Editors --- "IBA Human Rights Institute" [1996] HRightsDef 11; (1996) Human Rights Defender

IBA Launches Human Rights Institute

The International Bar Association (IBA), headquartered in London, has established a Human Rights Institute (HRI). This is the first time an international association of lawyers has been able to establish and operate a well resourced body dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights under a just rule of law, focusing particularly on the human rights lawyers and those involved in legal systems (including litigants).

The HRI operates via a Council and five Committees, with an Administrator on the IBA staff in London. Its program includes the conduct of workshops, conferences and human rights ÒroadshowsÓ in various countries, the carrying out of surveys of legal systems, the publication of works of relevance to human rights (particularly in the practice of law) and the sending of expert observer missions to investigate and report upon troublesome trials and aspects of the legal systems of various jurisdictions.

In its work it is supported by 17,500 individual members of the IBA and the professional associations of lawyers in over 180 countries, together representing over 2.5 million lawyers worldwide.

According to Nicholas Cowdrey QC, Co-Chairman of the HRI and the Director of Public Prosecutions for New South Wales, the aims of the HRI are:

• the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights under a just rule of law;
• the promotion and protection of the independence of the judiciary and of the legal profession worldwide;
• the worldwide adoption and implementation of standards and instruments accepted and enacted by the community of nations; and
• the acquisition and dissemination of information concerning issues related to human rights, judicial independence and the rule of law.

As part of its activities, the HRI works closely with related bodies in all regions of the world, including the newly formed Australian Human Rights Information Centre (AHRIC) at the University of New South Wales.