The World Jurist Association (WJA) held its World Law Congress last Tuesday and Wednesday in Madrid, with a follow-up event yesterday in the Malaga Bar Association, where the General Assembly of the WJA elected as its new executive, starting with the new president of the organisation, the Spanish lawyer Javier Cremades, taking over from Franklin Hoet Linares.
Cremades explained the three key policies he would implement during his term: “Firstly is the mandate of the founders; there are only two ways, the use of force or the use of law. If the law does not prevail, the fastest, the strongest, even the most intelligent may rule, but equality can never be attained if we do not submit to the law.”
Secondly, he promised to fight tirelessly to point out and denounce centres of tyranny in the world, such as the regime of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela or the different lives of the people of North and South Korea.
And finally, he will keep looking to the future, to the changes facing society which will need the objective and legal view of lawyers, such as transhumanism.
Francisco Javier Lara, Dean of the Malaga Bar Association, was elected President of the World Association of Lawyers, a section of the WJA which represents lawyers, succeeding his fellow Spaniard Jacinto Soler Padró; and the World Association of Judges re-elected its President, the Nigerian magistrate Peter Umeadi, for another two years.
The Spaniard Jesús Becerra took over from the Venezuelan Alberto Jurado Salazar at the head of the World Association of Law Professors.
And the German Sven Kolhmaier replaced his compatriot Alexander Löw in the Association of Business Associates.
During the session, the new global President of the WJA, Javier Cremades, presented awards and recognitions to such outstanding figures as Francisco de la Torre, the Mayor of Malaga; José Ramón Navarro, President of the Spanish High Court; Francisco Javier Lara, Dean of the Malaga Bar Association; Franklin Hoet-Linares, the outgoing global president of the association; Albert Rivera, leader of Ciudadanos; and Manuel Aragón, Director of the World Law Congress.
Also Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission (2010-2014); Rafael Catalá, ex-Justice Minister; Juan José Hinojosa, Dean of the School of Law at Malaga University; Victoria Ortega, President of the General Council of Spanish Lawyers; Julio Ariza, Chairman of Grupo Intereconomía; Tamara Suju, lawyer and specialist in Hispano-Venezuelan human rights; Francisco Salado, President of Malaga Provincial Government; Antonio Pulido, Chairman of Cajasol; Juan Oló, Justice Ministers of Equatorial Guinea; José Luis Sánchez Domínguez, Chairman of Sando; Federico Beltrán, Chairman of Famadesa; Luis Martí Mingarro, former Dean of the Madrid Bar Association; María Eugènia Gay, Dean of the Barcelona Bar Association; the jurist Baltasar Garzón; and the journalist Juan Luis Cebrián, among others.
The event concluded with a round table debating ‘Current challenges to the Rule of Law around the world’, moderated by Lara, with the participation of Ángel Juanes, Vice-President of the Supreme Court; Manuel Aragón, ex-magistrate of the Constitutional Court; Rainer Arnold, Chair of Public Law at the University of Regensburg (Germany); Milton Ray Guevara, President of the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic; and Camilo Rubiano Becerra, Colombian lawyer and writer.
