International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) is an

international organization An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

and progressive

jurists A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

' associations with sections and members in 50 countries and territories. Along with facilitating contact and exchange of views between and among lawyers and lawyers' associations of all countries, the IADL works to conduct research on legal issues affecting human, political and economic rights, organizes international commissions of enquiry and conferences on legal and judicial concerns, and takes part in international legal observer missions. Through its activities the Association works as a recognized consultative organization with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

through

ECOSOC The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

and

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

History

The Association was founded in Paris in 1946. The IADL soon became Communist-controlled and the United States became especially aggravated at IADL claims that they had documented proof of the US dropping poisoned mosquitos on

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

ns and mass-torturing civilians during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

René Cassin René Samuel Cassin (5 October 1887 – 20 February 1976) was a French jurist known for co-authoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in Bayonne, Cassin served as a soldier in the First Wo ...

resigned his presidency of the organization as a result in 1951, and the US successfully lobbied France to expel the headquarters of what it considered a

communist front A communist front is a political organization identified as a front organization under the effective control of a communist party, the Communist International or other communist organizations. They attracted politicized individuals who were not pa ...

from Paris. As a response, the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

started funding the

International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and inte ...

. Still in 1990 for example, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

funded the organization with 100,000 US dollars.Richard Felix Staar (1991).
Foreign policies of the Soviet Union
'. Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University. p. 80. From 1967 the IADL was one of the original NGOs accredited with Consultative II Status with ECOSOC and is represented at UNESCO and UNICEF. The Association is also a member of the

Conference of NGOs The Conference of NGOs (CoNGO; full "Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations") "is an independent, international, non-profit membership association of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). ...

(CONGO) of the United Nations.

Headquarters

International Headquarters – Rue Brialmont 21, B-1210, Brussels, Belgium International Secretariat – Ito Bldg 2nd Floor, Yotsuya 1–2, Shinjuku-ku, 160-0004, Tokyo, Japan

Organization

The IADL is organized on the basis of institutional member organizations, regional and affiliated sections, groups and individual membership, representing about 200,000 members in all. Institutional Members: * Bangladesh – Democratic Lawyers Association of Bangladesh (DLAB) * Belgium –

Progress Lawyers Network Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...

As of 2010 it has offices in Antwerp and Brussels. * Bulgaria – Union of Jurists in Bulgaria * Cuba – Unión Nacional de Juristas de Cuba * Finland – Suomen Demokraattiset Lakimiehet () * France – Droit Solidarité * Germany (West) – Vereinigung Demokratischer Juristen Deutschlands * Italy – Giuristi Democratici * India – All India Lawyers Union * India – Indian Association of Lawyers * Japan –

Japanese Lawyers International Solidarity Association Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspo ...

(JALISA) * Morocco – Association Marocaine des Droits Humains * North Korea –

Korean Democratic Lawyers Organisation Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language ** Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju languag ...

* Philippines – The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) * United Kingdom –

Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers is a socialist and legal campaigning organisation in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1930 to provide legal support to the then Labour government. The Society was named after Viscount Haldane, a Liber ...

* United States –

National Lawyers Guild The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 193 ...

Regional and Affiliated Members: *

Arab Lawyers Union The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...

* American Association of Jurists *

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR, ar, المركز الفلسطيني لحقوق الإنسان) is a Palestinian people, Palestinian human rights organization based in Gaza City. It was founded in 1995 by Raji Sourani, who is its d ...

* European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights * European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights *

European Democratic Lawyers European Democratic Lawyers (EDL) (''also Association of'', A.E.D) is an association of labor unions and lawyers of six European countries.Wolfgang Kaleck/ref> It was founded in October 1987 as a confederation of lawyers' unions and gained its sta ...

. Its member organizations are: ** Belgium – Le Syndicat des Avocats pour la Démocratie (S.A D.) ** France – Le Syndicat des Avocats de France (S.A.F.) ** Germany – Der Republikanische Anwältinnen und Anwälteverein (RAV) ** Italy – La Confederazione Nazionale Delle Associazioni Sindicali Forensi d 'Italia ** Italy – L'Iniziativa Democratica Forense (I.D.F.) ** Italy – Legal Team Italia ( L.T.I.) ** Netherlands – De Vereniging Sociale Advokatuur Nederland (VSAN) ** Spain – L 'Associació Catalana per a la Defensa dels Drets Humans (A.C.D.D.H) ** Spain – La Asociación Libre de Abogados (ALA) ** Spain – Euskal Herriko Abokatuen Elkartea (ESKUBIDEAK)

Activities

* IADL sent a team to investigate

allegations of biological warfare in the Korean War Allegations that the United States military used biological weapons in the Korean War (June 1950 – July 1953) were raised by the governments of People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union, and North Korea. The claims were first raised in ...

in 1951, and published "Report on U.S. Crimes in Korea", alleging the United States has used

biological weapons A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterrorism ...

during

. * In 2006, IADL claimed that the

United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti ) , leader_title = Head , leader_name = Sandra Honoré (Special Representative of the Secretary-General) , status = Replaced by MINUJUSTH , formation = 1 June 2004 , websiteUN Peacekeeping: MINUSTAH

was manipulated by the United States, and called for the release of members of

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

party

Fanmi Lavalas Fanmi Lavalas ( en, Lavalas Family, Lavalas is Haitian Creole for ''flood''), is a social-democratic political party in Haiti. Its leader is former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It has been a powerful force in Haitian politics since 1 ...

. * IADL filed an

amicus curiae An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...

with the US

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in 2009 to free five Cuban intelligence officers who were convicted in Miami of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder. * IADL opposed the use of military force against

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 2012.

Economic and Social Council consultative status

IADL applied for Category B consultative status with the

UN Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

in 1954, 1955, 1957 and 1959, but the application was rejected. The application was accepted in 1967. At the end of 1967, there were 377 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which the United Nations Economic and Social Council could consult on questions with which they are concerned. The organizations are divided into three groups: those in Category A, which have a basic interest in most of the activities of the Council; those in Category B, which have a special competence but are concerned with only a few of the Council's activities; and those with a significant contribution to make to the Council's work, which are placed on a Register for ''ad hoc'' consultations. At the end of 1967, there were 143 NGOs with Category B status.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:International Association Of Democratic Lawyers International political organizations International law organizations Communist front organizations Organizations established in 1946 International organisations based in Belgium