How the President of the Madrid Bar Challenged the Legal World to Defend Democracy

[{"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "There are moments at UIA congresses when the atmosphere shifts. When routine ceremony gives way to something more urgent, more electric. That is what happened in Guadalajara last October, when Eugenio Ribón, President of the Madrid Bar began to speak at the session organized by the International Bar Leader’s Senate.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "His tone was courteous, his words measured, but the message that followed was unmistakably forceful: the rule of law is in danger, and Bars can no longer afford to be polite spectators.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "The room, filled with attendees and leaders of Bar associations from around the world, leaned in.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "Ribón did not begin by warning of chaos or political turmoil. He began, rather, by reminding his colleagues of their shared identity: lawyers, officers of justice, custodians of the democratic promise. And yet, he noted, this identity is under pressure wherever the borders of political interference blur, and wherever societies grow accustomed to attacks on judicial independence as if they were just another headline in an unstable world.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "“Judicial independence is not a privilege of the judiciary. It is a guarantee for citizens”, he noted. This idea carried weight. It reframed the defense of the rule of law not as a technical or institutional debate, but as a profoundly human one. If courts are weakened, so are people. If the legal profession stays silent, the vulnerable lose their voice.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "From there, Ribón walked the audience through the concrete steps the Madrid Bar (ICAM) has taken. Examples not of symbolism, but of action. He recalled the Declaration of 9 November 2023, issued unanimously by ICAM’s Governing Board in response to political tensions in Spain. The Declaration rejected the casual use of the term lawfare, cautioned against parliamentary inquiries into judicial decisions, and reaffirmed core democratic principles: separation of powers, constitutional legality, independence of the judiciary, and respect for European treaties.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "It was the kind of institutional courage, he hinted, that must become standard practice, not an exception.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "He then turned to ICAM’s work beyond Spain: contributions to the EU Rule of Law Report; an amicus curiae brief before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a case involving Guatemala asserting that democracy itself is a human right; and the creation of Sociedad Civil y Estado de Derecho, a public forum in Madrid designed to bring jurists, academics, journalists, and citizens together in a shared civic conversation.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "The message behind these examples was clear: defending the rule of law is not a ceremonial mission. Rather, it requires presence, knowledge, technical involvement, and the willingness to speak when it is least convenient.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "And yet, Ribón did not conclude with a warning. He concluded with a challenge and a vision. He proposed that Bars around the world form international observatories to detect threats to judicial independence; that they insist on participating in legislative reforms; and that they invest in legal civic education because, he noted, “only an informed society can defend its freedom.”", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "His final words echoed long after the applause: democracy, he said, does not usually die by violence. It dies slowly, through apathy and indifference.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "In Guadalajara, there was neither apathy nor indifference. There was a sense that the legal profession had been reminded of its deepest purpose.", "type": "text"}]}, {"type": "paragraph", "children": [{"text": "Eugenio Ribón did more than deliver a speech. He issued a call. And the future of the rule of law may well depend on how loudly the rest of us choose to answer.", "type": "text"}]}]