Safeguarding the Independence and Integrity of the Bar, Courts and Tribunals: International Human Rights, the Rule of Law and Cambodia’s Election Conflict
Victoria April 23, 2014, noon to 1:15 pm
Barristers’ Lounge, Victoria Courthouse, 850 Burdett Ave., Victoria, BC
No charge. A light lunch will be available (by donation).
CPD credit available for BC lawyers.
Co-sponsored by LRWC, ICJ and the Young Lawyers Victoria Section of the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association
Robert Patterson is a former Chief Electoral Officer (1990-2002) of British Columbia, has been the Head of Party for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Cambodia since 2010. He has also served with international electoral assessment and observation missions in Malawi, Ethiopia, Yemen, The Gambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Jamaica, Guyana, Papua New Guinea, Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia. In addition, he has served as advisor to electoral commissions in Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Liberia, Zambia and the Palestinian Territory. He will provide an overview of successes and challenges of his work with Cambodia’s government and National Election Committee (NEC) to improve election administration.
Catherine Morris is a Victoria lawyer, adjunct professor at University of Victoria Faculty of Law and a member of Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC). She has been involved in conflict resolution or human rights missions in Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Bangladesh, Bolivia, Rwanda and Austria. She has represented LRWC at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. She will speak about LRWC’s work advocating for integrity of Cambodia’s legal system. Drawing on her work in Cambodia for the past two decades, she will discuss how lack of independence of lawyers, judges and other institutions in Cambodia is linked to persistent patterns of impunity for corruption and land-grabbing at the heart of discontent of Cambodia’s electorate.
Moderated by John Waddell, QC, a Victoria lawyer and member of the Board of Directors of the International Commission of Jurists in Canada.
