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THE STANLEY FOUNDATION

Resources
Conference report(s):
"Building a Mechanism for Post-Conflict Justice: Creating the International Legal Assistance Consortium"
Acrobat PDF

In 1997 the Stanley Foundation convened two conferences focusing on post-conflict justice. They brought together experts with experience in fostering justice and the rule of law internationally.

The first conference focused on the international community's role in fostering genuine national reconciliation and in providing means for war-torn nations to solve future conflicts peacefully, democratically, and within the bounds of law. After considering various roles the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, and other existing international institutions could play, an idea emerged to create a "rapid-response" mechanism that could facilitate and coordinate international activities in post-conflict environments.

At the second conference a mix of returning and new participants evaluated a more detailed proposal for this "rapid-response" mechanism, which came to be referred to as the "International Legal Assistance Consortium" (ILAC).

During the following two years, individuals committed to the idea of ILAC fleshed out its role and possible structure and shared the idea with others in the broader international legal community. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

In February 2000 the foundation convened a group of twenty individuals, from the international legal community, for a retreat titled "Building a Mechanism for Post-Conflict Justice: Creating the International Legal Assistance Consortium." ILAC's overall mission, structure, guiding principles, roles within the international community, and strategies for further design and implementation were discussed.

A full report of these proceedings and the earlier conference reports are available on the Web at reports.stanleyfdn.org.