North America and Europe
We believe one of the most effective ways to ensure that people are afforded their fundamental rights is for countries with well-established legal institutions to reach out to countries where basic legal rights are not always assured — to bridge the gap in knowledge, experience and skills between the developed and the developing world.
The developed nations of North America and Europe have the benefit of well-established legal systems and judicial practices, and hold tremendous, yet untapped, professional and legal resources, skills and experiences which could readily be made available to accelerate the progress of developing judicial systems.
There is a wealth of knowledge and expertise that lawyers in developing nations, in particular, could benefit from, and an important part of our work thus concentrates on creating the networks of support and establishing international partnerships to allow this knowledge-sharing and mentorship to take place. To this end, we launched a “Communities of Conscience” program in 2006, allowing for defender training programs to take place in Dublin, Ireland, and Washington D.C., to date.
Read more: Communities of Conscience Program.