Speaker - Pascal Paradis and Danielle Saada

February 15, 2011

Lawyers' Without Borders, Munk School of Global Affairs, IHRP and the University of Toronto Law and Development Society

Present:

Pascal Paradis
Executive Director, Lawyers Without Borders

Danielle Saada
Former Head of Justice Section with the UN in Haiti

who will speak about

The Rule of Law, Development and Human Rights in Haiti: One Year after the Earthquake

Danielle Saada is an academic, judge, and international consultant who holds a doctorate and several other degrees in law from the University of Paris II and the University of Urbino (Italy). She spent the early part of her career as a professor in Paris, Reims, and Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. After writing the magistrate licensing exams, she held numerous judicial appointments, including as a judge for the Court of Appeal of Guadeloupe.

Ms. Saada has also had a distinguished career as an international expert, including for the European Union and the United Nations. Much of Ms. Saada’s work has focused on Haiti, where she served as an advisor to the Ministry of Justice and to the director of the École de la Magistrature (Magistrates School) of Haiti. Over the past five years, she was head of the Justice Section with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in Port-au- Prince, where she was responsible for implementing law reform in Haiti.

Ms. Saada will be introduced by Pascal Paradis, Executive Director of LWBC

After completing his law degree from Université Laval in 1993, Mr. Paradis was called to the Quebec Bar in 1994. He practiced law in Quebecc from 1994-2004. In 1996, he received a master’s degree with honours in international law from the London School of Economics. Paradis was one of three founding members of the Quebec branch of Lawyers Without Borders (LWB), where he serves today as Executive Director. He participated in or managed numerous international cooperation programs, including in Haiti.

LWB (www.asfcanada.ca) is an international cooperation non-governmental organization registered as a charity in Canada. Its core mission is to help defend the human rights of the most vulnerable persons and groups by reinforcing access to justice and legal representation. LWB presently runs international cooperation programs in Colombia, Guatemala and Haiti. LWB has been active in Haiti since 2006. The objective of its present projRead moreect in this country is to provide legal services for the victims of the earthquake.