The rule of law is key to delivering societies that are accountable, transparent, and just. Yet the MENA region’s legal and judicial developments are under-studied and rarely part of the policy discourse, while lawyers are under-resourced and at risk for their work.
TIMEP’s Legal Unit recognizes the instrumental role that the law and legal community play in protecting localized perspectives and shaping the societies in which these perspectives can thrive. Through research and documentation, the Legal Unit makes key legal and judicial developments understandable for policy audiences. Its support and advocacy work lends assistance to lawyers at risk individually and for their work; and its commitment to Arabic legal education is an investment in the future, helping guarantee that the legal community has access to the tools and skill set necessary to advance its contributions.
Unpacking legal and judicial developments is essential to a contextualized understanding of the MENA region and in proposing forward-thinking policy solutions. The Legal Unit’s research and documentation work explains the region’s top legal and judicial issues for a non-technical policy audience.
Since the January 25 Revolution, Egyptian authorities have passed a number of laws that severely affect key fundamental rights at the heart of organizing on the ground and online. A new fact sheet by TIMEP’s Legal Unit details these legislative developments.
This fact sheet, put together by TIMEP’s Legal Unit, tracks and unpacks some of the key laws in question, including those on civil society, freedom of information, and counter-terrorism.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and TIMEP present a joint briefing paper which documents a course of conduct by state institutions in Egypt that aims to weaken and curtail the legal profession, and thereby dismantle the last line of defense against the government’s sustained crackdown on human rights and fundamental freedoms.
As lawyers increasingly face reprisal for their legal defense work and exercise of fundamental freedoms, accessing the international legal and policy space can lend them protection and bolster their domestic efforts. The Legal Unit’s support and advocacy work protects lawyers at risk as human rights defenders and complements their work on-the-ground while leveraging international legal and policy tools.
In an effort to comprehensively address the deterioration of press freedom in Lebanon, this fact sheet proposes recommendations relevant to both the country’s legal framework and its violative practices.
TIMEP and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have submitted a joint stakeholder report ahead of the third cycle of Lebanon’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), set to take place in January and February 2021.
TIMEP joins 109 organizations to call upon governments to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic not be used as pretext to usher in invasive digital surveillance measures.
Recognizing the deteriorating state of legal education in the region and the limited availability of context-specific, accessible international legal resources, the Legal Unit’s education work is an investment in the future of the legal community that crafts and offers practical Arabic learning tools, including courses, trainings, and legal guides.
TIMEP releases “Effective Communication between the Lawyer and Defendant and the Right to a Fair Trial: A Guide for Lawyers in Egypt,” authored by human rights lawyer and legal researcher Adel Ramadan.
