Type International NGO Fields Law, Human Rights | Headquarters Paris, France | |
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) Official language French, English & Spanish (working languages) and Portuguese, Italian, German, Arabic & Mandarin (official languages) | ||
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.
Contents
Historical Context
At the end of the 19th century, most European lawyers worked within autonomous and independent bar associations, each with their own customs.
However, after World War I, European lawyers gradually realized the importance of helping certain bar associations modernise and build international contacts
In July 1925, lawyers from Belgium, France and Luxembourg initiated the "Union Internationale des Avocats" project, which came to fruition after two years of collaboration on July 8, 1927 in Charleroi, Belgium
The President of the Paris Bar Association, Georges Guillaumin, was nominated as the Association’s first president.
Once the Union Internationale des Avocats was formed, several bar associations sought its membership. After joining the Association, each new bar contributed unique efforts towards the UIA's dual objectives: adapting older bars to the new economic and international climate, and working with the League of Nations for the establishment of lasting peace.
Objectives
Today, the UIA defends the legal profession and encourages international networking, cooperation and understanding among lawyers with due regard to their cultural and professional diversity
Two objectives underlie the UIA's activities:
Missions
Today, the UIA is an association open to all lawyers from around the world, general or specialized, and brings together several thousand members and 200 bar associations, federations, and associations from 110 countries. Multilingual and multicultural, the UIA is the only major international lawyers organisation 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 working groups composed of lawyers from jurisdictions spanning the globe. These lawyers practice in law firms, businesses, or public institutions. Each commission monitors the evolution occurring in a particular legal field (or practice) and determines how these changes will affect or be affected by other legal fields. All UIA commissions collaborate to keep each other informed of their respective developments and findings. The UIA's commissions and working groups are divided into two principal fields: Business Law and General Practice and Human Rights
Business Law
The UIA commissions and working groups in business law focus on competition law, contracts, bankruptcy, corporate law, labour, intellectual property law, tax, banking, mergers and acquisitions, mediation, the international sale of goods, and foreign investments, among many other practice areas.
The UIA collaborates with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and notably presented a proposition for the definition of a "center of principal interests" (articles 2b) and 16-3 of the UNCITRAL law on international insolvency.
Every year, the UIA organises numerous seminars on international subjects. The UIA's events allow 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 working sessions for its commissions. These commissions produce reports accessible to all UIA members and organise congressional joint-sessions.
Each year, one or more principal themes are established for the Congress, inciting national and international legal and economic experts to engage in fruitful debate.
Protection of lawyers and Human Rights
The UIA intervenes throughout the world in favour of lawyers who are imprisoned or persecuted for practising their profession.
Since 1971, the UIA has benefited from its special consultative status in the United Nations and the European Council. Through the European Council, the UIA produced a policy recommendation concerning money laundering and the War on Terror.
The UIA is represented in the three main offices of the United Nations (New York, Geneva, and Vienna), where the UIA organises a summit for international bar association presidents. These summits permit bar association presidents to further the work initiated by the UN in diverse domains of international law.
Additionally, the UIA sits at the heart of the Consultative Councils of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 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. The UIA is a member of the executive council of the International Criminal Bar.
Members
Presidency
The term of each UIA presidency is one year.
Recent presidents:
Past Presidents:
Annual Congress
Since its creation, the UIA has organised annual congresses in locations all over the world for members and non-members to discuss legal topics in an international forum.
According to UIA Statutes, the organisation must convene a Congress at least once every two years. Between 1929 and 1938, UIA congresses were mainly annual. The 1939 Congress, which was scheduled to take place in Warsaw on the eve of the Second World War, did eventually not take place:
The congressional process resumed in 1948, and a Congress was held annually until 1954 (except in 1952) :
From 1954 to 1989, a Congress was held every two years :
As of 1989, the Congress has once again become an annual event :
The 2017 Congress will be held in Toronto, Canada.