Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Profession of Advocate open for signature

Thirteen member states of the Council of Europe have signed the Convention on the Protection of the Profession of Advocate, which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on March 12, 2025. Four more countries will do so today. Ukraine is not among them.

The solemn signing of the international document is taking place in Luxembourg on May 13-14 on the occasion of the meeting of the foreign ministers of the participating countries, according to the Council of Europe's official website.

The convention has already been signed by Andorra, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, and Sweden.

Belgium, Iceland, the Republic of Moldova, and the United Kingdom are expected to sign it today, May 14.

The text of the document in English can be downloaded at link. An unofficial translation into Ukrainian can be found here.

This is the first international treaty aimed at protecting the legal profession. The decision was a response to the growing number of reports of attacks on lawyers, including in the form of persecution, threats, physical attacks or interference in the exercise of their professional duties (e.g. creating obstacles to access to clients).

Advocates play a key role in ensuring the rule of law and access to justice for all, including in the defense of human rights. Public trust in the justice system therefore depends to a large extent on the role of advocates.

The Convention applies both to advocates themselves and to their professional associations, which play an important role in protecting the rights and interests of advocates.

Under the Convention, states are obliged to guarantee that lawyers can perform their professional duties without being subjected to physical attacks, threats, harassment, intimidation or unlawful interference or intervention. If such acts constitute a criminal offense, the parties must conduct effective investigations.

To enter into force, the document must be ratified by at least eight countries, six of which must be members of the Council of Europe. Compliance with the provisions of the Convention will be monitored by an expert group and a committee of the parties.

In 2020, the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) examined possible measures to ensure the protection of advocates. One of these was to be a new legal instrument based on Recommendation No. R (2000) 21 of the Committee of Ministers on the freedom to exercise the profession of lawyer, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. In order to implement these developments, a Committee of Experts on the Protection of Advocates (CJ-AV) was established within the CDCJ in 2022, comprising 15 experts from across Europe, including Ukraine. One of the drafters of the convention was Valentin Gvozdiy, the Vice President of the Ukrainian National Bar Association and the Bar Council of Ukraine, who was also elected Vice President of CJ-AV.