ILAC is pleased to welcome Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) and Mr Fernando Peláez-Pier as new members of the consortium. Both were unanimously elected to join ILAC by our 2020 Annual General Meeting held virtually on 28 May.
ILAC’s added value is its members. We are comprised of more than 70 legal organisations and individual members, representing over 3 million legal professionals worldwide – judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and court administrators – who routinely apply rule of law principles as part of their daily practice in a variety of contexts and cultures.
Legal Action Worldwide
Founded in 2013, LAW is a politically independent non-profit staffed by human rights lawyers. LAW’s mission is to secure access to justice for those who lack, and need it most, namely victims and survivors of human rights violations and abuses in conflict-affected and fragile environments. LAW’s thematic focus and expertise lies within justice, accountability, gender equality and gender-based violence, transformative justice and natural resource exploitation.
LAW has extensive experience working with the justice sector in Africa in South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Mali, as well as in the the Middle East concerning Syria, Lebanon and occupied Palestine. LAW is not an entirely new acquaintance for ILAC, as we embarked on a partnership already last year, where LAW participated with experts at CEELI-ILAC roundtables on Housing, Land and Property Rights (HLP) as part of ILAC Syria Programme.
A few examples from LAW’s work include:
Activities to secure accountability in the Rohingya crisis. LAW leverages its expertise in addressing accountability for international crimes and grave human rights abuses by pursuing cases under universal jurisdiction. Here, LAW represents Shanti Mohila (“Peace Women”), a Rohingya survivors’ group based in Bangladesh, and work through a new and innovative model of client empowerment to strengthen women’s access to justice as victims of Sexual and Gender-based violence and other crimes.
Another example is their continuous work to secure accountability for crimes of sexual and gender-based violence in Somalia’s conflicts. Here, LAW works towards strengthening the basis for protection and accountability through legal reform, but also through political initiatives for the executive, such as a guide for women parliamentarians on how to best protect and promote women through the Somali constitution, legislation and policy.
Fernando Peláez-Pier
Mr Peláez-Pier has extensively contributed to the Latin American legal community. He is the founder and chair of the Latin American Regional Forum of the ILAC member, the International Bar Association (IBA). He served as President of the IBA between 2009-2010, Vice President between 2007-2008, Secretary General 2005-2006 and chair of the UBA’s Section on Business Law between 2002-2004. Through the IBA, Fernando has participated as lecturer in mutiple conferences on different topics, such as mergers and acquisitions, banking, anti-corruption and arbitration.
As an IBA legal expert, Mr Peláez-Pier has been a key advisor in the development and implementation of ILAC’s Cuba Programme and a key expert for ILAC in Latin America in general.
ILAC is pleased to welcome LAW and Mr Fernando Peláez-Pier to the consortium and is looking forward to future cooperation.
