Chad has about 12 million inhabitants…and 135 practising lawyers, almost all based in the capital, N’Djamena. Fortunately, they are not the only ones defending people’s rights: supervised and trained by national organisations and by ASF, paralegals provide legal aid services to the most destitute. Make a donation: help us to improve the working conditions of paralegals and ensure the quality of the services they provide.

Last Sunday, ASF took part in this year’s biggest sporting event in the Belgian capital: the 39th Brussels 20 km race. In mixed cloud and sunshine, nearly 40,000 people, including the 24 members of our team, started off from the esplanade in the Parc du Cinquantenaire. The event raised €4,212 for victims of domestic violence and communities struggling for access to land and for the protection of the natural environment in Indonesia.

On 27 May 2018, ASF will be on the starting line of the Brussels 20 km. Want to combine sporting achievement and solidarity with people seeking justice in Indonesia? Join our team! We will spoil you before, during, and after the race.

This week, Francesca Boniotti, Executive Director of Avocats Sans Frontières for nearly ten years (on the right in the photo), comes to the end of her mandate within our organisation and leaves to embark on new professional and personal adventures. She is succeeded by our long-time colleague, Chantal van Cutsem.

For nearly twenty years, personnel of the Court of Justice of the European Union have been gathering every year for a big quiz night, the proceeds from which are donated to charities. ASF is one of four organisations to benefit from this year’s quiz, making this the thirteenth time that we have been able to count on their support!

On 14 May 1992, a group of solicitors and barristers created Avocats Sans Frontières with the aim of “defending human rights in all countries around the world”. Twenty-five years on, our ideal of ensuring access to justice for all remains very much alive. Our organisation has gained strength from its experiences through the years, its capacity for innovation, the unswerving enthusiasm of its teams and the support of its partners, who have sent us their birthday wishes in video. To discover these films, visit our website and follow us on social media throughout 2017.

Excellent news: ASF has just been granted significant funding for five years by the Belgian DGD (Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid). This aid will be used for projects supporting justice in five countries: Burundi, Indonesia, Morocco, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This also represents ASF’s first project in Indonesia.

ASF was recently given a donation of €10,000 by the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA). This donation attests to the now well-established links between the NGO which advocates for human rights and the international association for young lawyers and legal professionals.

At the end of December 2016, we challenged you with this question: “What about you? What will you do to promote human rights in 2017?” Many of you responded, for example by making a donation to Avocats Sans Frontières. But also by sending us your encouragement and your messages. We would like to share some of these with you.

If access to justice is to be sustainable, the capacity of international actors such as ASF should also be sustainable. In essence that is the message from ASF Executive Director, Francesca Boniotti, on the occasion of the publication of the NGO’s 2015 Annual Report.