northern Ireland.
The Law Society also remains concerned about the continued incarceration of detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
Notes to Editors
*Open letter to Gordon Brown*
