Solna, Sweden – – Given her outstanding contributions, the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) honored Joan D. Winship with lifetime membership at its 2016 Annual General Meeting.
Founded in 2002, ILAC is an international Consortium that brings together 50 professional associations and legal professionals from all over the world to share their wealth of expertise with national stakeholders who are rebuilding their justice institutions after conflict.
“Winship is a founding member who nurtured the ILAC concept through her leadership at the Stanley Foundation,” said ILAC’s President, Elizabeth Howe.
The idea for an international legal consortium arose during a series of roundtable policy discussions on post-conflict situations in the 1990s convened by the Stanley Foundation with leading international legal figures.
As Vice President at the Stanley Foundation, Winship organized a series of conferences to expand upon the idea of an ILAC, its role in the world, and possible structures. She also worked to bring the ILAC concept to the broader international community through policy papers, presentations and personal conversations.
“Without Joan, there may never have been an ILAC,” continued Howe. “It was Joan’s vision that helped take the concept of ILAC to reality.”
In addition to her role developing ILAC in its early days, Winship has provided expertise in ILAC’s work and interventions through her many years experience working with international organizations on human rights, gender, and global higher education. From 2002-2015 Winship was the executive director of the International Association of Women’s Judges (IAWJ), an ILAC member organization. During that time, Winship also served on the ILAC Council as the IAWJ’s representative.
Winship held a number of distinguished positions throughout her career. She was a Trustee of the American University of Rome, served as Advisor for Strategic Alliances for Vital Voices Global Partnership, and served on the advisory board of the Global Alliance for Women’s Health. She was also a founding board member of US Women Connect and a founding Fellow of the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights.
In 2008 Winship was awarded the “Judicial Medal of Merit of José de Mesquito” by the Judiciary of Mato Grosso State, Brazil, for contributions to the judiciary and to justice for all. More recently, she served on UN Women’s Expert Advisory Group for its biennial Progress of the World’s Women 2011-12: In Pursuite of Justice Report and on an Expert Advisory Group on anti-corruption for the UN Development Programme.
“We are absolutely delighted to count Joan among our distinguished ranks of life members,” concluded Howe. “She is most deserving given her leadership in ILAC’s early development as well as her expert guidance over the years in ILAC’s interventions in fragile countries.”
Other ILAC life members include: Christian Ahlund (founding ILAC Executive Director), Guiseppe Bisconti (former International Bar Association President), Roger Chongwe (former ILAC Executive Committee member), Mike Enwall (former ILAC Representative in Liberia.) Paul Hoddinott (founding ILAC Chair), William Meyer (former ILAC Chair), Francisco Diaz Rodriguez (former ILAC representative in Haiti.)
For more information about ILAC or to speak with Elizabeth Howe or Joan D. Winship, please contact Quinn O’Keefe at quinn.okeefe@ilacnet.org
