The ICCBA arranged a meeting for national and international bars which was held at the ICC on Wednesday, 29th March 2017. All those who attended demonstrated a clear and positive intention to support the ICCBA in its work. The meeting was a great success, bringing a wide range of bars and associations together to decide on a structure for future cooperation.
There was a wide selection of Bars and Associations and others to discuss the issue;
‘What is the best way for the ICCBA to engage with, and have the effective participation of, other Bars?’. Among those who attended were representatives of the Hague Bar, German Federal Bar (BRAK), Netherlands Bar, Union Internationale des Avocets (UIA), Ordre des Barreaux francophones et germanophone de Belgique (OBFG), OHADA Conference, International Criminal Bar Association (ICB) Conférence Internationale des Barreaux de tradition juridique commune (CIB), The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), Bar of England and Wales, Criminal Bar Association, American Bar Association, International Bar Association, African Bar Association, the Rwandan Bar Association, the Defence Office of the STL and the ICTY-ADC. Representatives were able to meet the President of the ICC, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, and the Registrar, during the afternoon break.
Various structures for engaging other bars and associations were discussed. Most favoured a pragmatic approach so as to allow development to be tested by time and experience. David Hooper, ICCBA President, proposed that the ICCBA should seek to establish a forum for the participation of other bars based on affiliation, a proposal that, reflecting the spirit of the meeting, was unanimously accepted by those present. The ICCBA will now set up the criteria and procedure for affiliation of other bars and associations and circulate it to other bars. In due course a ‘forum’ of affiliated bars will be convened to liaise and work with the ICCBA.