On 2 February, ELAC Deputy Director and IPS Executive Director Federica D’Alessandra chaired a webinar, co-hosted with the International Bar Association War Crimes Committee, on ‘Taking Stock of Global Challenges to the Rule of Law: Threats to the Independence of Lawyers and Judges’. As part of a novel thought leadership initiative by the IBA Rule of Law Forum, this seminar drew from cross-regional expertise to discuss ongoing and evolving threats to the rule of law. The seminar, focusing on ‘threats to the independence of lawyers and judges’, was the first of the series. The panel explored how threats to the independence of the legal profession have evolved since, as well as common, cross-regional trends of interest or concern. Speakers included Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, Former Justice and Foreign Affairs Minister of Peru Diego García-Sayán, Former President of the UK Supreme Court Lady Hale, Former Phillipines Senator Neri Colmenares, and Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Irwin Cotler. A video of the webinar is available here.
