Since 1990, the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) has delivered legal and justice reform and capacity building projects in 29 countries across Asia, Africa, Central Europe and the Caribbean. The CBA is committed to the values of an independent legal profession, an independent judiciary, the rule of law and the dignity of the individual and knows that access to justice is essential to all of these values. Our commitment to working collaboratively has allowed us to develop particularly close relationships with overseas partners.

The current strategic priorities of the CBA’s International Development program are:

• Access to justice through legal aid programs and legal outreach;
• Supporting rights advocacy and policy reform, with particular focus on rights of women, children and vulnerable minorities;
• Improving the administration of justice;
• Developing the capacity of legal institutions;
• Strengthening the legal profession;
• Fostering institutional collaboration nationally and internationally.

Building on our Canadian experience, the expertise of our membership and our institutional linkages, in Canada and overseas, we have taken an integrated approach to legal and justice reform. Our programs have been developed and delivered with the Bar, the Bench and the ministries of justice in Eastern Europe, Southern Africa, East Africa and Asia.

We have undertaken programs that include institutional capacity building, professional skills and substantive law training, law reform, constitution building, access to justice and the administration of justice. Our programs are structured with local partners, most often bar associations and legal advocacy groups, and are responsive to their needs.

Read more about the International Development Program.