YLBHI were set to continue the role of SEAPIL Secretariat in 2023 in an acclamation by all the SEAPIL Focal Points in the SEAPIL Convening in Cebu, November 30, 2023. This decision was made due to the capability of YLBHI to strengthen and build SEAPIL as a lawyers network in Southeast Asia, through all the SEAPIL’s participation in several international conferences managed by YLBHI.
The Convening was held in Cebu alongside with the Asia Pro Bono Conference (APBC) happening in the next following days. Muhamad Isnur, YLBHI chairperson, gave opening remarks in the first session of the convening. All the focal points discussed a series of potential issues by differentiating it in two factors, internal and external factors. By having three hours of sessions led by Febio Nesta (Focal Point from Indonesia) and Melissa (Focal Point from Malaysia), SEAPIL concluded several factors to strengthen the network internally and regionally. By the end of the convening, YLBHI introduced seapil.net, a new website that can be used to gather international attention and communication for all the SEAPIL members and network.
The following days, December 1-3, 2023, YLBHI and other SEAPIL members participated in Asia Pro Bono Conference, a series of pro bono workshops and plenary sessions. YLBHI involved in two different pro bono workshops represented by Meila in a session called “Public interest lawyering at the regional level: Knowledge sharing and network-building” and Pratiwi in “Legal Empowerment and Pro Bono Synergy: Overcoming and Closing Access to Justice Gaps for Grassroots and Marginalised Communities” session. Both workshops were attended by at least 30 participants of APBC. A lot of international participants are in awe of YLBHI’s works on a national basis. It is safe to say that YLBHI gave a lot of inspiration on how to give legal aid and working pro bono in the human rights field.
These two sevents were meant to bring together our national concerns internationally to gain more attention and networks to help us pursue the dynamics of working pro bono on a national scale.
