Golden Jubilee: delegates hear calls for initiatives in human rights and the judiciary

The chairperson of the Commonwealth this week challenged lawyers to 'shed the mantle of conservatism in order to join forces with the proponents of social transformation'.


Nigerian president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, chairperson-in-office of the Commonwealth, told the golden jubilee Commonwealth Law Conference in London that lawyers needed to help 'in fashioning the necessary legal mechanisms that would reflect the new thinking' that emerged from the report of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission for Africa, endorsed by the recent G8 summit.


He also called on the profession to join in calling on rich nations to lower tariffs and other barriers to the export of African goods, and to propose a more realistic approach to the issue of debt burden.


Chief Obasanjo asked: 'Are the legal regimes of interest rates imposed on borrowing nations compatible with the values of fairness and equity? Under the present regime, a country could borrow $12 billion, pay back $24 billion and still owe $15 billion due to interest rates.'


He also called on lawyers to address other issues. 'These include environmental sustainability, human rights - including social and economic rights - the rule of law, conflict resolution, the pandemic of HIV/AIDS, the consolidation of democracy, and economic development. As lawyers, you must build institutions, open international dialogues, and create laws that respond to our changing needs.'


His speech was delivered on his behalf by Nigeria's justice minister, Chief Bayo Ojo.


Commonwealth deputy secretary-general Florence Mugasha told delegates that the event was 'an occasion to project Commonwealth legal principles into the future in an increasingly complex and changing world'.


With the theme of the conference - 'Developing law and justice' - mirroring the agenda of the Commonwealth law ministers meeting in Ghana next month, she said: 'I hope that we will be able to feed some of the outcomes of this conference into the Accra meeting.'


Ms Mugasha said the Commonwealth secretariat would be seeking closer collaboration with partner organisations in developing initiatives in the areas of human rights, criminal law, family law and the judiciary.


Meanwhile, in a videotaped address to open the conference, Mr Blair said all branches of the legal profession have a vital part to play in realising the Commonwealth's goals of development, democracy and the rule of law.


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