The 2019 UIA/LexisNexis Rule of Law Prize Awarded to the French Lawyer, Bertrand Favreau

With this award, UIA and LexisNexis recognises Mr. Favreau's strong, tireless and constant commitment to human rights and, in particular, his efforts and initiatives, both individually and through the organisations he chairs, highlighting attacks against the legal profession and supporting fellow lawyers being prosecuted across the world.

The Award will be presented during the opening ceremony of the 63rd UIA Congress in Luxembourg on November 6, 2019.

A lawyer at the Bordeaux Bar since 1969 and an author of several books, Bertrand Favreau is a tireless defender of lawyers and their role in upholding the rule of law and promoting and protecting human rights.

Elected President of the Bordeaux Bar Association in 1982, Mr. Favreau created the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize in 1984
– the oldest and most prestigious global award for a lawyer worldwide and awarded by his or her peers. First awarded in 1985 to Nelson Mandela, the Prize is now supported by 10 European and international bar associations, legal institutes, and lawyers' organisations.

In 1986, Mr. Favreau was one of the founders of the European Lawyers’ Union (UAE), based in Luxembourg, of which he became the President from 1986 to 1989 and Honorary President thereafter.

In 2001, Bertrand Favreau founded the European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE), which he currently chairs. The annual report of the World Observatory for Defence Rights and Attacks against Lawyers, which Mr Favreau coordinates and directs, lists reports of lawyers who have been murdered, imprisoned, and persecuted across the world. This report has now become an essential tool for both awareness-raising and solidarity.

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The UIA Rule of Law Award in cooperation with LexisNexis

The UIA Rule of Law Prize was created in 2016 in cooperation with LexisNexis to recognise outstanding contributions to the advancement of the rule of law, particularly within the legal community. Since its establishment, it has been awarded successively to the Malaysian Bar in 2016, Mr. Saidbek Nuritdinov, President of the Lawyers' Union of the Republic of Tajikistan, in 2017, and to the Honourable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the United States' Supreme Court in 2018.
 

Media Contact Persons:
Marie-Pierre LIENARD, UIA Communications Officer, mplienard@uianet.org
Cécile CHAPELAND PONZIO, LexisNexis, Cecile.ChapelandPonzio@lexisnexis.fr