Human rights lawyers are some of the most important people in the modern world, protecting the fundamental principles of a fair society and specialising in civil rights, dignity, equality and much more besides.
They not only work to ensure the law is correctly applied, but also help to frame it, working with marginalised or NGO groups to help ensure every single human has access to the support and advice they require to protect their safety, health, and privacy.
They will often work with vulnerable groups at a much lower cost than other lawyers would charge and may even do much of their work pro-bono, with funding coming from charity groups or through other legal work.
There are many different areas of human rights law that a lawyer may choose to specialise in further including privacy law, media law, LGBT related legal matters, treatment of soldiers in war, racism or sexism, and much more besides. They will also usually have a pretty impressive knowledge of other aspects of the law such as criminal or corporate law as these matters often overlap during human rights cases.
Some of the tasks that a human rights lawyer will be expected to carry out on a regular basis include:
Working with aid groups
As mentioned above, many people who require legal assistance for human rights related issues do not have access to a large amount of personal funds with which to pay expensive legal fees.
For this reason, human rights lawyers will work closely with legal aid groups to ensure everyone gets the support and assistance that they deserve.
As well as working on behalf of individuals, human rights lawyers will advise these institutions on the best way to go about providing support to in-need groups and assist them in lobbying for further protections to be put in place to prevent human rights violations from occurring in the first place.
Researching
Being a lawyer of any kind is not quite as glamorous as it looks in the movies and a large portion of the time these experts spend their time researching previous cases and building their knowledge so that they will be in a better position to help meet their clients needs.
In human rights law, this will include learning all relevant human rights legislation, policies and relevant case law.
Speaking to people
Human rights lawyers are compassionate and understanding people and the top human rights lawyers are the ones who can communicate best with their clients.
Those who are looking to file a claim for a human rights violation are often in incredibly difficult situations and may well have gone through something pretty traumatic in the not too distant past. They may well be nervous and upset when they approach the lawyer and unsure if they want to proceed with the case at all out of embarrassment or concern. It is the task of their lawyer to reassure them and guide them through the entire process, giving them peace of mind that their case is in the best possible hands at all times.
Consult on legislation
When human rights legislation is drawn up, human rights lawyers are often consulted to ensure that the new documents are effective in protecting people from harm. There are very few true human rights experts so it makes sense that those who have devoted their careers to studying and working in human rights law are involved in the legislation process.
Staying up to date on global matters
Human rights law is almost unique in the legal world in that a large number of countries comply with the same set of rules and regulations. For this reason, human rights lawyers must not only keep fully up-to-date with human rights cases in their own country, but also those that are happening further afield across the globe.
Many human rights lawyers work with citizens from their own country who find themselves in foreign lands, through conflict or for any other reason, working with the Governments of both nations to ensure that they are treated acceptably whilst they are detained and lobbying for their release and safe return in whatever way they deem to be necessary.
