ALLIANCE FOR LAWYERS AT RISK CIO Registered charity no. 1205449 President: Rt Hon Dominic Grieve KC Vice-Presidents: Guy Beringer CBE, KC (Hon), Prof Christine Chinkin CMG
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Trustees' Annual Report
(October 2023 to June 2024)
1. Trustee and Charity Information Charity name : Alliance for Lawyers at Risk CIO Registered Charity Number : 1205449 Registered Address: 124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX Trustees: Dominic Grieve KC, PC (President) Sir Peter Roth (Chairman) Professor Christine Chinkin CMG (Vice President) Guy Beringer CBE, KC (Hon) (Vice President) Susi Bascon Dr Silvia Borelli Mark Cunningham KC Deepak Nambisan Kelwin Nicholls Geoff Nicholas Kristina Nordlander (joined 11 March 2024) Maya Lester KC (joined 11 March 2024) Andrew Hood (joined 11 March 2024) Zoe MacCallum (joined 9 January 2025)
There is no chief executive officer and there are no paid staff working for the charity.
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2. Description of the charity's governance
The charity is incorporated as a CIO.
The governing document of the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk CIO (the " Alliance ") is its Constitution adopted on 27 October 2023, which is available on its website (lawyersatrisk.org).
The Trustees manage the affairs of the Alliance. Trustees are appointed and may be removed by the existing Trustees. Trustees give of their time and expertise voluntarily. Trustees receive no remuneration or benefits from acting as Trustees.
3. Objects of the charity
The objects of the charity are set out in its Constitution.
The object of the Alliance is to promote human rights (as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent United Nations conventions and declarations) and to seek to protect the rule of law for the benefit of the public throughout the world by all or any of the following means:
• securing the enforcement and proper administration of human rights law, in particular but without limitation, by supporting lawyers and other human rights defenders who are at risk by reason of their work;
• promoting the education and training of lawyers and human rights defenders in all matters relating to the proper administration of human rights law;
• international advocacy of human rights by making representations to governments and others;
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research into human rights issues;
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providing technical advice to governments and others on human rights law;
• commenting on proposed legislation with potential human rights implications; and
• raising awareness of human rights issues and promoting the importance of the rule of law.
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4. Activities in the period covered by this report
This is the first annual report of the Alliance. In the period from its incorporation in October 2023 to June 2024, the Alliance carried out the following activities.
(a) Operational matters
In its first nine months of operating as a CIO, the Alliance put in place a series of measures to enable it to operate effectively, including opening a bank account, establishing a registered office, registration with the Charities Commission and HMRC and securing volunteers from the law firm Slaughter and May to assist with the Alliance's month-to-month operations. More intensive work accordingly got underway in the final months of the first reporting year.
(b) Sir Henry Brooke Award
The Alliance has, for several years, awarded the Sir Henry Brooke Award. The Award is named after, and honours the life and legacy of the late founder of the Alliance. It is an annual award that aims to honour a legal practitioner or human rights defender who, through personal endeavour in the course of his or her practice in a challenging environment, made an outstanding contribution to the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights and the rule of law.
Nominations for the 2024 Award were assessed by an independent Selection Committee comprising Professor Christine Chinkin (Chair), Lord Carnwath, Sir Patrick Elias, Richard Hermer KC and Joshua Rosenberg KC (Hon).
The winner of the 2024 Sir Henry Brooke Award was the Colombian environmental and human rights lawyer, Mr Adil José Meléndez Marquez. The Award recognised Mr Meléndez’s extraordinary contribution to the protection and promotion of environmental human rights and the rule of law in Colombia.
The award ceremony was held in January 2024. The event was attended by over 100 guests including some of the country’s most senior judges as well as representatives from the British and international legal community including NGOs. The Alliance also arranged and facilitated Mr Melendez meeting representatives of relevant NGOs over the following days during his time in London.
(c) Meetings with other NGOs
The Alliance met with a number of charities and NGOs from the UK and abroad with similar objectives to discuss how we can support one another.
(d) Correspondence with the government officials and the media
The Alliance wrote to government officials in this country and abroad after a lawyer who had previously been subjected to a number of personal threats had his government-assigned
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security protection removed without warning. These letters were followed up with letters to the media in the UK.
The Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit.
5. Financial Review
The Alliance's income in this period was under £10,000.
The Alliance received donations in this period. Its expenditure in this period comprised bank charges for the operation of its current account. Its operating costs in this period were paid by a trustee.
The Alliance holds sufficient funds to cover its operational expenses (such as its website, bank charges, corporate office provider and payment processing services). It does not have any funds in deficit.
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6. Charity Accounts
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1,169
1,169
Kelwin Nicholls 28/04/25
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7. Trustee Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees' report. Signes on behalf of the Trustees:
Full name: Sir Peter Roth Position: Chair Date: 28/04/2025 Signature: Full name: Dominic Grieve KC, PC Position: President Date: 28/04/2025 Signature:
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