The articles in this Anniversary Publication, “ILAC The First 20 Years,” provide readers with perspectives and reflections of selected ILAC leaders and members who have been instrumental in our Consortium’s work over the past two decades and longer. We hope that they will lead readers to be inspired, to evaluate, and to reflect on ILAC’s journey and its future potential.
This publication was developed by ILAC with generous financial support from The Folke Bernadotte Academy; ILAC is entirely responsible for the publication’s content.
ILAC’s Archive with the Stanley Foundation, Our Original Supporter
To learn more about the origins and founding of ILAC, please see the five documents outlining the creation of our Consortium. We at ILAC are grateful to the Stanley Foundation for providing us with these historic documents, as they form a valuable part of the ILAC Archive.
Background and Early Development of ILAC
By Joan Winship
Beginning in 1997, the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) was first conceived, developed and named during a series of conferences focusing on post-conflict justice issues convened by The Stanley Foundation, since renamed the Stanley Center for Peace and Security. During the following two years individuals committed to the idea of ILAC fleshed out its role and possible structure and shared their ideas with others involved in international rule of law programs. In February 2000 The Stanley Foundation convened a group of committed individual to help take ILAC from concept to implementation and reality.
Four Stanley Conference Reports provide a historical context for the early development of ILAC. A fifth white paper provides a summary of the vision of the concept, mission, structure, guiding principles, roles within the international community and the area of conflict, relationships with other international and domestic institutions, and strategies for further design and implementation. The vision of ILAC came to fruition and ultimately, ILAC was formally launched in Stockholm, Sweden in November 2002.
ILAC thanks the Stanley Center for Peace and Security for permission to host these reports on the ILAC website.
The Stanley Center is located in Muscatine, Iowa, USA. See www.StanleyCenter.org
The Reports
- Post-Conflict Justice: The Role of the International Community, The Stanley Foundation, April 4-6, 1997
- Accountability and Judicial Response: Building Mechanisms for Post-Conflict Justice, The Stanley Foundation, October 23-25, 1997
- Strategy for Peace, Report 1- Post-Conflict Reconciliation: Building Peace and Redressing Historical Justice, The Stanley Foundation, October 21-23, 1999
- Building a Mechanism for Post-Conflict Justice: Creating the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), The Stanley Foundation, February 17-19, 2000
