The ILF co-hosted a side event to the 7th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, entitled International Cooperation between Legal Aid Providers in Criminal Matters. ILF Program Officer Betsy Walters acted as moderator, and the distinguished panelists included Anat Horovitz, the Deputy Chief of the Israeli Public Defender office; Demos Chrysikos of the UNODC; Marina Ilminska of the Open Society Justice Initiative; Bruno Min, Assistant Coordinator of Fair Trials International; and Thomas Speedy Rice, Professor of Practice at Washington & Lee University School of Law and consultant to the ILF. Panelists highlighted the Johannesburg Declaration on the Implementation of the UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems, emphasizing Action Point C, which calls for establishment of international and regional cooperation mechanisms among legal aid authorities and defense services. The particular issue targeted by the events speakers was the difficulties associated with providing legal aid to criminal defendants arrested in a country that is not their own. For example, if a Ghanaian national is arrested for a crime in Nigeria, a defense attorney faces significant barriers to obtaining documents from the Ghana that may be necessary for effective defense. Professor Rice announced the recent launch of the working group for the Mutual Legal Defense Assistance Program (MLDA), which aims to create a platform for lawyers around the world to effectively and efficiently communicate on domestic and international matters related to criminal legal aid services, addressing the issues faced by legal aid providers representing foreign national defendants. Professor Rice noted that the working group for the website is still forming, and emphasized that broad international involvement is pivotal to ensuring that the end-product is accessible and useful to legal aid providers around the world. Anyone wishing to find out more about the working group can contact the ILF in order to be connected to Professor Rice or the events other panelists.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 14:00:00 +0000
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