Consolidated African judicial system would foster trade - CJ

Daily Graphic (Spread) Sat. April 10/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The Chief Justice (CJ), Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, says a consolidated African judicial system would foster trade and ease legal barriers among countries.
"Co-operation and consolidation of the judicial system will in the long run harmonise the laws relating to commerce especially with respect to the oil and gas industry."
The Chief Justice said this at the opening of a two-day International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Accra.
The conference, which brought together representatives of ILAC from different countries, was on the theme: "Co-operation and mutual consolidation of African Judicial systems."
ILAC, set up in 2002, is a worldwide consortium of non-governmental organisations, providing technical and legal assistance to post-conflict countries.
It has more than 20 member organisations with three million representatives of judges, prosecutors, lawyers and academics from across the world.
ILAC has carried out assessment missions and initiated legal reform projects in Afghanistan, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine and Rwanda.
According to the CJ, consolidating African judicial systems would also lead to the integration and development of the continent and bridge the gaps between regional economic blocks.
She said the world had become a global village and with the advent of the Internet and video links, “collaboration and mutual consolidation of African judicial systems is not an impossibility".
This, she said, made harmonisation imperative, adding that “even if continental consolidation does not appear to be achievable within the shortest possible time, regional consolidation should not elude us”.
She gave an assurance that the government and people of Ghana were determined to make constitutional democracy with its core values of an independent judiciary, the rule of law, promotion of human rights and freedoms continue to flourish.
"With the institutional support of partners like ILAC, the Ghanaian judiciary is determined to play its role in the nation's constitutional development effectively."
The Chairman of ILAC, Mr Paul Haddinott, commended the country’s justice system, saying that it was a beacon on the continent.
The Sweden Consul General in Ghana, Mr Amarkai Amartefio, who chaired the opening of the AGM, called on the international community, especially stakeholders in peace, security and development, to support ILAC to achieve its noble objectives.
He also urged ILAC to work tirelessly with the same commitment and dedication to the implementation of some of the UN treaties as it aims at restoring civil order after strife and conflicts.
This, he said, could be made possible if members impressed upon their governments to adopt the rights of the child under the UN Treaty in domestic legislation, among others.
Mr Amartefio invited delegates to support the initiative of the World Federation of Consults to amend the Vienna Convention on Consular relations to remove the inequalities between honorary consults and career consults to facilitate the performance of their duties.