Attacks on Lawyers, Judges and Human Rights Defenders: The Urgent Need for Protective Measures

LRWC, Lawyers for Lawyers and the International Commission of Jurists organized an event on Attacks on Lawyers, Judges and Human Rights Defenders: The Urgent Need for Protective Measures which was held on 03 June 2010 at the Palais Des Nations in Geneva. Featured speakers included Gabriela Albuqueruque, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and judges from the Philippines and Colombia.

Background: the March 2010 report of Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders identified the need for NGOs (and governments) to immediately work to provide both first-response protective measures to prevent irremediable harm, and long-term protective measures to ensure that attacks on human rights defenders are prevented and when they occur are promptly and properly investigated and the perpetrators tried and punished.