The French National Bar Council (CNB) joins the Council of European Bars and Law Societies (CCBE) and all European and International bodies representing the legal profession in denouncing in the strongest possible terms the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and expressing its full solidarity with the lawyers and more generally with the population living in Ukraine.

The CNB strongly recalls: it is indeed extremely urgent that an operational mechanism be put in place within the European Union to allow the evacuation and reception of displaced persons but also of lawyers and human rights defenders who are particularly exposed to reprisals. It is lawyers and human rights defenders who have promoted the values of democracy and the rule of law, with which we identify. It is in this capacity that they are now threatened.

The CNB has contacted the Ukrainian Bar Association and the Bars of neighbouring countries to offer its full support and assistance to the displaced populations and the lawyers who are helping them.

The CNB Statement on the situation in Ukraine can be found at:

• Ukr version
• Eng version