PROTECTION INTERNATIONAL

Future-Proofing a Human Rights Organisation

When Belgium overhauled its Companies and Associations Code, Protection International needed its bylaws brought into compliance. Crowell & Moring stepped in pro bono, matched by Pro Publico.

The new Companies and Associations Code (CAC)

Every non-profit in Belgium faced the same quiet deadline. In 2019, Parliament adopted a new Companies and Associations Code (CAC) – the most significant overhaul of Belgian corporate and non-profit law in decades – and gave existing organisations until 2024 to bring their governing documents into line. For most associations, this meant a full legal review of their statutes: governance structures, board powers, member rights, and procedural rules that may have gone unexamined for years, if not decades.

For Protection International, an organisation whose entire mission depends on operational stability, the stakes of getting this right were higher than for most. Protection International supports human rights defenders around the world in developing security and protection strategies, and works as part of a wider network on the preventive protection of activists facing risk. An organisation doing that kind of work cannot afford ambiguity in its own governance – its statutes need to be sound, not just technically compliant.

Protection International had already drafted a revised version of its bylaws in-house. What it needed was legal review: an experienced corporate law team to check the draft against the new Code, flag gaps, and confirm the organisation’s governance structure would hold up in both French and English, the two languages in which the association operates. That’s where Pro Publico came in.

Finding the right match

Pro Publico exists to connect civil society organisations like Protection International with law firms willing to provide pro bono legal support. When Protection International submitted its request – legal review and, where necessary, amendment of its bylaws to comply with the new CAC – Pro Publico matched the case with Crowell & Moring’s Brussels office.

The team at Crowell & Moring, led by supervising partner Frederik Van Remoortel with responsible associate Camille Degrave running day-to-day work on the file, took on the review. Corporate governance work for a non-profit is a different exercise than for a company: the priorities are different, the stakes are less commercial and more institutional, and for an organisation like Protection International, the language and structure of the statutes needed to reflect the seriousness of its mission without compromising the operational flexibility the organisation needs to do its work safely and effectively.

Why this work matters

The new Companies and Associations Code isn’t just a bureaucratic formality. For associations across Belgium, it’s a genuine legal deadline with real consequences for non-compliance – including, in some cases, exposure for board members personally. For an organisation the size and international scope of Protection International, getting expert legal eyes on a bylaws revision isn’t a luxury; it’s part of responsible governance.

It’s also a good example of what pro bono legal support can look like beyond the more visible advocacy and litigation cases that often get attention. Compliance and governance work rarely makes headlines, but it’s foundational – the kind of unglamorous, essential legal support that lets a human rights organisation keep functioning without governance risk hanging over its operations.

A model for cross-border pro bono

This case is also a reflection of how Pro Publico works. Based in Brussels but pan-European in scope, Pro Publico connects civil society organisations – whether operating under Belgian, EU, or other European legal frameworks – with law firms across its network willing to contribute pro bono expertise. Crowell & Moring’s Brussels office is one of the firms in that network, and this case is a clear example of the kind of practical, governance-focused support that keeps civil society organisations operationally sound.

For Protection International, the revised bylaws mean one less source of legal risk in an operating environment that already carries enough uncertainty. For Crowell & Moring, it’s an opportunity to put deep corporate law expertise to work for an organisation whose mission – protecting the people who protect human rights – depends on exactly the kind of institutional stability that sound governance provides.

Pro Publico is grateful to Camille Degrave and Frederik Van Remoortel at Crowell & Moring for their work on this case, and to Protection International for trusting the process. Cases like this one are a reminder that pro bono legal support isn’t only about the dramatic cases – sometimes the most valuable contribution a law firm can make is the quiet, careful work of making sure an organisation’s foundations are legally sound.

 

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