<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html><head><title>International Senior Lawyers Project</title></head> <body alink="#000000" link="#000000" vlink="#000000"><center> <table width="700"><tbody><tr><td><a href="index.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 734px; height: 57px;" alt="" src="islplogo3.jpg"></a><br> <img src="banner-3.jpg" name="slide" border="0" height="163" width="734"><br> <table><tbody><tr><td><font face="Arial" size="1">Volunteer Doug Kramer in Russia </font></td><td width="100"></td><td><font face="Arial" size="1">Volunteer Steve Spronz in South Africa </font></td><td width="37"></td><td><font face="Arial" size="1">Volunteers Mo &amp; Mickey Winograd in South Africa</font></td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table><table> </table><table width="740"><tbody><tr><td><a href="aboutus.html"><img src="aboutus.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="programs.html"><img src="programs.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="partners.html"><img src="partners.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="volunteer.html"><img src="volunteer.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="news.html"><img src="news.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="contactus.html"><img src="contactus.jpg" border="0"></a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table bgcolor="#bbbaba" width="740"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="French%20Web%20Page-%20A%20Propos%20de%20Nous.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; height: 19px; width: 147px;" alt="" src="French%20Link%20Button.jpg"></a></div><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><br></span></b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Current Newsletter</span></b><a href="programs.html"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></b></a><br></div><a href="newsletters/2008/Summer%202008%20Final%20Draft-Smaller.pdf"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 146px; height: 188px;" alt="" src="current-newsletter2.jpg"></a><br><p> <a href="raq.html"><img src="request-button.jpg" border="0"></a></p><p> <a href="donate.html"><img src="donate-button.jpg" border="0"></a></p><p> <a href="funders.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 19px;" alt="" src="funders.jpg"></a></p><p> <a href="programs.html"><img src="program-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="humanrights.html"><img src="HR-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="economic.html"><img src="EC-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="justice.html"><img src="AJ-button.jpg" border="0"></a></p><p style="height: 105px;"> <a href="geography.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 19px;" alt="" src="Where%20We%20Work%20Button.jpg"></a><br> <a href="file:///M:/My%20Documents/Jesse/Website/ISLP%20Web/REE.html"><img src="RE-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="SubSaharanAfrica.html"><img src="SA-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="india.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 19px;" alt="" src="Asia-button.jpg"></a><a href="Latin%20America.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 19px;" alt="" src="Latin%20America.jpg"></a></p><p><a href="2006%20project%20report%203%5B1%5D.12.07.pdf"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 18px;" alt="" src="2006project.jpg"></a></p><p><a href="Web%20Issue%202007%20Project%20Report.pdf"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 18px;" alt="" src="2007project.jpg"></a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p></td><td align="left" valign="top" width="550"><br> <font face="Arial" size="4"><b><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> Projects in Russia &amp; Eastern Europe</span> </b></font><p> <font face="Arial" size="2"> </font></p><p align="justify"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">ISLP's commitment to human rights, access to justice and the rule of law is exemplified by the many projects we have undertaken in Central and <st1:place w:st="on">Eastern Europe</st1:place> over the past year. We are very grateful to the Ernst C. Stiefel Foundation&nbsp;<span style=""></span>whose generous support has made much of this work possible. </span></b></p> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES):</span> In response to a request from the Open Society Institute, ISLP recruited Edward DeLaney, a senior US media lawyer and Russian speaker, to spend one week with CJES in Moscow in 2008 to conduct an assessment and offer recommendations on how CJES, which advocates on behalf of journalists in the former Soviet Union,&nbsp; can be helped to be more effective.&nbsp; </span><br><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">International Protection Centre (IPC):</span> ISLP volunteer and board member Natasha Lisman spent&nbsp;February 9-16, 2008 in Strasbourg, France helping to organize&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">IPC's</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> caseload </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">of cases&nbsp;against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">and assisting&nbsp; their director in conducting a training program for Russian and other human rights lawyers. <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">League of Human Rights (LIGA):</span> ISLP volunteer Mike Haroz, a Boston lawyer with Goulston &amp; Storrs P.C. who spent three weeks with LIGA in 2006, returned to work with them from March 3-31, 2008 on organizational issues and training.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> LIGA is one of the few human rights organizations in the Czech Republic with lawyers on staff who handle litigation for victims of rights abuses and promote law reform.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC), Russia:</span>&nbsp; In August 2007, MDAC, which is based in Budapest, Hungary requested assistance from ISLP in connection with its representation of Larisa Arap, a journalist and opposition party member, who was arrested and forcibly detained and "treated" in a psychiatric institution in Murmansk, Russia. Reports suggested that Ms. Arap was probably detained as a result of an article she wrote criticizing the treatment received by children in the local psychiatric hospital. Although Ms. Arap has since been released from psychiatric detention, MDAC is representing her in her challenge of the legality of the detention and in seeking damages for human rights violations she endured. The global firm Weil Gotshal &amp; Manges&nbsp;conducted comparative legal research and prepared a memorandum of law on a number of issues raised in the case.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Enforcing Sexual Harassment Laws in Hungary</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">: Responding to a request from Hungary's Equal Treatment Authority (ETA), a newly formed agency that enforces Hungary's anti-discrimination laws, ISLP volunteers Blair Soyster, a senior partner with US law firm Clifford Chance, and associate Marye Cherry developed a comprehensive manual addressing applicable issues which was then translated into Hungarian and followed by a 2-day training in April 2006 for the entire ETA staff.</span><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Assisting Public Defenders Offices: </span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">At the request of the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) veteran public defender and criminal defense lawyer Ed Rucker went to Ukraine in 2006 for seven months with his wife, Susan, as ISLP volunteers to help establish the first public defender offices in that country. ISLP has previously sent volunteers to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Bulgaria</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Lithuania</st1:country-region>, and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Mongolia</st1:country-region></st1:place> on similar projects. Ed contributed significantly to the department's overall coordination with local police, prosecutors and government officials, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">strengthened the offices' operations,<span style=""> helped develop a uniform system of case intake and distribution, and provided strategic advice to the Director of the new office.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC):</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> ERRC, based in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Budapest</st1:city></st1:place>, is a 21-year old NGO that advocates for the rights of the Roma people. In 2007, ISLP volunteers assisted ERRC effort's to develop a survey of European law on segregation in schools.&nbsp; ERRC has several cases pending in national courts involving the discriminatory segregation of Roma children from school and plans eventually to file a number of cases with the European Court of Human Rights. Hogan &amp; Hartson's Brussels office completed legal research for this survey and has now begun research on a case of housing discrimination against Roma people in Slovakia that ERRC hopes to bring before the European Court of Justice. <br><br>ISLP&nbsp;previously assisted ERRC with research and writing for several cases ERRC was handling in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and elsewhere involving school segregation, forced sterilization and other matters; case management and office technology issues; and capacity building and assistance with respect to the development and prosecution of a highly complex litigations arising out of lead poisoning of Roma refugees relocated to a UN-operated camp on the site of a former lead mine. ISLP has provided volunteers with respect to most of these requests. The law firm of Hogan &amp; Hartson, through both its <st1:city w:st="on">Budapest</st1:city> and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state> offices, provided brief-writing assistance and case management and technology advice. As well, a highly experienced litigator was sent to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Budapest</st1:city></st1:place> for one week to mentor and advise ERRC staff regarding a specific litigation involving lead poisoning of Roma children and an attorney with extensive civil rights litigation experience spent three weeks with ERRC assisting on the lead case.</span><br><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;" align="left"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> </td><td align="left" valign="top" width="50"> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p> </p><center><font face="Arial" size="-2"> islp.org. all rights reserved. copyright 200<span style="font-weight: bold;">8</span></font></center> </center></body></html>