Foundation

Goal/policy

The foundation The Day of the Endangered Lawyer’s goal is to promote the unobstructed practise of lawyers’ profession anywhere in the world who, under repressive regimes come to the defence or support of clients whose human rights are at stake. The foundation is completely non-profit and can only perform commercial activities to the extent in which earnings (balance of income and expenses) in its entirety or for the vast majority benefit the aforementioned goal in a reasonable timespan.
The foundation pursues this goal by utilizing all resources that are deemed relevant, amongst which are:
– the annual organization of the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, on which lawyers dressed in toga demonstrate at embassies;
– supporting endangered lawyers, and their families, individually
– maintaining international contacts throughout the year;
– promoting cooperation between human rights organizations, lawyers, embassies and other stakeholders, and
– continuous maintenance of one (or more) designated information and discussion website(s).

Contacts made with threatened lawyers and their families have led to personal relationships. Furthermore, where possible, we try to provide personal assistance, material and immaterial: through visits to prisons, meetings with family, informative actions on the spot, arranging process observation, et cetera.

 

Annual figures

Funding is obtained by donations, grants, subsidies, legacies or inheritances, compensations and other benefits.
The foundation shall have no more equity than reasonably needed for the continuity of anticipated activities that benefit the goal of the institution. The maintenance costs of the foundation are to be within reasonable proportions relative to the expenses that benefit the goal of the institution.

The board of the foundation lays out the financial accountability annually. The foundation was founded in November 2014.
The RSIN (fiscal identification number) is 854527916.
The financial statement of 2016 is available here in PDF format (Dutch).
The financial statement of 2017 is available here in PDF format (Dutch). 

 

Board

Members of the board are

mr. S.M. Gaasbeek-Wielinga chairman
drs. Annette Bool secretary
drs. H.L.H.M. Custers treasurer
mr. F. Ureel member

All members of the board are volunteers. This means that they do not receive compensation for their activities.

 

Committee of Recommendation

prof. dr. L.F.M.Besselink professor Constitutional Rights at the University of Amsterdam, member of the Royal Netherlands Society of Sciences and Humanities
mr. J.H.Brouwer former dean of the Dutch Order of Lawyers, chairman of the foundation Lawyers without Borders, honorary president of the International Criminal Bar
prof. Bill Bowring lawyer in London, professor at the School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London, director of the LLM/MA in Human Rights
mr. B. Dittrich former lawyer and judge in Berlin, former member of parliament, current advocacy director of Lebian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program, Human Rights Watch
mr. B. Favreau lawyer in Bordeaux, former dean of the Order of Lawyers in Bordeaux, founder and president of the IDHAE
mr. Wolfgang Kaleck former lawyer in Berlin, secretary and co-founder of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
prof. P. J. van Koppen professor Legal Psychology at the University of Amsterdam

 

Supporting organizations

The Association European Democratic Lawyers www.aeud.org
The European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights www.eldh.eu
Vereniging Sociale Advocatuur Nederland www.vsanadvocaten.nl
Lawyers for lawyers www.lawyersforlawyers.nl
Colombia Caravana UK Lawyersgroup www.colombiancaravana.org.uk
European Bar Human Rights Institutes www.idhae.org
www.idhbb.org
Avocats sans Frontières www.asf-network.org
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada www.lrwc.org
International Observatory of Lawyers at Risk www.protect-lawyers.org
American Bar Association www.americanbar.org
International Association of Lawyers www.uianet.org
Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe www.ccbe.eu
Défense sans frontière www.defensesansfrontiere.org
Fédération des Barreaux d’Europe www.fbe.org
International Association of People’s Lawyers www.iapl.net
The Law Society of England and Wales www.lawsociety.org.uk
Geneva Bar Association www.odage.ch

 

Becoming a friend/supporter

The foundation The Day of the Endangered Lawyer is fully dependant on gifts. Would you care to help us by becoming a friend of our foundation? Feel free to contact us via e-mail: hgaasbeek@gaasbeekengaasbeek.nl.

Being a friend of the foundation The Day of the Endangered Lawyer is free of any conditions or obligations.
The annual contribution we ask from our friends is at least EUR 10,- per year, any higher amount is much appreciated.

Stichting Dag Bedreigde Advocaat
NL84 ABNA0450 3836 28
BIC ABNANL2A

 

Contact

Foundation The Day of the Endangered Lawyer

Mr. Hans Gaasbeek – coordination
Nieuwe Gracht 5a
NL 2011 NB  Haarlem
(023) 531 86 57
hgaasbeek@gaasbeekengaasbeek.nl