We are delighted to announce the publication of the first in a series of policy-orientated reports – Improving the Effectiveness of International Lawyers in Rule of Law and Transitional Justice Projects.
The report was prepared by Alex Batesmith, a barrister and mediator with twenty years’ practical legal experience in national and international human rights, humanitarian and criminal law, transitional justice, conflict resolution and rule of law issues. He spent five years as an international prosecutor for the United Nations in Kosovo and Cambodia and was employed as the Cambodian consultant for this project.
Some of the reports in this series focus specifically on our case study jurisdictions (Cambodia, Chile, Israel, Palestine, Tunisia and South Africa); others address universal themes relevant to lawyers in conflict and transition.
Our primary motivation was to produce accessible and constructive outputs for local actors in the countries that we have visited. In the spirit of ethical international research we wanted to ensure that we did not simply ‘take’ from those who kindly volunteered to share their experiences and perspectives. The final selection of themes for these reports emanated from suggestions by interviewees and other participants in the research.
In addition to local actors, we hope that this body of work will be of interest and relevance to global policymakers and donors, international legal collectives and civil society associations.