By Francis Ameyibor
Algiers (Algeria), Nov. 22, GNA – African Judges and Legal Experts participating in the ongoing Sixth African Union Judicial Dialogue have scrutinised the role and significance of regional and international human rights jurisprudence.
The panellists included Professor Nsongurua Udombana, Human Rights Institute, National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria, who delivered a paper on “Challenges faced by domestic courts in integrating human rights jurisprudence,” and the section was moderated by Honourable Remy Ngoy Lumbu, Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights.
Other panellists were the Chief Justice of the Gambia, Justice Hassan B. Jallow; a Judge of the Supreme Court of Mozambique, Justice Henrique Carlos Xavier Cossa; a representative of the Judiciary of Algeria; and Prof. Ubena John Agatho from the High Court of Tanzania.
The team of experts also shared their experiences and lessons learnt from domestic courts that have successfully integrated human rights jurisprudence.
The various legal experts during a panel discussion identified and analysed the challenges encountered by domestic courts in integrating regional and international human rights jurisprudence.
The team of experts also examined specific obstacles such as the lack of awareness among judges and legal practitioners, difficulties in harmonising domestic laws with international obligations, and ensuring consistent application of human rights principles.
Prof. Udombana, in deserting the issues, stressed that given the high judicial offices that judges occupy in their respective domains, charge them to remember the principle of graduated responsibility as articulated in a divine source of law: ‘From everyone to whom much is given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.
He, therefore, charged Chief Judges and Judges to use their best skills and judgement to fit human rights law to the new challenges evolving societies leave at the doorsteps of your courthouses.
“You should promote judicial comity by opening your minds to new approaches. Africa cannot be different from other countries on this matter. Human rights law can only advance individual freedom if its jurisprudence is a dialogue rather than a monologue.
“Although you should necessarily take the history and changing conditions of your communities as points of departure, you must not stop there. You should pay attention to legal developments in the rest of the world, mindful that ‘other legal systems continue to innovate, to experiment, and to find new solutions to the new legal problems that arise each day, from which we can learn and benefit,” he said.
Prof. Udombana also tasked judges and lawyers to keep in step with international legal and judicial developments to enhance justice deliveries at the local level, stressing that “poor justice systems cannot deliver justice to the poor”.
The Sixth Judicial Dialogue is on the theme “Advancing Justice and Human Rights in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Integrating Regional and International Human Rights Jurisprudence in Domestic Courts.”
The Judicial Dialogue seeks to provide a platform for judges of national and regional courts and other stakeholders to deliberate on the challenges and opportunities related to integrating regional and international human rights jurisprudence into domestic courts in Africa.
It is being attended by representatives from national Supreme and Constitutional Courts from across the continent, Presidents and judges of regional and sub-regional courts, representatives of the African Union, lawyers and researchers, and representatives of human rights institutions.
The African Court is collaborating with the African Union, the European Union, GIZ, the United Nations, and the Government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria for the dialogue.
GNA