FIDH is pleased to announce that its member organisation in Ireland, FLAC, has recently released its 2013 Annual Report.
FLAC (Free legal advice centres) is an independent Law Centre and human rights organisation dedicated to the realisation of equal access to justice for all through the provision of legal advice & information, conducting legal analysis and carrying out advocacy work on the Irish, European and International legal framework.
With many people in Ireland still over-burdened by the last years of recession, the challenge to fight the corner of the most vulnerable people in society is at least as great as ever. In 2013, FLAC saw another year of productive work at the coalface of access to justice.
FLAC continued to highlight the need for core state systems to meet basic minimum human rights standards and people’s right to expect them even - perhaps especially - in recession.
In 2013, FLAC directly assisted more than 27,000 people with legal queries either over the phone or face-to-face in an advice centre. Thousands more accessed FLAC’s website to find legal information.
FLAC helped dozens of organisations fighting for social justice to get the assistance they needed to better accomplish that work, whether through litigation, advice and information, law reform research or legal education.
The law centre is particularly proud of the 40 new lawyers, 5 law firms and first ever in-house legal team signing up to PILA’s pro bono register, leading to a total of 175 individual lawyers and 16 law firms by the end of 2013. FLAC received an Irish Law Award recognition of their work in promoting law in the public interest and was heartened in December by the landmark legal intervention that would involve the International Commission of Jurists in their long-running transgender recognition case, Foy v An t-Ard Chláraitheoir & Ors.
You can read on FLAC’s work in 2013 and access FLAC’s 2013 Annual Report clicking here.