When? 12-13 October 2022

Where? The international auditorium, Brussels

Address: Boulevard Roi Albert II 5, 1210 Brussels

Presentation of the conference

Lawyering for Change 2022 will bring together more than thirty speakers from different countries with different backgrounds and expertise, who will share their knowledge and, above all, their field experiences in order to shed light on the many challenges that exist today to strenghten access to justice and the rule of law.

As we witness a tendency towards more authoritarian regimes and the reduction of civic space and individual freedoms, access to justice remains a major issue for socio-economic development and the strengthening of the rule of law, both in the South and the North.  What role can the different actors in access to justice play? How can legal ewmpowerment contribute to change? How can these actors, despite their diversity, work together to defend human rights and to change not only laws but also practices?

The Lawyering for Change 2022 conference will further explore the challenges of strengthening the Rule of law and Access to Justice by considering the prospects for collaboration between judicial and non-judicial actors at a national level and the possibilities for international cooperation between practitioners, researchers and members of civil society.

This conference will address the themes that are at the heart of ASF’s work (detention, transitional justice, migration, the resolution of land conflicts, respect for human rights by multinational companies, etc.) and will be divided into three cross-cutting parts:

• “Empowering for change”: From access to information to the effective realisation of rights: how to truly empower litigants?
• “Lawyering for change”: How to reinforce collaboration between the different relevant actors to defend human rights and improve access to justice?
• “Advocating for change”: Changing laws and practices in a sustainable way in order to effectively realise rights and strengthen the rule of law

Experts (from academia and the field), legal practitioners and members of civil society will share their knowledge and experience regarding these different subjects through a series of plenary sessions and workshops. Particular emphasis will be placed on the importance, in the face of contemporary challenges, of thinking in terms of cooperation, of developing coalitions between this multiplicity of actors, of creating networks and communities to foster collaboration and share knowledge; and a plenary session will be dedicated specifically to the role of the digital world in the fight for human rights.

Programme

The full programme with the list of speakers is now available.