19 Sep 2017

The Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) are calling for applications from lawyers based in The Gambia to participate in a forthcoming litigation training surgery on the right to freedom of expression.

The 3-day litigation surgery will be held in Banjul from 14 to 16 November 2017. The training will consider international and comparative law on freedom of expression, and will train participants on how to bring freedom of expression cases to regional human rights fora (African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice). MLDI and IHRDA’s objectives for the litigation surgery are to:

1. ensure more lawyers are able to litigate freedom of expression cases before domestic and/or international fora;
2. build longer-term working relationships with lawyers undertaking such cases, resulting in the joint litigation of strategic cases; and
3. equip the participant lawyers with the necessary skills and knowledge regarding the international human rights mechanisms available for pursuing freedom of expression cases in West Africa, and the potential litigation strategies that could be adopted before these mechanisms.

Participants will be selected to attend the training on the basis of the following criteria:

• Participants must be practising lawyers in The Gambia;
• Participants must work in private practice, and/or be affiliated with an NGO promoting the right to freedom of expression in West Africa through litigation;
• Participants must have a demonstrated interest in, and/or knowledge of the right to freedom of expression;
• Participants must have a demonstrated interest in, and/or knowledge of international and regional human rights law;
• Participants must have demonstrated awareness and understanding of the issues faced by journalists and civil society activists in The Gambia;
• Participants must have effective communication skills;
• A demonstration of experience in litigating freedom of expression cases will be given weight in the selection process.

All applicants are required to submit for discussion a current or potential case involving a violation of the right to freedom of expression in The Gambia, and the working language for the surgery will be English.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please fill in the application form via this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/IHRDAMLDI. The deadline for applications is 27 September 2017. Interviews will be held via phone/Skype during the week commencing 4 October 2017.

If you have any questions regarding the training or the application process, please email jonathan.mccully@mediadefence.org.