Union Internationale des Avocats

Union Internationale des Avocats
Motto Bringing Together the World's Lawyers - Rassembler les avocats du monde - Reunir a los abogados del mundo
Formation 8 July 1927 (1927-07-08)
Type International NGO
Headquarters Paris, France
Fields Law, Human Rights
Official language
 English, French & Spanish (working languages) and Portuguese, Italian, German, Arabic & Mandarin (official languages)
President
 Jean-Jacques Uettwiller
Website www.uianet.org/en

The Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA - International Association of Lawyers) is an international non-governmental organisation created in 1927, that brings together more than 2,200 legal professionals from all over the world. Its central aims are to defend persecuted lawyers around the world through lobbying and advocacy work as well as promoting international collaboration between legal professionals through its seminars, training sessions and the annual UIA Congress.

Historical Context

At the end of the 19th century, most European lawyers worked within autonomous and independent Bars, each with their own traditions.

However, after World War I, the idea grew among European lawyers that it was becoming essential to help certain Bars modernise and build international contacts [1]

In July 1925, lawyers from Belgium, France and Luxembourg initiated the "Union Internationale des Avocats" project which took two years of collaboration to come to fruition on July 8, 1927 in Charleroi, Belgium [2]

The President of the Paris Bar Association, Georges Guillaumin.[3] was nominated as the Association’s first President.

After the creation of the Union Internationale des Avocats, several bar associations became members.[4] When joining the Association, each new Bar brought its own ethusiasm for participating in the UIA's dual objectives: adapting the older Bars to the new economic and international situation and working with the League of Nations [5] for the establishment of lasting peace.[6]

Objectives

Today, the UIA defends the legal profession and encourages international networking, cooperation and understanding between lawyers with respect to their cultural and professional diversity [7]

Two objectives underlie the UIA's activities:

Missions

Today, the UIA is an association open to all lawyers in the world,[9] general or specialists, and brings together several thousands of members and two hundred of bar associations, federations, and associations from 110 countries. Multilingual and multicultural, the UIA is the only major international lawyers organisations to have eight official languages (French, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Arabic, and Chinese) and to work in three working languages: French, English, and Spanish. Moreover, the UIA has built more than 47 commissions and work groups composed of lawyers from jurisdictions from all over the world. These lawyers practice their profession in law firms, businesses, or public institutions. Each commission monitors the evolution occurring in a particular legal field (or practice) [10] and determines how these changes will affect or be affected by the other legal fields. All of the UIA commissions collaborate, so as to keep each other informed of their respective developments and findings. The commissions and work groups of the UIA are divided into two principal fields: Business Law and General Practice and Human Rights

Business Law

The UIA commissions and work groups in business law take interest in competition law, contracts, bankruptcy, corporate law, labour, intellectual property law, tax, banking, mergers and acquisitions, mediation, the international sale of goods, foreign investments, among many other practice areas.

The UIA collaborates in the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and notably presented a proposition for a definition of a "center or principal interests" (articles 2b) and 16-3 of the UNCITRAL law on international insolvency.[11]

Every year, the UIA organises numerous seminars with international subjects.[12][13] the events organised by the UIA permit participants to meet colleagues, establish professional contacts and to debate questions about current events and controversial legal topics.

For its annual congress, the UIA creates work sessions for its commissions. These commissions produce reports accessible to all UIA members and organise the Congress joint-sessions.

Each year, one or more principal themes are established for the Congress, inciting national and international legal and economic experts to participate in debates.

Protection of lawyers and Human Rights

The UIA frequently intervenes throughout the world in favour of lawyers who are imprisoned[14] or persecuted for practising their profession.[15]

Since 1971, the UIA has benefited from its special consultative status status in the United Nations and the European Council.[16] Through the European Council,[17] the UIA produced a policy recommendation concerning money laundering [18] and the War on Terror.[19]

The UIA is represented in the three main offices of the United Nations (New York, Geneva, and Vienna), where the UIA regularly organises a summit for international Bar Presidents.[20] These summits permit Bar Presidents to further the work initiated by the UN in diverse domains of international law.[21]

Additionally, the UIA sits at the heart of Consultative Councils of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.[22] Finally, the UIA has followed the work of the preparatory commission of the International Criminal Court since its creation in 1998. The UIA also attends sessions of the Assembly of States Parties to the Statute of the Court.[23] The UIA is a member of the executive council of the International Criminal Bar.[24]

Members

Presidency

The term of each UIA presidency is one year.

Recent presidents:

Past Presidents:

Annual Congress

IIIst UIA Congress in LUXEMBOURG in which Nobel Peace Prize Winner Henri La Fontaine took part (pictured in the first row)

Since its creation, the UIA has been organising Congresses each year in locations all over the world for members and non-members to create an international forum to discuss legal topics.

According to the UIA statutes the organisation must convene in a Congress at least one time every two years. Between 1929 and 1938, UIA Congresses were mainly annual. The 1939 Congress, which had been planned to take place in Warsaw on the eve of the Second World War never ended up happening:[28]

The Congress resumed in 1948 and was held annually until 1954 (except in 1952) :

From 1954 to 1989, they were held every two years :

As of 1989 the Congress has once again become annual :

The 2015 Congress will be held in Valencia, Spain

Resolutions and Charters [45]

UIA Publications

References

  1. ↑ Gisèle Sapiro, L'espace intellectuel en Europe, La Découverte, 2009, 410 p. (ISBN 9782707157805, lire en ligne [archive]), p. 3. L’internationalisation des champs intellectuels dans l’entre-deux-guerres : facteurs professionnels et politiques, p 111-146
  2. ↑ http://www.persee.fr/articleAsPDF/ridc_0035-3337_1949_num_1_3_18870/article_ridc_0035-3337_1949_num_1_3_18870.pdf " [archive], sur Persee.fr.
  3. ↑ http://data.decalog.net/enap1/Liens/fonds/F9A43.pdf
  4. ↑ Robert N. Anderson, "The International Bar Association: its Establishment and Progress ", A.B.A.J., no 36, juin 1950, p. 464
  5. ↑ Liora Israël, Robes noires, années sombres: la résistance dans les milieux judiciaires, Fayard, 31 août 2005, 550 pages
  6. ↑ Liora Israël, Robes noires, années sombres: la résistance dans les milieux judiciaires, Fayard, 31 août 2005, 550 pages p.(ISBN 2213659605)
  7. ↑ Jacques Attali, Demain, qui gouvernera le monde ?, Éditions Fayard, 2011, p.418
  8. ↑ " Union internationale des avocats, Les Barreaux dans le monde. Die Rectitsanwalt-schaft in der Welt, tome I" on www.persee.fr
  9. ↑ Jacques Attali, Demain, qui gouvernera le monde ?, Éditions Fayard, 2011, p. 418
  10. ↑ " Règlement des conflits: Les avocats y planchent - Leconomiste.com "
  11. ↑ http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/V11/848/32/PDF/V1184832.pdf?OpenElement
  12. ↑ http://www.europaforum.public.lu/fr/actualites/2014/09/uia-protection-donnees/index.html
  13. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/pascale-thumerelle/donnees-personnelles-et-responsabilite-societale-entreprise_b_6261986.html
  14. ↑ http://www.iwacu-burundi.org/radiation-de-me-rufyikiri-de-lordre-des-avocats-huit-confreres-pour-la-defense/
  15. ↑ http://www.uianet.org
  16. ↑ coe-ngo.org
  17. ↑ http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/OrganisationsEntitled/INGOListJanuary2015_en.pdf
  18. ↑ CHAPPUIS, Benoit., " Le secret de l'avocat face aux exigences de la lutte contre le blanchiment d'argent : l'avis de la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme. ", Forum poenale, vol. Jg. 6, no no. 2, 2013, p. 118-124
  19. ↑ http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/company/financial-crime/received_responses/responses-to-the-consultation/uia_fr.pdf
  20. ↑ http://legal.un.org/ola/FR/legal_counsel.aspx
  21. ↑ http://legal.un.org/ola/media/info_from_lc/mss/speeches/MSS_UIA-29%20May%202014.pdf
  22. ↑ http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/Reports%20and%20Publications/AnnualReports/annual_report_1999_en.pdf
  23. ↑ http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/structure%20of%20the%20court/office%20of%20the%20prosecutor/network%20with%20partners/public%20hearings/second%20public%20hearing/session%204/Pages/ms_%20jutta%20bertram_nothnagel%20from%20union%20internationale%20des%20avocats.aspx
  24. ↑ http://www.bpi-icb.com/fr/organisation/le-bpi/membres-du-conseil
  25. ↑ http://www.ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article5674
  26. ↑ "Miguel Loinaz, presidente de la UIA: "si un abogado tiene buenos servicios por parte de su Colegio se va a colegiar igualmente" ", Economist&Jurist, 2014
  27. ↑ "Le bâtonnier Claude Lussan président de l'Union internationale des avocats", Le Monde, July 26, 1969
  28. ↑ Charles Gheude, "L’Union Internationale des Avocats", Journal des Tribunaux, 1947, p. 123-124
  29. ↑ "Le congrès de l'Union Internationale des Avocats", Le Monde, July 25, 1949
  30. ↑ "Congrès de l’Union internationale des avocats, Luxembourg, 1931 – Le Mundaneum"
  31. ↑ "XIIIe Congrès de l'Union internationale des avocats", www.persee.fr
  32. ↑ "Union internationale des avocats, Travaux du XIIIe Congrès tenu à Rio de Janeiro du 7 au 12 septembre 1951. Trabalhos do XIII Congresso realizado no Rio de Janeiro de 7 à 12 de setembro de 1951", www.persee.fr
  33. ↑ "Le prochain Congrès de l'Union internationale des avocats (Vienne, 14-19 septembre 1953)" www.persee.fr
  34. ↑ "Le XVe Congrès de l'Union internationale des avocats (Bruxelles, 8-13 septembre 1954)", www.persee.fr
  35. ↑ "Le congrès de l'Union Internationale des Avocats" Le Monde, September 21, 1954
  36. ↑ "Le 16e Congrès de l'Union internationale des avocats (Paris, 15–20 July 1956)" www.persee.fr
  37. ↑ "Congrès à Paris de l'Union Internationale des Avocats", Le Monde, July 9, 1956
  38. ↑ "Le prochain Congrès de l'Union internationale des avocats (Milan, 8-12 septembre 1958)" www.persee.fr
  39. ↑ "À l'Union Internationale des Avocats ", Le Monde, October 29, 1958
  40. ↑ "Vingt-deuxième Congrès de l'Union internationale des avocats (Londres, 21-26 juillet 1969)" www.persee.fr
  41. ↑ "L'Union Internationale des Avocats tiendra son prochain congrès à Paris", Le Monde, March 11, 1970
  42. ↑ "27e Congrès de l'Union internationale des avocats (Zagreb, September 5–9, 1977) " www.persee.fr
  43. ↑ "L'Union Internationale des Avocats réunira son prochain congrès à Cannes", Le Monde, January 30, 1979
  44. ↑ http://lenouvelliste.com/lenouvelliste/article/99192/Quand-lUnion-Internationale-des-avocats-organise-son-55e-congres-annuel-a-Miami-Beach
  45. ↑ http://www.uianet.org/fr/documentation/resolutions#
  46. ↑ http://www.barreau.qc.ca/pdf/journal/vol37/no14/charte.html
  47. ↑ Sous la direction de : Alain Grosjean, Enjeux européens et mondiaux de la protection des données personnelles, Editions Larcier, June 2015

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