The current discussion of events in Pakistan piqued my interest on a number of levels. I was struck particularly that the movement of civil disobedience currently underway in Pakistan consists primarily of lawyers. Lawyers have been injured; lawyers have been arrested; a group of approximately 1,000 lawyers in Multan were blocked from leaving a court complex to start a street protest. Pakistan's deposed chief justice has called upon lawyers to resist Musharraf's program. These images serve to upset some of the stereotypes of lawyers which I grew up with: that they are micromanagers, complacent, perhaps even self-interested.
The law has nevertheless been one of the integral institutions in "old tactics" in human rights; indeed, the very idea of a "right" needs to be set down in legislation if it is to have any practical value. We often guage the state of a community's observance of rights by the levels of equity or progressivism present in its codes, and the extent to which courts of law uphold these codes. But there are many different ways to conceptualize the legal insitution, at the community, national and international levels, and it is proving a fertile ground for creative new tactics.
In the case of the current events in Pakistan, the law as an institution is almost less important than the law as a community - a body of committed and articulate individuals, taking advantage of their collective power (and as I understand it, the legal community and civil service have traditionally been important demographics in Pakistani politics) and unique authority on matters constitutional to stage a powerful and visible protest.
In a very different conceptualiztion, Marcos Fuchs has worked to stimalate the institution of pro bono legal work to Brazil, and in particular has developed systems which puts legal professionals at the services of NGOs which would otherwise be unable to gain official status in Brazil. Read more about this tactic in Marcos' tactical notebook, Expanding Access to Justice.
In Making the Global Local, Columbus Igboanusi discusses the use of a local body of human rights moniters who enforce global agreements on the local level by first educating themselves on their own rights and then working to educate their peers and to spread awareness of human rights abuses. This takes the "old tactic" of legal agreements to the next level, bringing it within the purview of the community and the individual.
Share your thoughts! How else can we look at the institution of the law and put it to work for creative change?
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Lawyers and activism
Just found this article below (failed to post the link so put in whole article). It was exactly what I was looking for : international solidarity for the lawyers in Pakistan from other lawyers, in this case in New York. The American Bar Association has a sub-organizations, the Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI) that has worked since the early 90s to train lawyers and encourage them to play an active role in a newly democratic society - perhaps they could be encouraged to set up an Asian equivalent. Meanwhile, it would be good to see more international solidarity from communities of faith with the monks in Myanmar.
Sarah Jacob
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 (New York)
Lawyers in Pakistan have found an ally in their fight for the restoration of the judiciary - the New York City and State Bar Associations - among the largest, oldest and most prestigious associations of lawyers in the United States.
They are extremely busy and charge by the hour but hundreds of lawyers from law firms across Manhattan took time out to gather on the steps of the New York County Courthouse to protest the arrest and detention of thousands of lawyers and judges under emergency rule in Pakistan.
''It is rather unprecedented because by training and certainly by tradition, lawyers generally do not engage in this kind of demonstration of their passionate feel for the rule of law and the protection of our courts.
''It is the courts and the legal profession that protects individual rights and liberties and that is why we all stand here today to support our colleagues in Pakistan,'' said Kathryn Madigan, President, New York State Bar Association.
About a month ago, the City Bar awarded Iftikar Mohammed Chaudhry, chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court, honorary membership in recognition of his attempts to uphold the independence of the judiciary.
At the rally, the son of the President of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association and the now suspended Chief Justice's lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who is being held in solitary confinement in Rawalpindi addressed the crowd.
''There are no protections for any one detained in Pakistan right now. There is no constitution, there is no judiciary and there is no media. The only protection that people have is that the international community put this government on notice that if you harm some one we are watching and we will not allow it to stand,'' said Ali Ahsan, New York Attorney.
Founded in 1870 the association has over 22,000 members in more than 50 countries - a number of who are in Pakistan.
Unwilling to ignore their plight last week the President of the bar wrote a letter to General Musharraf that said:
''An independent judiciary is vital for the maintenance of a democratic society. By removing the sitting justices of the Supreme Court and replacing them with judges newly appointed under the Provisional Constitutional Order, you have undermined any claim of judicial independence.''
''It is so important to us because our brothers and sisters are being imprisoned and tortured for standing up for what we firmly believe in. When this happens, where ever it happens we have to stand in solidarity with them,'' said Barry Kamins, President, NY City Bar Association.
New York's lawyers are among the toughest and most battle hardened in America and they are now taking up the case of their brethren in Pakistan who do not have the freedom to come out like they did here today and protest against the crackdown on the judiciary in their country.
Correction and addition
ABA DOES now have an Asian program:
The Asia Division currently implements technical legal assistance programs in Cambodia, China, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, and a regional anti-corruption program. It previously has worked in Afghanistan, East Timor, Mongolia, India and Indonesia. Much of the Asia Division’s work focuses on the following substantive areas: judicial and legal profession development, anti-corruption, and citizens' rights advocacy aimed at increasing access to justice. The Asia Division has also played an important role as a convener of region-wide meetings for legal professionals, including a judicial program for high court justices from Indonesia, Laos, Philippines and Thailand that was conceived of and moderated by Asia Division board member and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. More recently, the Asia Division held a regional conference that addressed how members of the legal and judicial professions can combat corruption in the justice sector
Also, there have been a number of demonstrations in solidarity with the monks in Myanmar, from other Buddhist communities but not, as far as I could see, from the wider faith community.