Independence of the Judiciary Explored At Seminar

Commonwealth News and Information Service (London)

9 June 2011

press release

A Commonwealth seminar on upholding judicial independence and ethical standards for judges was held in Bamenda, Cameroon, from 4 to 7 May.

The subject of the seminar was judicial independence, including the Commonwealth (Latimer House) Principles on the roles and relationship between the three branches of government: executive, parliament, and judiciary, and the protection of human rights. It was organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Legal & Constitutional Affairs Division in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Cameroon and the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association (CMJA).

The Commonwealth (Latimer House) Principles were developed in June 1998 by a group of parliamentarians, judges, lawyers and legal academics. In 2005, Commonwealth Heads of Government agreed that the principles should form an integral part of the association’s fundamental values.

Mark Guthrie, Legal Advisor with the Secretariat, said: “Participants at the seminar discussed institutional independence of the judiciary and how it might be upheld in practice. Judges need to be conscious of the need not just to do justice – but to do it in a transparent way.

“Strengthening the independence of the judiciary is always work-in-progress; nobody has all the right answers all the time. Therefore we must always be vigilant and strive constantly to ensure that robust independent judicial structures exist and justice is dispensed impartially.”

Topics discussed during the seminar included recognition of cultural, racial and religious diversity in society and performance of judicial duties without favour, bias or prejudice; situations that may require judges to disclose a potential conflict of interest to the parties and possibly remove themselves from proceedings; restrictions placed on personal lives of judges and judicial officers; and exemplifying judicial independence in individual and institutional aspects.

Mr Guthrie continued: “One of the things the seminar looked at was developing a code of conduct for the judiciary, in order to establish ethical standards that judges have to live up to.”

The seminar also assisted the participating judicial officers in identifying the most prudent courses of action when faced with ethical issues and increased their awareness about particular issues involved in being a judge and the pressures on the independence of the judiciary.

The speakers and facilitators present included former Chief Justice of Nigeria Muhammadu Uwais and Justice Francis Korbieh of the Appeal Court of Ghana, who presented their countries’ experiences of upholding the independence of the judiciary. The Cameroonian perspective was given by Justice Paul Evande Mwambo and Justice Mathias Epuli.

District Judge Shamim Qureshi of the Judiciary of England and Wales and Director of Programmes for the CMJA , who also led discussions at the seminar, said the participating judicial officers were greatly encouraged by the workshop to explore ways to strengthen judicial independence in their work.

The seminar also presented the judicial officials with a rare opportunity to come together, as Mr Guthrie explained: “Judges in remote areas of Cameroon may be hundreds of kilometres away from the next court. So seminars like this are important as they give judges the opportunity to come together and discuss experiences, share ideas and concerns, and make them realise that their challenges are not unique and that other judiciaries in other countries often have faced the same issues.”

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