Comment on Training for Iraqi Lawyers in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) will co-organize a five-day Training Program for Iraqi Lawyers in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law to begin on March 22, 2009 in Prague.
This training program, funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund, will provide assistance in the human rights field for building peace in Iraq.
The JFBA, together with the International Bar Association, and others, will organize, plan, and provide this training program. Trainers from five counties including Japan will deliver lectures to about 50 Iraqi lawyers invited to Prague concerning international human rights and humanitarian law, focusing especially on criminal justice, human rights of women and children, religious freedom, and the International Criminal Court.
The JFBA is going to send its vice president in charge of international human rights issues, two attorneys as trainers, and three young attorneys as assistant trainers. As a part of the training program, the JFBA will also hold a workshop to introduce the history of how Japan accepted international human rights and humanitarian law during the 60 years after the World War II and related activities of Japanese attorneys and bar associations.
The JFBA has been providing technical international legal assistance in the Kingdom of Cambodia, Vietnam, and other places, yet this program carries the significance of being the first time the JFBA will participate in an international project funded by the UN in the human rights field. The JFBA will actively contribute to significant international human rights activities such as this training program to ensure that international human rights standards are widely implemented throughout the world.
March 11, 2009
Makoto Miyazaki
President
Japan Federation of Bar Associations
