IBA blazes trail on continuous legal education, professionalism

The 2015 International Bar Association (IBA) annual conference ended last Friday in the beautiful city of Vienna, Austria with the President of the Legal Education Society (LES), Azerbaijan and a member of the Council of Europe’s Expert Council on non-governmental organisation (NGO) law, Mr. Intigam Aliyev winning this year’s IBA Human Rights Award.

Previous winners of the award include two illustrious sons of Nigeria. They are late Chief Gani Fawehinmi in 1998 and Mr. Femi Falana SAN ten years later in 2008.

The Award was given to Aliyev in honour of his dedicated fight to uphold human rights and the rule of law in Azerbaijan. It was presented to him through his son, Necmin Kamilsoy, by IBA President, David W Rivkin.

A political prisoner in Azerbaijan, Aliyev was unable to collect the Award in person but his son and daughter travelled to Vienna and collected the Award on his behalf during the IBA’s Rule of Law Symposium held at the last day of the Conference.

In a letter read by his son, Kamilsoy, Mr. Aliyev said: “When I heard about this prestigious Award, I felt honoured and happiness with sadness at the same time. Today, in my country, my friends, colleagues, conscientious people, are facing prosecutions, pressures, and imprisonments. They deserve this award at least as much as I do. Therefore, I am accepting this award on behalf of them. I share my deep gratitude with the IBA for appreciating my efforts in such a way, as well as with all organisations that nominated me for this award.”

During the presentation, IBA President, Rivkin said: “Mr Aliyev is a courageous and dedicated human rights activist. His case serves as a stark reminder that for individuals across the world, being a lawyer is fraught with challenges and danger. Lawyers play a vital role in promoting justice, human rights and upholding the rule of law, both at home and abroad. Mr Aliyev’s determination and resilience should be an inspiration to all IBA members”.

Aliyev is an award-winning human rights activist working to defend the rule of law in Azerbaijan. He has represented more than 100 victims of alleged human rights breaches before the European Court of Human Rights. As the head of the Legal Education Society, he provides legal support to NGOs, Azerbaijani civil society organisations and low-income individuals. On 22 April 2015, he was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment as well as a three-year ban from holding public office and leadership positions by the Baku Grave Crimes Court on charges of tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship, abuse of authority, services forgery and misappropriation.

The IBA Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Legal Practitioner to Human Rights is sponsored by LexisNexis. It recognises personal endeavour in the field of law and is awarded annually.

Earlier at the beginning of the conference, Rivkin had announced the readiness of IBA to stem the tide of judicial corruption across the world, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria.

He also advised European leaders to respect international refugee conventions in dealing with migrants fleeing from war-torn countries.

According to Rivkin, when corruption occurs in the judiciary system, lawyers are usually involved. He stated that lawyers have special responsibility to tackle the menace, adding that corruption cost $1.25 trillion every year for developing countries, going by the estimation of the United Nations (UN).

He said: “In January, I initiated the ‘Judicial Integrity Initiative’ to look at issues of corruption where it exists in the Judiciary. The UN estimates that corruption costs $1.25 trillion every year for developing countries. When corruption occurs in the judicial system, lawyers are usually involved, so the IBA and our bar association members have a special responsibility to work to eliminate it. The IBA Legal Projects Team has worked with the Basel Institute of Governance to develop a survey to understand better how judicial corruption occurs. The many experts with whom we have worked confirmed this type of survey has not been previously undertaken.

“I ask you please to take the time to complete it, because we will use the results of this survey, along with in-country consultations in Mexico, the Philippines and Nigeria, to develop concrete actions that we can undertake to reduce corruption.”

The immediate Past President of the European Commission, (EC) José Manuel Barroso in his keynote address expressed optimism that the immigration crisis ravaging European States as a result of conflicts would be resolved.

Barroso said handling the problem at the national level was not enough and that a transnational global policy on migration was required, adding that the European Union (EU) had a moral duty to integrate all Syrian immigrants/refugees.

On the second day of the event, the former secretary of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Annan charged States to ensure that they protect against human rights abuse within their territories by third parties, including business enterprises.

Annan spoke while discussing his vision of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the positive role which lawyers play in their implementation.
He spoke alongside John Ruggie, former UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights.

At the African Regional Forum, the President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN) urged African lawyers to elevate their standards and skills in order to cope with the challenges of a globalized profession.

Alegeh said African lawyers cannot shut out competition by legislating others out of their jurisdictions, but they should rather compete favourably by improving on their skills, upping their ante as well as improving the quality of legal services delivery to clients.

His words: “If we come here on a jamboree every year listening to how they developed, without taking steps to uplift ourselves, then we fail our people. Our laws are the same and we come here to listen to how they develop new laws and move up, yet we go home and keep marking time without developing our own laws.

“We need to develop a judiciary that supports investment, develop human capital and critical infrastructure. We need to close the gap. We come here to take home how other people developed their laws and close the gaps.

“We still have laws in most parts of African continent that impede development and we come to the IBA to research on new laws and go home to implement our old laws. This is not doing us any good. It makes us look like orphans in IBA”.

About 6000 lawyers attended the event with over 200 sessions. Some of the showcase sessions focused on diverse areas of law. The IBA Judicial Integrity Initiative, the Anti-Corruption Committee and the Rule of Law Forum presented the session on combating judicial corruption while IBA’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the International Organisations Subcommittee presented the session of UN Security Council and Human Rights.

This session examined how the Security Council fulfils its obligations under the UN Charter and whether its members are acting in a manner that must be expected of them in a modern world. Recent examples from situations in the MENA countries, North Korea, Ukraine and others were discussed by the panelists. MENA stands for Middle East and North Africa.

The Bar Issues Commission, the Section on Public and Professional Interest, the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, the Judges’ Forum, the Multidisciplinary Practices Committee, the Professional Ethics Committee and the Regulation of Lawyers’ Compliance Committee presented the session on “Blurred lines – what it means to be a lawyer in the 21st century”.

This showcase session focused on what it means  – or should mean – to be a lawyer, what distinguishes the profession and how lawyers can best maintain their key attributes of providing access to justice, independence, confidentiality and freedom from conflicts of interest. It examined the ‘blurred lines’ given the many different regulatory approaches that now exist to permit the ‘practice of law’ by non-lawyers, accountants, listed companies, legal service providers, multidisciplinary firms and many other alternatives.

In the same vein, the Forum for Barristers and Advocates, the Judges’ Forum and the Section on Public and Professional Interest (SPPI) presented the “no independent courts without independent lawyers”.

The session explored how practising lawyers and cooperation between lawyers’ bodies can underpin the independence of the judiciary. The session also explored how governments are using financial means to undermine access to justice and how that impacts on the independence of the courts.

The final day of the conference focused on the Rule of Law Symposium, during which award is presented to the winners. The Rule of Law Forum has been given the responsibility to provoke, urge and assist the membership of the IBA in supporting and promoting the rule of law.
Other outstanding discussants in the meeting include Ms. Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands, former President of Spain, Mr. José María Aznar and the youngest former member of Parliament in Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The occasion was not all about learning, getting new contacts and making new friends, it included variety of social functions, guided tours and excursions to historical and iconic places. The next conference takes place in Washington DC, USA.