Consiglio Nazionale Forense
Conference on
Human and Fundamental Rights in the Training of European Lawyers
ROME, 9 – 10 APRIL 2010
FINAL DECLARATION
The Second Conference of the European Bars, organised in Rome on the 9 and 10 April 2010 on
“Human and Fundamental Rights in the training of European lawyers”,
recalling:
- The conclusions of the First Conference, held in Rome on the 6, 7 and 8 November 2008
- The recommendations by the Council of Europe regarding the training and knowledge on the
European Convention of Human Rights and on the jurisprudence of the European Court of
Human Rights for lawyers and judges, as well as in law schools and faculties
- The 2003 Manual of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
International Bar Association on “Human Rights in the Administration of Justice”
- The 1999 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular article 15
regarding the importance of Human Rights training for lawyers
- The 1990 United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (A/RES/45/121)
Considering:
- The practical relevance of human and fundamental rights and, in particular, in light of new
issues such as immigration and increasing manifestations of discrimination, xenophobia and
racism
- The importance that the contributions of independent European bars have for the civil rights
and democracy in their national societies and for the European context
- The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, representing a historical event for the European
citizens and in particular for lawyers: true “guardians of the rights” of all human beings
- The specific relevance therein granted to the values of human dignity, freedom, and
democracy, and the respect of those values (article 2); the recognition of the Charter of
Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the 1950 European Convention of Human
Rights as general principles of European law, granting them the same legal character as the
European Treaties
- The fundamental importance therein attributed to the notion of human dignity, taking a
significant step away from the previous, free market orientated, profile of the European Union
- The relevance of these developments for the European lawyer, who now has a new set of tools
to use in the judicial sphere
Considering, moreover, that the instruction on human rights requires a fundamental place in the
training of lawyers, and that the actual shape of training programmes in the various European
contexts indicate, in general, a need for a stronger focus and an institutionalisation of this topic, not
only in the general university curriculum of law faculties, but also, and especially, in the
professional and continued training of lawyers
Recalling the affirmations made in the 2008 Rome Declaration with regard to the essential role of
initial and continued training for lawyers and considering the contributions presented by the
European bars represented at this conference,
Invites
the governments of the Member States of the European Union and of the Council of Europe:
o To strengthen the protection of human and fundamental rights by supporting the training of
jurists, in particular lawyers and judges
o To introduce a compulsory training programme on human and fundamental rights in every
law school and bar
the Bar Associations of the European Countries:
o To insert, permanently, in the training programmes for lawyers, both initial and continued,
the instruction on human and fundamental rights, making available appropriate guide lines as
well as “training for trainers” programmes
o To work for an increased knowledge of the jurisprudence of the European and the
constitutional courts of Europe, in order to consolidate the experiences and the implementing
techniques also in the internal jurisprudence of the European countries
o To intensify the collaboration among European bars and the exchange of professional and
didactical experiences, as well as to define new common training projects
Approved in Rome on the 9 and 10 April 2010