South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in Law, SAARCLAW, is an association of the legal communities of the SAARC countries comprising judges, lawyers, academicians, law teachers, public officers and a host of other law-related persons, duly registered with the SAARC Secretariat at Kathmandu and awarded the status of a Regional Apex Body of SAARC. It owes its origin to the desire of the members of the legal community to establish an association within the SAARC region to disseminate information and to promote an understanding of the concerns and developments of the region.
SAARCLAW was established in Colombo on 24th October 1991, when the then President of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Mr. Ranasinghe Premadasa inaugurated the Association in the presence of a large gathering including 175 members of the legal community like judges, legal practitioners and academics of the SAARC. In the ensuing twenty-six years, affiliate Country Chapters have been established in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and activities of the Organisation have also taken place in the Republic of Maldives. A permanent Regional Secretariat as has been established in Kathmandu, Nepal on January 2016.
SAARCLAW has persistently worked towards the achievement of its objectives of bringing together the legal communities within the region for closer co-operation; development of better understanding; promotion of exchange of ideas and dissemination of information; and to use and develop law as a source and an instrument towards social change for development as well as for building co-operation among the people of the region.
