Paris	FRANCE & INTERNATIONAL	Legal support for the protection of human rights

 

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

 

 

The Alliance des Avocats pour les Droits de l’Homme (AADH) was founded in 2009 and provides its expertise free of charge to its nearly 200 member institutions, NGOs and associations for the protection of human rights and the environment.

 

 

 

OBJECTIVES

AADH’s aim is to defend human rights by helping and supporting its member associations in need of legal advice and the services of a lawyer.

 

 

 

 

RESOURCES

AADH is made up of around forty law firms and more than 26,000 volunteer lawyers who offer consultations and advice to organisations that have called on the Alliance. These firms are French or international, some specialising in business law and others in criminal law.

As part of its legal support mission, AADH helps organisations to bring civil actions in criminal proceedings. It also offers its members a wide range of training courses on criminal law, immigration law, international humanitarian law, intellectual property and the governance of associations.

AADH also produces comparative law studies and implements multilateral programmes and advocacy actions to raise awareness of various legal issues and extend its action to protect human rights outside the Alliance.

 

 

 

 

 

In 2021, the Alliance launched a web and telephone application for unaccompanied minors to inform them about the right to asylum in France. Available in five languages, this application helps them to better understand and find their way through the various stages of the asylum application procedure.

The same year, in collaboration with the American NGO Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), AADH produced a short film illustrating the commitment of associations and lawyers to unaccompanied minors in France. Faced with numerous administrative procedures, unaccompanied minors have to wait many months before they can hope to integrate. For them, personalised, local support is a real help and an indispensable aid.

 

OUR IMPACT

Every year, International Impact enables AADH to take on 2-3 civic service volunteers.

These volunteers help to support the associations by registering their requests and putting them in touch with the relevant lawyers. They also help to organise training courses and support communication initiatives on social networks. In particular, the volunteers take part in the publication of one testimonial per month by a lawyer.

 

Photos ©AADH