ILAC Council Conference Report

Date: 07-10- 2003

Participants:

Paul Hoddinott

Guiseppe Bisconti

Rodger Chongwe

Marcus Einfeld

Mark Ellis

Ernst Leuber

Finn Lynghjem

Bill Meyer

Anne Ramberg

Nick Stewart

Shelby Quast

Christian Åhlund

Farouk Abu Eissa – part of the meeting

Agneta Johansson

1. Organisational issues

i) Election of treasurer

Paul welcomed everyone, and especially Ms. Anne Ramberg, Secretary General of the Swedish Bar, who is replacing Elisabeth Fura Sandström as representative of both the Swedish Bar and CCBE. Anne has also agreed to take over Elisabet´s post as ILAC Treasurer. Paul explained that according to our by-laws this requires a decision by the Council.Anne was unanimously elected as the ILAC Treasurer.

ii) Next AGM

Christian informed that there is a proposal to have ILAC’s Annual General Meeting for 2004, in Cairo at the end of February. After a short discussion it was decided that the next AGM will take place in Cairo 21-23 February, 2004.Farouk expressed his and ALU´s support for this decision.

Paul recalled that the 2003 AGM in Stockholm, apart from the formal proceedings, also included a seminar dealing with more substantial issues. He invited everyone to come up with suggestions on topics for such a seminar in Cairo.

iii) Elections to the council.

Paul pointed out that some Council members areelected to the Councilfor one year only. Paul will send an e-mail to these members and ask if they are willing to stand for election again. We have also two empty places in the council, and Paul istherefore asking for nominees. We should have a concrete proposal ready in time for the annual meeting so we don’t need to spend too much time on these formalities during the AGM.

2. Missions

i) Iraq

Paul gave an update regarding the follow up of the ILAC report on Iraq. The report has been circulated to ILAC member organisations and donors. Paul, Christian and Mark have had meetings with DFID and with the UK Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith, and discussedpossible ways to proceed with the recommendations mentioned in the report. Paul has developed the recommendations into substantial project proposals. This paper has also been distributed to all member organisations with a request for bids to implement these projects.

There will be a donors´ conference on Iraq in Madrid 23-24 October. DFIDhas already expressed interest in funding some of theILAC projects. Christian informed that the Swedish MFA has also shown interest in providing funds. Christian added that he met with the Iraqi Minister of Planning Dr. Mehdi Hafedh,during his recent visit in Sweden. Dr. Hafedh expressed strong support for ILAC´s recommendations and the plans for a follow-up. He offered to help assist in matters of security, flights etc.

Christian also mentioned that the Iraqis apparently are about to make a decision to establish a special tribunal in order to deal with crimes committed by the former regime. Accordingly, project 6a, “A conference on the different models of transitional justice” might already be over-run by events.

Nick Stewart informed that UIA is interested in doing project 3 and 6b. Also project number 5a and 5b might be of interest to them.

Paul emphasized that this is a good way for ILAC to show that we are a consortium not only for assessments, but also for making sure our recommendations are implemented. This might be the model for the future.

Finn asked if anyone has considered Danish involvement. He has just been on a mission for DANIDA and thought they might be interested as well. Finn and Christian will discuss how to proceed with the Danes.

ii) Afghanistan ( IBA´s project to establish a bar association)

Mark informed that the follow-up of the ILAC mission to Afghanistan has been a challenge to prepare, but this week IBA´slong-term legal specialist will arrive to Kabul. The project will last for one year. Security isan issue also in Afghanistan and placing someone on the ground involves a lot of of security concerns, insurance issues etc. IBA has worked this through and this experience will be helpful for all of us in the future.

iii) Sri Lanka

Paul mentioned that we received the report for Sri Lanka in July and that he has counted to ten proposals, where some are dependent on the peace process and some will be taken up by ALRI. The question now is what ILAC can do.

Marcus informed about the latest developments. Ms. Shirani de Fontgalland, a lawyer in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in New South Wales, is going to Sri Lanka next week, and starts to work directly as Director of the newly established “South Asians for Human Rights” in Colombo. One of her tasks will be to implement our report as far as possible. Two items arealready well under way in terms of planning and the necessary consents having been obtained. One is the police human rights training; the other is
the arbitration/mediation program for commercial disputes.

Christian added that ILAC has sent the report to all member organisations but we have only received an answer from the Indian Bar Association, whichis willing to assist. The report is also sent to the Norwegians and Ambassador Solheim.

iv) Liberia

Shelby informed that she has been in contact with the UN and the assistant to Ambassador Klein. She has also talked to the SRSG for West Africa, based in Dakar, who has expressed support for an ILAC involvement. Preparations are under way, andILAC USA is ready with research background. The next step is to recruit candidates for a mission so that we are ready when the invitation comes from the UN. Requests for candidates will be sent out to ILAC´s members in the near future. Security is an issue also in Liberia and candidates must be aware of the risks.

v) Sudan

Paul informed that he is in contact with the British Ambassador toSudan but there is still a long way to go and lots of details that need to be worked out before a peace agreement will be signed. Paul will keep following the development

4. Technical Legal Assistant Seminar

Bill gave an update regarding the TLA seminar. The aim is to have the symposium sometime after the AGM in spring, 2004, somewhere in Europe. There are still however several details that need to be worked out. Bill will continue to keep the Council informed about the developments.

5. Other business

Christian informed that he, in his capacity as ILAC´s Executive Director, has received a formal invitation to participate in the World Economic Forum´s (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2004, and that he has accepted the invitation.

Stockholm, 13-10-2003

Agneta Johansson