“We’re also trying to get this technology into the hands of the people who need it most and help them access legal remedies,” Clooney said on the Rule of Law Forum.
MANILA, Philippines – International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney says technology is advancing much faster than law, but the Lebanese-British barrister believes these advances can be used for good.
“And I know the law enforcement agencies are also interested in digitizing some of the processes here. So it’s all kind of AI permanent,” Clooney said during his remarks.rule of law forumHeld on Friday, November 14th at the University of the Philippines College of Law, Bonifacio Global City.
Clooney shared that the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) and the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford launched the Oxford Institute of Technology and School of Law in October, a global initiative dedicated to the use of AI for justice.
“There’s something called the AI Justice Atlas, where we’re basically mapping out how AI is being used country by country in criminal trials, and then we’re going to move into civil trials.” Clooney also said, “…the AI Justice Atlas, we’re going to keep updating it. So if you click on a country, [the] The Philippines is joining the next batch, so we look forward to working with you all on this whole thing. ”
The international human rights lawyer is in Manila with her husband and CFJ co-founder George Clooney to headline Rappler’s Social Good Summit on Sunday, November 16th.
Clooney said he is also looking at how AI can be used in court and how to develop legal remedies to deal with cyber-attacks. She also said that through their initiative they are mapping the use of AI globally and will later issue recommendations on “how international standards on due process and fair trials need to be updated to take into account what is going on.”
“And we’re trying to get this technology into the hands of the people who need it most and help them access legal remedies. So that’s something I would love to explore,” Clooney added.
Clooney was also asked about his advocacy for lawyers for abused women around the world. In 2022, CFJ launched the Enforcing Justice for Women program, which provides “free legal assistance to protect women’s rights, including the right to be free from discrimination, child marriage, and violence.”
“The cases I’ve ever worked on for victims of ISIS were some of the toughest cases, but they should have been the easiest cases. And what I learned from them is that unless individuals prioritize justice, it just doesn’t happen. That’s why we call what we do justice justice,” she said.
She was also asked about what determines the success of a major case.
Clooney said the first step to justice is arresting the suspect, which has been an issue in several cases. International human rights lawyers also shared their struggles to protect witnesses in these critical cases.
“I kind of look at it the other way, but when someone goes to trial for a failed case, the biggest commonality is the testimony of the witnesses,” she said. Some of these incidents “included allegations of intimidation of witnesses.”
local context
The forum also featured a panel discussion with Free Legal Aid Group Chairman Theodore Teh and Ateneo Human Rights Center Executive Director Colleen Alcaina, who discussed the challenges in protecting civil liberties in the Philippines.
Teh said the country has seen how former President Rodrigo Duterte waged three wars on human rights: the war on drugs, the truth, and the war on women.
“These wars have no objective basis, but their effects are felt to this day,” the human rights lawyer said.
“I think this war (war on women) has weakened the framework of protection that the Bill of Rights actually guarantees and guarantees, and I think that combined with the other two wars has created a culture where people really don’t care,” Teh added.
Alcaina said it is important to ask whether the Constitution is consistent with the way Filipinos live their daily lives in the context of the rule of law and civil liberties.
“What does the Constitution look like at every stage of our lives as Filipinos? So when we send our children to school, do they know about the Constitution? For example, no one teaches the Constitution in our local language, especially the common people, the way they evaluate the Constitution,” said the director of the Ateneo Human Rights Center. – Rappler.com
