VP/HR — Support for lawyers at risk abroad

18.4.2019

Question for written answer E-002038-19
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 130
Rachida Dati (PPE)

On 19 February 2019, the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights organised a hearing on attacks on the legal profession in which it called for EU support.

The UN’s 2016 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers highlighted the violations of lawyers’ rights and independence and the unjustified restrictions they increasingly face in the exercise of their profession.

In the Philippines, for example, more than 20 lawyers have been assassinated in a little over two years. In China, more than 300 lawyers and human rights activists have been detained, arrested or have had their freedoms restricted since the July 2015 crackdown.

Is the High Representative considering taking a stand and providing support to lawyers who are under threat or who are being intimidated in third countries?