The Legal Aid Foundation (“LAF”) is hosting the 4th International Forum on Legal Aid from Thursday November 1st to Saturday November 3rd 2018 in Taipei City.

 

Since 2005, the LAF has had a strong commitment to consistently organize this international conference with the following visions:

1) to learn from international legal aid systems and practice, gaining insights to deliver more effective, efficient and good quality services;

2) to increase communication between legal aid organizations around the world, facilitating discussion about universal human rights issues and legal services;

3) to establish an international cooperation platform/network, working together to assist disadvantaged people with cross-border issues.

 

In previous forums, we have discussed “The Fundamentals and Future Development of Legal Aid” (2005), “Challenges and Opportunities of Legal Aid during a Global Recession” (2009), “Legal Aid as a Fundamental Human Right” (2014).

 

With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2014, the SDG 16.3 specifically requires the promotion of the rule of law at the national and international levels, and demands equal access to justice for all. Access to justice and legal aid are considered indispensable pillars for the sustainability of societies and the world. In this spirit, the 2018 Forum is themed “Expanding the Horizons of Legal Aid”, emphasizing that legal aid service is an essential part of the social security system. Under this theme, four topics are set for panel discussions: identifying and targeting people in need, client-centered lawyering, working together with non-legal services, and developing services for specific communities.

 

This year sees the conference embrace a more global agenda and expand to more diverse panels. In addition to the speakers from Taiwan, we have over 60 delegates from 17 countries attending, presenting and contributing. We also welcome local legal aid practitioners, lawyers, judges, NGO/NPO workers, policy makers, scholars and students to participate in the conference. We believe that such a diversity of panels and participants will increase the depth and breadth of discussion in the 2018 Forum and lead to better networking and collaboration in the future.