Ever since lawyers Symone Gaasbeek-Wielinga and Hans Gaasbeek went onto a fact finding mission in the Philippines in 1990 (lawyers are being intimidated, threatened and even murdered because they aide their clients in politically sensitive cases) they have been active for their threatened colleagues all across the world.

The creation of this special international day is an international effort put together with like-minded colleagues. The first ever Day of the Endangered Lawyer was organized in 2009. Hans and Symone created the foundation Day of the Endangered Lawyer to strengthen the work. Together with AED and ELDH they created the Coalition for the Endangered Lawyer, which comes together every year to choose the new country and to discuss the progress. The purpose of the Day of the Endangered Lawyer is a call for attention on that day to threatened human rights lawyers with special attention to one designated country. The course of action is to draw a centralized petition in as many cities as possible, in and across Europe’s borders, which will be offered to ambassadors, consulates and other bodies of authority. The petition will call for attention to the problematic situation of endangered lawyers in that country. Another aim is to engage in a dialogue with the representatives of the government of the country. Furthermore, forum discussions are being organized with local fellow lawyers and publications are made about the lawyers’ situation.

Links:
Day of the Endangered Lawyer