Lauma Paegļkalna, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, represented Latvia at the 84th session of the General Assembly of the Institute for the Unification of Private International Law (UNIDROIT) in Rome, Italy.
The UNIDROIT General Assembly addressed a number of agenda items, including the election of the Republic of Paraguay as President of the General Assembly for 2024-2025, as well as an overview of the activities carried out in 2024. The Assembly also approved the draft budget for 2025, appointed the representatives of the Administrative Tribunal and reappointed the Auditor.
At the same time, Russia's membership of the organisation was repeatedly and strongly condemned by Latvia. Lauma Paegļkalna stressed that although UNIDROIT's task is to harmonise private law, referring to Russia as an example of best practice is unacceptable: "Democratic societies must distance themselves from the aggressor Russia, regardless of the content of the forum. Such references not only discredit the organisation and its objectives, but also undermine democratic values and the credibility of the international legal order. We must send a clear message that Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine and the related war crimes - civilians brutally killed, children kidnapped, infrastructure destroyed - cannot be ignored, because accepting their participation and yet praising their experience undermines confidence in the rule of law, the rule of law, the relevance of international organisations and inter-state cooperation. UNIDROIT must take the example of other organisations and isolate the aggressor state."
UNIDROIT is an independent intergovernmental organisation whose purpose is to study the needs and methods for modernising, harmonising and coordinating private and, in particular, commercial law among States and groups of States and to formulate common legal instruments, principles and rules to achieve these objectives.