Cairo, 19^th of October 2008

Press Release

ACIJLP concludes its training program on the role of lawyers

 in

 “Brining about the application of the ICCPR”

Today, on October 19th 2008, the activities of the fourth training course for Egyptians lawyers on " the role of lawyers in Brining about the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights (ICCPR)". The ICCPR was ratified by Egypt in January 14th 1982 and published in the official gazette on April 15th 1982 and became a part of the national legislation in Egypt.

This course is the final one in the training program prepared by the Center, with a financial fund from the European Union, within the context of Center’s campaign to activate the provisions of the ICCPR and the role of legal practitioners - like lawyers, judges and prosecutors - in moving provisions of the ICCPR for its theoretical side to the applicable one. In addition to providing lawyers in the Arab Republic of Egypt with the needed skills to use the international mechanisms of human rights’ protection and the international conventions before the national jurisdictions.

This course deals with many of the rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and political rights such as the right to life, right to physical integrity, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to a fair and equitable trial and the right to freedom of association. This course will also deal with many practical exercises like the skills of using the international conventions before national courts and the skills of the investigations’ attending, proceedings and the skills of writing notes.

The events of this final training course are scheduled to proceed until Tuesday, October 21st 2008. Many lawyers and experts in the international law, the international human rights law and international criminal law in addition to activists in the field of human rights, will assume the training in this course.

Worth mentioning that by the completion of the final course, the number of lawyers who participated in this program is about 80 male/female lawyers on varying degrees of enrollment in the Egyptian Bar Association.