Prepared Statement on Racism and Equality

Revised July 10, 2020 Pledge

Consistent with the stated purposes of the California Lawyers Association International Law and Immigration Section (CLA-ILS), the ILS Executive Committee solemnly proclaims and pledges to the ILS membership the following:

We condemn racism and intolerance in all its forms (implicit and explicit) and seek through our efforts to eliminate any form of them from involvement in ILS activities and from the international and transnational practice of the legal profession;

We seek to advance diversity and inclusion in the international and transnational legal profession and strive to cause equality and social justice in all actions and activities that we undertake;

We will vigilantly guard, support and seek to advance the understanding and development of the rule of law in the United States and abroad;

We commit to eliminating systemic racism and to advocate needed legal reforms through domestic and transnational legal professional structures and the judiciary involved.

Recognizing that the United States’ legal system and its observance of rule of law principles has long stood as a model for other countries and that the ability to influence others for reasons of national and international interests consistent with these principles greatly depends on its actions at home and the projections of them abroad, we solemnly affirm ILS’ fundamental commitment to diversity, inclusions, social justice, and the elimination of systemic racism recited above, and to advocate for needed reforms in the United States and other countries.