ECNL participated at the 2017 PILNet Pro Bono Forum session titled ‘Strengthening Civil Society to Campaign for Change’. The closing space for civil society means that campaigners are under increasing pressure to run campaigns for social change that are not only successful but are also run in compliance with the complex legal framework that affects campaigning activities. Through practice examples, ECNL together with the representatives of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Amnesty International, and Bates Wells Braithwaite Law Firm demonstrated the essential ways in which pro bono lawyers can empower campaigners to steer legal issues such as lobbying, defamation, public protests, social media and data protection. Petra Burai, legal advisor of ECNL emphasized that pro bono lawyers are key to strengthen CSOs by helping them to navigate in increasingly restrictive legal environments.
