On the 8th to 11th of September 2016, Green Advocates International hosted the West African Mini-People’s Forum and Public Interest Lawyering Conference in Monrovia, Liberia. The Event was organized by the Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa in collaboration between Advocates for Community Alternatives, Green Advocates International, the Center for Public Interest Law, and the Mano River Union Civil Society Natural Resources Rights and Governance Platform with sponsorship by The Open Society Institute for West Africa (OSIWA) and the Fund for Global Human Rights.
The initiative of the inaugural coordinated meeting is dedicated to ensuring that communities in West Africa have the support they need to resist the destructive impacts of an externally imposed model of development that privileges extraction of resources over sustainable and self-driven livelihoods.
Some of the topical areas discussed at the forum included: Class/ group actions in Public Interest; Traditional authorities and public interest litigation; ECOWAS litigation strategy and the State duty to protect and appearance at the ECOWAS court of justice.
