A Human Rights Code of Conduct
For the past three years, I have been directing the Local Human Rights Lawyering Project at the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law. The Project aims to normalize international human rights law at the local level by incorporating the use of the international human rights framework into the everyday work of legal aid attorneys in the U.S. The Project has a goal of not only integrating human rights arguments into advocacy, but also using the human rights framework to create shifts in internal office systems and staff-client relationships at legal aid organizations. I want to share with you what our office has done to this end, as well as what Maryland Legal Aid, one of our Project Partners, has done.
In our initial discussions with legal aid offices about integrating human rights into office systems and the client-staff relationship, it became clear that there was a need to both articulate the specific human rights principles that could apply and clearly explain how they might apply in the legal aid context. We wanted to focus on simple, yet ambitious and aspirational principles, such as treating all people with respect and as an equal at all times. Moreover, we wanted the principles to apply to everyone involved in legal aid work: clients, attorneys, administrative staff, supervisors, interns, etc.—the legal aid office as a whole. In the end, it seemed that a draft code of conduct might be the best way to practically lay all of this out. Using a number of social work codes of ethics which integrate and/or reflect human rights principles as models, I drafted the following, which I called ‘Human Rights Principles for Legal Aid’:
1. Human Dignity
Treat all people with respect, not as a gesture of charity but as an act of justice. Respect the inherent worth of each individual, each family and their communities. Be patient, kind, and on time. Listen with empathy. Communicate with understanding and honesty. Keep private information private.
2. Participation and Self-Determination
Meaningfully involve clients in identifying problems, goals, planning and case strategy. Empower clients to tell their own story and advocate for themselves. Clearly and simply explain the law and process, clients’ rights, the role of Legal Aid, and the role of the client.
3. Equality
Respect all others as your equal. Recognize strength in diversity. Take responsibility for discrimination based on your own beliefs, including but not limited to discrimination based on mental health, sexual orientation, homelessness, education level, age, political opinion, culture, source of income, and place of origin. Work to end all discriminatory acts in your office, as well as in your community.
4. Solidarity
Foster teamwork among clients and staff. Constantly challenge the traditional power structure of the client-staff relationship. Recognize your strengths and your client’s strengths and invest those strengths in shared responsibilities. Stand with your clients and fellow staff members to fight poverty and expand rights for the most vulnerable.
5. Innovation
Pursue creative remedies towards shared goals. Litigation is only one option among many. Ask what more you can do to counsel, educate, and advocate for your clients and their communities. Encourage your client to use other tools including community education, organizing, legislation and civic participation. Consider using international and regional mechanisms such as special rapporteurs, United Nations treaty-body monitoring committees and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
While discussing these draft principles with my colleagues, our Advisory Board, and our legal aid project partners, it became clear that thinking about human rights principles and office behavior could shift dramatically during the course of the conversation. For example, in one conversation I had, an advocate went from thinking that there was no reason to include the principle of human dignity because it was too obvious, to seeing that principle as the key part of the whole document. It seemed that involving staff members in the process of discussing the human rights principles and being involved in drafting the written code might be just as important as the final product.
In 2012, Maryland Legal Aid decided to draft their own human rights code and dedicated their yearly all-staff human rights training day to the process. During that training, staff from each office broke into small groups and went through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to pull out key human rights and language that they thought were most important to the conduct of Maryland Legal Aid staff towards clients. An organization-wide subcommittee was later formed which compiled all of the notes from the all-staff training and eventually developed the Maryland Legal Aid Guiding Principles for Staff-Client Relationships. That document was also shared with clients for input, and once it was finalized, it was turned into a poster that now hangs in Maryland Legal Aid offices across the state.
Last year, the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law also developed a human rights code that guides our interactions and work. The Center is much smaller than Maryland Legal Aid and our staff members are all very familiar with human rights framework on the whole. Therefore, we were able to sit down together and in a single afternoon we put together a draft, which we then reviewed with students, faculty and colleagues at American University Washington College of Law. We finalized our guiding human rights principles document late last year and it is now posted in our offices and on our website. We also periodically review the principles at staff meetings and when we face big decisions regarding staffing or outside conflicts. For us, this process underlined the fact that we should not only advocate for the application and expansion of human rights law, but also practice applying human rights principles to daily decision-making and interpersonal relationships, to truly be a human rights attorney.
I am sharing this with you all because I think this has been a great exercise for us and for Maryland Legal Aid. This could be a great process for students, as well as other offices. For more information on the human rights principles above and a comparison of the human principles to the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, please see Section 3.6 of our Human Rights in the U.S. Handbook for Legal Aid Attorneys.