Recognized for Excellence in International Human Rights Pro Bono

We are pleased to share that the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice has recognized Eversheds Sutherland at its fifth annual Celebration of International Pro Bono Excellence for its contribution to a human rights, environmental and dignity rights project in Haiti.
  
In conjunction with the Vance Center, Eversheds Sutherland attorneys Meriam Al-Rashid, Daniel Morris, Rikki Stern, Andrea Gordon, and Amanda Oliveira represented Dignity Rights International (DRI) and the Sakala Children’s Center by assessing how to protect and advance the rights of children in one of the poorest districts in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 

The team provided legal assistance to assess whether the conditions of the Sakala Center constitute violations of children’s rights to a healthy environment, life, dignity and any other rights that must be protected under the Inter-American Human Rights System and/or other international instruments. Our attorneys further provided a roadmap for strategic advocacy within the Inter-American Human Rights System to help address all violations of human rights and a life of dignity for the children and the community at large. 

The lawyers in Haiti are evaluating how to bring an environmental and human rights impact lawsuit in the Haitian judicial system with the aim of securing relief and/or satisfying the requirements of the exhaustion doctrine.
 
This project exemplifies Eversheds Sutherland’s values and longstanding commitment to pro bono work.   

About the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice
The Vance Center co-manages the Pro Bono Network of the Americas with Fundación Pro Bono Chile and supports the Alliance for Marriage in the Americas.

The Vance Center is a member of the International Coalition on the Responsibility to Protect, the International Legal Assistance Consortium, and the Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and we have consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

The Vance Center is proudly named after Cyrus R. Vance – former U.S. Secretary of State, New York City Bar Association President, and prominent private lawyer – who exemplified ironclad commitment to fundamental rights through collaborative problem solving and the ethical imperative of pro bono practice.