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LWOB HOSTS SIDE EVENT AT CSW 49TH SESSION

LWOB, with co-sponsorship of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Albania to the United Nations, hosted a side event at the 49th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on March 9, 2005. CSW, a part of the UNÍs Division for the Advancement of Women, prepares recommendations and reports to the UN General Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields, and makes recommendations on urgent problems in the field of women's rights.

Panelists represented two law-oriented NGOs (Jenifer Denton, American Bar Association: Central and East European Legal Initiative, and Priscilla Pappadia, Lawyers For Children America); academia (Professor Toni M. Fine, Cardozo School of Law); and the judicial/legal sector (attorneys Daniela Kristo Nesho and Christina M. Storm). Attorney Marion Williams, of LWOB-Canada, also participated in the panel. LWOB intern Moh Sharma was instrumental in preparing the forum.

The focus of the meeting was to identify the core issues affecting the woman lawyer, as well as concrete actions, on an individual or collective level, that could be taken to address some of those issues. Among the more important matters discussed were 1) the usefulness of creating committees within or outside of local bar associations comprising women-only membership and focused on addressing women and the law issues and 2) mentoring, both among seasoned lawyers from around the world and between senior lawyers and law students.

LWOB used the gathering to introduce the concept of "Tier Two" pro bono, the concept of lawyers doing pro bono work for non-profit organizations for those lawyers who did not fit the traditional profile of available pro bono opportunities in their local regions. Several lawyers indicated that they would bring this idea to the attention of their home bars upon their return.

Over 50 lawyers, NGO officials and law students from around attended the LWOB panel. Attendees, all of whom were women, practiced in countries as diverse as Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Kenya, Canada, USA, Argentina, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Albania, Tajikistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, China, Japan and Iraq.

At the close of the meeting, LWOB interns circulated a contact list and copies of attendeesÍ business cards. Extensive networking followed. LWOB is confident that meaningful collaborations will flow from the new connections established at the event.

LWOB extends its thanks to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Albania to the UN for its assistance and co-sponsorship of the event, and to the American Bar Association, International Section, for its generous donation of 50 copies of the book, The International Human Rights of Women, which was distributed to each attendee at the meeting.