From December 6th through December 8th, the American Bar Association’s International Law Section, jointly with the Paris Bar Association, hosted a conference in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) in Paris, France. Signed on December 10, 1948, the UDHR constituted “a milestone in the history of human rights” and was created “with the aim of affirming and protecting each and every individual’s basic and fundamental freedoms,” according to the Paris Bar Association’s President, Julie Coutourier. Professors, human rights attorneys, and corporate attorneys specializing in providing advisals on international law all convened during the conference to network and participate in an honest discourse about the UDHR’s efficacy and what steps should be taken by attorneys to ensure that international law is respected and upheld.
During the first two days of the conference, the panels focused on examining attorneys’ duties and responsibilities in advising their corporate clients not only as to the legal ramifications of their actions, but also as to how violations of international law can affect their clients’ overall reputation and finances. Most panelists agreed that the international community is moving in a direction where companies must take into consideration issues that affect the international community as a whole, including climate change, flagging forced labor in supply chains, and ensuring diverse representation on their boards.
On the third day of the conference, immigration attorney Nikolas De Bremaker, of San Francisco’s La Raza Community Resource Center, moderated a Universal Declaration of Human Rights Working Roundtable. JDC’s AOD Program Supervising Attorney, Monica Oca Howell, served as a speaker during the roundtable, and called attention to the due process challenges faced by families on the Dedicated Docket. Due to the Dedicated Docket’s accelerated timeline, families placed on the docket struggle with access to counsel and often are victims to notarios, individuals who charge for immigration legal services when they, in fact, are not licensed to practice law. Carol Bisharat, Senior Attorney from Kids in Need of Defense’s San Francisco office, also spoke about human rights violations, but with a focus on family separation during the Trump Administration. She pointed out the carelessness and cruelty with which children were separated from their parents as a result of the Trump Administration’s Zero Tolerance Policy, which was implemented in an effort to deter unlawful border crossings.
In sum, attorneys from a multitude of practice areas provided support to each other at a time when the authority of international law particularly seems questionable. While the state of international human rights it not perfect by any means, the conference served as an opportunity to recognize areas of the law in which attorneys can continue to make a difference and make strides towards protecting the fundamental human rights that the UDHR sought to preserve in the first place.
