Formation | February 17, 1947 |
---|---|
Type | International professional association for the legal sector |
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Location |
|
President | Almudena Arpón de Mendívil Aldama (2023-2024) |
Key people | Mark Ellis, Executive Director |
Website | ibanet.org |
The International Bar Association (IBA), founded in 1947, is a bar association of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA in 2018 had a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and 190 bar associations and law societies. [1] Its global headquarters are located in London, England, and it has regional offices in Washington, D.C., United States, Seoul, South Korea and São Paulo, Brazil. [2]
Representatives of 34 national bar associations gathered in New York City, New York on 17 February 1947 to create the IBA. Initial membership for the first two decades was limited to bar associations and law societies, but in 1970, IBA membership was opened to individual lawyers. Members of the legal profession including barristers, advocates, solicitors, members of the judiciary, in-house lawyers, government lawyers, academics and law students comprise the membership of the IBA. [3] [4]
The IBA has held Special Consultative status before the UN General Assembly and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1947. [5] On 9 October 2012, the IBA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). [6] [7] The IBA also partners with the OECD and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in the Anti-Corruption Strategy for the Legal Profession, an anti-corruption initiative for lawyers. [8] [9] The IBA has also partnered with the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) [10] and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE). [11]
In 2020, the IBA filed a submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its causes and consequences, with a view to informing her report on Rape as a grave and systematic human rights violation and gender-based violence against women. [12] The submission contained 20 recommendations to UN Member States in light of their responsibility to criminalise and prosecute rape, including the criminalisation of rape as a war crime or crime against humanity, including ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. [12]
In February 2023, the IBA reiterated its condemnation of "the illegal invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign nation," and stressed the need to hold the aggressor to account for its war crimes. The IBA and the Prosecutor General of Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation to ensure accountability for war crimes and other international crimes including the crime of aggression. [13]
On 11 October 2023 the IBA strongly condemned what it called the "heinous" 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, saying the "indiscriminate and targeted atrocities against Israeli citizens contravene an unequivocal, non-derogable prohibition under international law. The murder of civilians, the assaults, and the trespass into private homes to kill and maim are all internationally recognised crimes of profound gravity; the abductions and taking of hostages, including women, children and the elderly, are crimes in violation of human rights and humanitarian law." [14]
The IBA is divided into two divisions – the Legal Practice Division (LPD) and the Public and Professional Interest Division (PPID). Each Division houses various committees and fora that are dedicated to specific practice areas. These committees and fora issue publications that focus on international legal practice. [15]
The PPID houses the Bar Issues Commission (BIC) and Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI). The BIC was established in 2004 and consists of representatives from bar associations and law societies around the world. [16]
The current Executive Director of the IBA is Mark Ellis.[ citation needed ]
The IBA's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) was established in 1995 under the honorary presidency of Nelson Mandela. [17] The mission statement of the IBAHRI is "to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law". IBAHRI undertakes a variety of projects in the field of human rights and rule of law, particularly concerning the independence of the judiciary and fair trial rights. [18] [19]
The IBA issues codes and guidance on international legal practice. The IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration, adopted in 1999 and revised in 2010, are used by some parties in international commercial arbitration. [20] [21] [22]
The IBA has also issued IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration, IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses, and IBA Principles on Conduct for the Legal Profession (2011). [23]
The IBA has an award that is given to an outstanding female lawyer judged to be most deserving of that recognition. It is awarded every other year and is sponsored by LexisNexis. It includes a US$5,000 donation to a charity of the winner’s choice.[ citation needed ]
Past recipients of the award include: [27]
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Virginia Mary Kendall is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. President George W. Bush appointed her to the bench on January 3, 2006. In addition to serving on the bench, Judge Kendall is also a noted expert on child exploitation and human trafficking, as well as an adjunct law professor and author.
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Neri Javier Colmenares is a Filipino legislator, human rights lawyer and activist. He was an associate of the Asian Law Centre at Melbourne Law School when he was completing his Ph.D. in law on "The Writ of Amparo and the International Criminal Court." He also lectured at the University of Melbourne on International Human Rights Law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Nasrin Sotoudeh is a human rights lawyer in Iran. She has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections and prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. Her clients have included journalist Isa Saharkhiz, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and Heshmat Tabarzadi. She has also represented women arrested for appearing in public without a hijab, which is a punishable offense in Iran. Nasrin Sotoudeh was the subject of Nasrin, a 2020 documentary filmed in secret in Iran about Sotoudeh's "ongoing battles for the rights of women, children and minorities." In 2021, she was named as of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World. She was released on a medical furlough in July 2021.
Françoise, Baroness Tulkens is a Belgian lawyer and expert in criminal and penal law, and former Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights. She served as a member of the Court since 1998, Section President since 2007 and Vice-President from February 2011 until her term ended in 2012.
Ilya Nikiforov is a Russian lawyer, founding member and Managing partner at Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners Law Offices, former lecturer at the Department of Civil Law at Saint Petersburg State University School of Law.
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Monica Feria Tinta is a British/Peruvian barrister, a specialist in public international law, at the Bar of England & Wales. She practises from Twenty Essex, London.
Adeola Austin Oyinlade is a Nigerian human rights lawyer.
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Galina Arapova is a Russian jurist, director and senior media lawyer of the Mass Media Defence Centre in Voronezh. She is an expert on Russian media law.
Sternford Moyo is a Zimbabwean lawyer serving as the current president of International Bar Association. Upon his assumption to the IBA presidium, Sternford became the first person of African descent to lead the organization in its 74 years of existence.
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