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World Law Congress Madrid 2019

The World Law Congress

On February 19 – 20, 2019, the World Jurist Association made Madrid the World Jurist Capital during its XXVI Biennial Congress at Teatro Real. Presided by Franklin Hoet-Linares for the period 2017-2019, the WJA organized the World Law Congress under a renovated format ideated by Javier Cremades-García, President of the Organizing Commission and WJA Vice-President for Europe. This edition gathered together different guilts within the legal profession, serving the WJA as umbrella organization for Human Rights, notaries, constitutionalists, registrars, and religious organizations, among others, to co-organize the World Law Congress (WLC).

The presentation of the WJA World Peace & Liberty Award to H.M. King Felipe VI of Spain, in presence of H.M. Queen Letizia of Spain and H.E. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal, represented one of the most iconic activities of the World Law Congress Madrid 2019.  On February 20, a 1750-pax plenary at the main room of Teatro Real recognized His Majesty for his unwavering commitment to the Rule of Law and his defense to Democracy and Freedom. During the Ceremony, congratulation videos sent by President of Colombia, H.E. Iván Duque, and former President of East Timor and Peace Nobel Prize Winner 1996, José Ramos Horta, were presented before His Majesty.

A total of 2,300 jurists and personalities from around the world attended the World Law Congress Madrid 2019 and its Side-Events. Nearly 230 speakers of the highest level participated during this event, most of them within the 21 panels carried out on February 19, in 7 simultaneous rooms at Teatro Real. The deliberations performed this day resulted in The Declation of Madrid 2019. Furthermore, during the event, the new logo of the World Jurist Association was presented, resulting in a totally innovative branding. 

The decision of holding the WJA XXVI Biennial Congress in Madrid was taken during the WJA Board meeting held on May 4, 2018 in Munich, Germany. The task was given to Dr. Javier Cremades García, President of Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo Lawyers, who presided the Congress with Mr. Javier Solana Madariaga, former Secretary General of OTAN. The coordination of the program was performed by the Director of the WLC and former President of the Constitutional Court of Spain, Dr. Manuel Aragón Reyes. An Organizing Commision of prominent jurists from Spain and other countries, alone with the Co-Organizing institutions, made possible the execution of a magnificent event that made history within the WJA and, furthermore, in Spain.

For Spain, the Congress and the recognition to the democratic institutions through HM the King represented a reason of great pride and transcendence, as well as a unique opportunity to support the evolution of Spanish democracy and its stability, in the framework of the 40th anniversary of the Spanish Constitution. The event had great media impacts, heading all Spanish newspapers and TV news programs, as well as different media throughout the world.

Additional to the main activities at Teatro Real, the Congress included a Side-Event with the Presidents of the European Constitutional Courts on February 18 at the Madrid Bar Association, the celebration of an Ecumenic Act at the Almudena Cathedral with leaders of the main religions of the world on February 19, and the celebration of a WJA General Assambly and the World Law Day at the Malaga Bar Association on February 21.

Finally, and following the WJA tradition, during the WJA General Assembly in Malaga, Dr. Javier Cremades García (Spain), President of the Organizing Commision of the World Law Congress and WJA Vice President for Europe, was designated by the Elections Committee as the new Worldwide President of the World Jurist Association for the period 2019-2021. Additionally, Hon. Jus. Peter Umeadi (Nigeria) was elected as President of the World Association of Judges, Prof. Jesús Becerra (Venezuela-Spain) as President of the World Association of Law Professors, Dr. Javier Lara (Spain), as President of the World Association of Lawyers, and Sven Kohlmier (Germany) as President of the Business Associates Center.

You may visit www.worldlawcongress.com for further information on this fantastic event

New Officers Designated During the General Assembly in Malaga

Following the WJA tradition and By-Laws, a General Assembly of Members was celebrated during the Closing of the World Law Congress Madrid 2019. This time, all WJA members attending the Madrid conferences were taken to the beautiful city of Malaga, in the Spanish Costa del Sol.

The distinguished embers of the WJA Board of Directors, WJA members and international guests

First, WJA members were received by the Malaga City Mayor at the City Hall, during a lovely cocktail the previous night. Then, on February 21, the General Assembly was hosted by the Malaga Bar Association.

During the WJA General Assembly in Malaga, Dr. Javier Cremades García (Spain), President of the Organizing Commision of the World Law Congress Madrid 2019 and WJA Vice President for Europe, was designated by the Elections Committee as the new Worldwide President of the World Jurist Association for the period 2019-2021 (video). Through different networks, Dr. Cremades had actively cooperated with the World Jurist Association in previous events and was a speaker during the Biennial Congress in Aruba 2017. He was also recognized by our association with the World Jurist Award 2017. Javier is a distinguished Spanish lawyer, with a strong sense of fairness that has led him to defend Human Rights, political rights and minority share holders, among other areas of practice.

Dr. Javier Cremades, new WJA Worldwide President, being congratulated by the Malaga City Mayor, Francisco de la Torre, after receiving the WJA hammer from Past President Dr. Franklin Hoet

Furthermore, Hon. Jus. Peter Umeadi (Nigeria) was re-elected as President of the World Association of Judges. Peter is a longtime very active member of the WJA, has been the Regional President for Africa and the National President for Nigeria.

Prof. Dr. Jesús Becerra (Venezuela-Spain) was designated as President of the World Association of Law Professors. Born in venezuela, Jesús is currently a prominent lecturer of Criminal Law at the Pompeu Fabrá University in Barcelona, Spain, university from which he also obtained his doctorate.

The WJA General Assembly

On the other hand, Dr. Francisco Javier Lara Paláez (Spain), was appointed President of the World Association of Lawyers. Javier Lara is the Dean of the Malaga Bar Association and was an outstanding member of the Organizing Commission of the World Law Congress Madrid 2019.

Finally, Dr. Sven Kohlmier (Germany), was designated President of the Business Associates Center. Sven is member of the House of Representatives of Berlin for the third time. He is a spokesperson for legal issues, network policy and data protection for his group at the House of Representatives of Berlin.

Congratulations to all newly appointed WJA Officers!

Arbitration Summit 2019 – Registrations Open

The World Jurist Association proudly invites you to the 7th Annual Arbitration & Investment Summit, Caribbean, Latin America & Other Emerging Markets 2019, to be held on January 25th, 2019, in Nassau, Bahamas.

The event is being organized by the WJA President for the Bahamas, Dr. Peter Maynard, who invites all WJA members to join the Conferences.

The Program is available HERE

Register now at www.maynardlaw.com

Further information, please contact info@maynardlaw.com 

 

 

WJA Madrid Congress – Save the Date!

 

In February 2019, Madrid will become the capital of the International Legal World during the celebration of the 26th WJA Biennial Congress. The program will focus on Globality & Current Challenges to Democracy, offering a holistic view of the great issues that concern humanity, on which the jurist world must respond. Matters that converge with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, and the achievement of peace and prosperity through sustainable development.

In special, this Congress will represent a milestone for the WJA, as the World Peace & Liberty Award will be presented for the first time. The awarded personality is of the highest interest in Spain, a representative of unwavering commitment to the Rule of Law and the defense of Democracy and Freedom.

The Program of the Congress will integrate the vision of notorious International and Spanish jurists, companies and institutions that support the progress of humanity, and coexistence in democracy and freedom. Keynote Speakers and Panelists already confirmed include Former Prime Ministers, high representatives of the UN, OAS, EU and other relevant international entities, Chief Justices from different Supreme Courts, and prominent legal academics, among other prestigious jurists from around the globe.

Save the date for this Grand Biennial Congress!

Further information and opening of registrations will begin in November 2018. Would you have any quieries, please, do not hesitate to contact our Executive Director, Yacky Rodríguez at wjadirector@gmail.com

Would you like to learn more about our fantastic next location? Visit Madrid’s Official Tourist Website

Looking forward to meeting you in Madrid!

Regards,

 

Franklin Hoet Linares – WJA Worldwide President

 

Peace Starts in Korea

By Franklin Hoet-Linares

Worldwide President of the World Jurist Association

 

When Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God”, among other Beatitudes, he did not specify whether that message was addressed to Jews, Samaritans, Romans or his own followers. Everyone, without distinction. And then, I would add, to ratify that they are concepts that march together: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven“.

That is the humble way in which here on Earth we have been working for 40 years at the World Peace Through Law Center, founded in 1965, today World Jurist Association (WJA); without distinctions, exclusions, privileged inclusions, or discriminations. The WJA seeks to strengthen and promote the rule of law and spread peace through law; a recognition of the inherent dignity and equality of inalienable rights of all the members of humanity, founded on freedom, justice and peace in the world, as established in the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations (Article III of the WJA Charter).

As WJA Worldwide President for third time, I have committed in the pursuit of our objectives, traveling to different places in the world to actively attend international and regional conferences, among other activities, organized by individuals, associations, corporations, non-governmental organizations and governmental institutions with similar leitmotiv. The cooperation extends to all branches of law: judges, academics and lawyers. We cannot become judges and discriminate those who work for peace, either co-religionists or not, because, in the end, our north is to maintain the inherent dignity of every human being in the process of achieving peace and justice.

Under that mandate and with deep conviction of pursuing a realistic world peace, I attended the invitation of the HWPL (Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 2015, to prepare a document that initially was meant to be an international treaty for the promotion of peace and disarmament, with a view to the cessation of wars. Considering the difficulties of achieving such purpose, legal complexity, multiple political interests in the international scenario, especially in the formation of instruments legally binding the community of United Nations States Members, the International Law Peace Committee (ILPC) was created.

I accepted to integrate this Committee, and, within our mission, we achieved our goal after multiple meetings and discussions. A consensus was reached in a document of 10 articles and 38 clauses, called “Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War” (DPCW). The fundamental spirit is the same one that the WJA shares, just governance based on law, not power. Exactly, the same basic concept devised by Sir Winston Churchill when he was presented with our project for a center for peace: “Contribute firmly, from civil society, to strengthen the rule of law“. We were convinced that the future of immediate world peace was being played in Korea.

Or in the words of the inspiring Dwight Eisenhower on our first conference in Washington, by supporting the creation of today’s WJA: “The world has no choice between force and law: if civilization tries to survive it must choose the force of the law“.

This year we attended for second time to Seoul, the peace of the world was centered in those precise moments and territories, between the two Korean countries, with the United States and Russia behind; more precisely, Trump and Putin. Those of us who share the experiences of the Americans and follow the daily news on the media, perceive the almost imminent spectrum of war and, with us and our family, tens of millions more. Imagine how the consequences would be like in North and South Korea. The ILPC finally signaled a laudable solution to the manifest impossibility to obtaining a consensus at the UN General Assembly, as the DPCW restricted the powers of the States and imposed them obligations, which is not realistic at this time of a new international cold war: “Recognize with merit the excellent progress of the President of HWPL in bringing together individual States and regional organizations around the DPCW. Also, recommend that this process will continue until sufficient support is obtained for the presentation of the DPCW before the UN GA with a view to its endorsement in the form of a resolution approved within it“. It is not small thing.

On September 18, I had the historic opportunity of visiting the demilitarized zone. Today, just a few weeks later, in the process of dismantling. Something similar happened in Berlin, when the WJA held a Congress promoting the disarmament and unification of the two Germanies. It is gratifying to contribute, even with a grain of sand.

The UDHR is not an international treaty, it is what it is, a statement of great weight accepted by the entire international community, and that was decided in 1944, when realist legislators realized that it was not possible to obtain a consensus of the main countries for a treaty on fundamental rights, hence decided to produce three instruments. First, the Declaration, not legally enforceable, even though today, after 70 years of validity in international doctrine, it is given a weight of customary law. Subsequently, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICCPR and ICESCR, respectively) were produced. Both were adopted by the UN GA through Resolution 2200 A (XXI) of December 16, 1966, entered into force on March 23, 1976, and have been ratified by 167 States. These two Covenants have a value and can be legally binding among the countries that signed and ratify them.

It is our purpose in the immediate future to extract some fundamental political rights from the DPCW and incorporate them as an amendment to the Covenants. Furthermore, a review of the 30 Clauses or rights of the UDHR. Likewise, we are going to support an initiative of Unite for Rights, a human rights association that is trying to produce a Bill of Rights, to unify the existing human rights legislation in the world, in a simple, accurate and integrative way.

Now, after being sure that the war in the Korean Peninsula is moving away by leaps and bounds, we want to dedicate ourselves to work for peace in Venezuela and continue with the preparation of the XXVI Congress of the WJA in Madrid, to be held from 18 to 20 February 2019

 

Bratislava, October 08, 2018.

2018 HWPL World Peace Summit

Around 1,000 experts in various fields from around the world with a passionate heart for peace gathered in Seoul, South Korea, to participate in the 2018 HWPL World Peace Summit: 4th Anniversary. The Worldwide President of the World Jurist Association, Dr. Franklin Hoet Linares, was among the distinguished guests of this important event being celebrated on 17 – 19 September, 2018.

The main agenda of these meetings was the introduction of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW) to the United Nations (UN) as a binding resolution and the promotion of international cooperation among individuals from all levels and sectors of society for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula through the DPCW. In addition, plans were discussed and established regarding how to draw support from current heads of state for the introduction of the DPCW as a UN resolution.

Political leaders, including former and current heads of state, ministers, national assembly speakers, Supreme Court justices and jurists from around the world together with HWPL are currently making practical efforts towards the enactment of an international law for peace through the introduction of the DPCW to the UN. At this year’s international law session, high-ranking officials and the HWPL international law advisory committee created concrete measures to advance the process of the realization of the implementation of an international law for peace.

As part of the Summit’s agenda, on September 18, Dr. Hoet was honored by Mr. Man Hee Lee, Chairman of HWPL, with a Plaque of Appreciation in recognition to his outstanding contribution to advocating the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War and spreading a culture of peace in efforts for the realization of peace and cessation of war.

 

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