The FBE notes that lawyers are repressed in many countries for representing clients who are unpopular with the state. We call for respect for the right to exercise the legal profesión without stigmatisation and respect for the United Nations Principles for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.

The FBE in its Congress in Malaga, entitled the Future of the Legal Profession, calls upon those states where women and girls do not have equal rights to education, access to employment in the professions, in particular as judges and lawyers, to recognise the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to take steps to enable the progression of girls and women among those countries, including, Afghanistan, but not excluding others.