Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) is a committee of Canadian lawyers who promote human rights and the rule of law by providing support internationally to human rights defenders in danger. LRWC promotes the implementation and enforcement of international standards designed to protect the independence and security of human rights defenders around the world. NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

LRWC

• campaigns for lawyers whose rights, freedoms or independence are threatened as a result of their human rights advocacy; and,

• produces legal analyses of national and international laws and standards relevant to human rights abuses against lawyers and other human rights defenders; and,

• works in cooperation with other human rights organizations.

Around the world, lawyers and others who defend human rights are often singled out as targets of repression much of which is perpetrated by governments or government-controlled agencies. Criminal offences against human rights defenders occur with alarming frequency. The 2002 report of the International Commission of Jurists records reprisals against 315 lawyers and judges including 38 murders and 5 disappearances.

In addition authorities use existing laws and legal procedures to prosecute or otherwise intimidate advocates representing unpopular clients or causes, often in violation of international standards. Methods used to silence intimidate or punish advocates are often illegal pursuant to the law of the state itself. 

LRWC seeks to identify illegal actions against advocates, campaign for the cessation of such actions and lobby for the implementation of effective immediate and long-term remedies. 

Join LRWC and/or make a donation.