Press

The president of Advocaat.be, the organisation that defends the interests of lawyers and those seeking justice, is calling on the executives of the local bar associations for a fundamental change in the way the Flemish legal profession is organised. The organisation proposes moving from the current structure of the Order of Flemish Bars to an Order of Flemish Lawyers (OVA). This change would not only make the operation of the professional body more efficient.

To mark European Human Rights Day, all Belgian Presidents of the Bar Associations are exercising their new legal visitation right, which since this year has allowed them to visit prisons within their jurisdiction. Every President of a Bar Associations in Belgium is visiting one of the prisons today. This national action underlines the seriousness of the situation in Belgian prisons, where overcrowding and a lack of basic facilities threaten the fundamental rights of detainees.

We, together with Avocats.be and the two Brussels Bar Associations, have decided to file an appeal to the European Court of Justice against the judgment delivered by the Court of First Instance of the European Union on 2 October 2024 in the case of the European sanctions against Russia.