HUMAN RIGHTS LAW SERVICE (HURILAWS)

HURILAWS started in 1997 as a specialist provider of human rights legal services. Today, HURILAWS is also a public policy think-tank and pressure group working in partnership with multi-sector development and change actors to promote accountable and transparent governance in Nigeria. In particular, HURILAWS is the driver of the Multi-Sector Law Group (MSLG), which is a multi-disciplinary network of civil society actors and organizations for democratic change in Nigeria, chaired by Olisa Agbakoba, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and founder of HURILAWS. HURILAWS is able to draw on the skills of a wide range of specialists in law, public and economic policy, among its staff of sixteen people and associates. HURILAWS is an independent, non-profit service, dedicated to providing public interest and human rights law services to advance the legal protection of human rights. HURILAWS assists victims, lawyers, judges and NGOs in the preparation of cases before the courts; conducts workshops and seminars on reforming the administration of justice; publishes ‘The HURILAWS NEWSLETTER’ to ensure that developments in human rights law and practice are widely disseminated; utilizes regional and international human rights treaty mechanisms to establish judicial norms. HURILAWS has working relations with the Episcopal Commission for Justice, Development & Peace Commission of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria and the Inter-African Network for Human Rights & Development (AFRONET). HURILAWS holds Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.