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Lawyers working in DRC win CCBE award

The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) has given its 2024 Human Rights Award to lawyers who help to support victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The lawyers work for the Legal Clinic of the Panzi Foundation.

The CCBE said that the award recognised their “exceptional commitment” to ensuring that all victims of sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC received comprehensive, non-discriminatory legal representation, and access to justice.

‘Innovative’ model

The CCBE President Pierre-Dominique Schupp will present the award during a CCBE plenary session on Thursday (21 November) in Brussels.

"All the lawyers at the Panzi Foundation’s Legal Clinic are truly deserving of this award, as they have brought honour to the legal profession by upholding the highest values of professional and personal conduct in the field of human rights,” Schupp stated.

“The CCBE would like to pay particular tribute to the Legal Clinic’s innovative and unique model, which provides large-scale reception, care, support, rehabilitation, and reintegration of survivors of sexual violence,” he added.

The CCBE award aims to highlight the work of one or more lawyers or lawyers’ organisations that have demonstrated outstanding commitment and sacrifice in protecting fundamental values.