Lexis®Library update: The statement has been published on behalf of the four professional bodies of barristers and advocates of the UK and Ireland. The Bar Council states that the imposition of sanctions on lawyers for providing a legal opinion contravenes the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and that the naming of a barristers’ chambers within the sanctions is a further indiscriminate attack on legal professionals, which is inconsistent with respect for the rule of law.
The statement follows the retaliatory sanctions against the UK on 26 March 2021 after the UK sanctioned China for 'gross human rights violations' against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang. In late January 2021, four members of Essex Court Chambers had written a legal opinion, which was later published publicly, on legal issues arising from the alleged human rights violations. See further: China retaliates by sanctioning UK, barristers chamber.
In its statement, the Bar Council calls on the PRC government to review the sanctions, which are ‘a threat to the global legal community’. It also calls on other Bar associations to condemn the imposition of these sanctions.
Source: Statement of the Four Bars on PRC Government sanctions against barristers
This content was first published by LNB News / Lexis®Library, a LexisNexis® company, on 27 April 2021 and is published with permission. Further information can be found at: www.lexisnexis.co.uk.
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