South Africa was represented at the Commonwealth Law Ministers meeting by Andries Nel, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.
The meeting was held in Sydney, Australia from 11 to 14 July 2011 and was attended by Law Ministers and Attorney-Generals from 44 countries.
The theme of the meeting was, “Fostering a just and secure commonwealth.”
Ministers recognised that the effective administration of justice required not only an independent judiciary of high competence but also an efficient court system.
In order to assist countries in achieving this, Ministers mandated the Commonwealth Secretariat to establish an online “clearing house” which would co-ordinate information as to what judicial development assistance programmes were available and also to develop a framework for better co-ordination of international judicial development assistance.
One of the highlights of the meeting was witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HE Judge Sang-Hyun Song, President of the International Criminal Court and the HE Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.
In this regard Ministers approved a revised draft model law for dissemination to Commonwealth member states to assist in drafting legislation to domesticate the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The meeting discussed and resolved on a range of issues affecting member countries, including:
- Climate change and its impact on security and survival
- The independence and integrity of magistrates
- Conventional weapons and international humanitarian law
- Forced or servile marriages
- International civil legal co-operation
- Cybercrime
- Mutual legal assistance in criminal matters
- Strategies to combat corruption
- Victims of crime
- Legislative drafting
- International child abduction.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development will be interacting with role players in the executive, legislature, and judiciary as well as the legal profession and civil society to share information and convey the outcomes of this meeting.
The complete text of the Final Communiqué is linked here and can also be found at Common Wealth Ministers Meeting 2011 website.
Enquiries:
Chester Mpane
Cell: 082 370 9532
E-mail: pmpane@justice.gov.za
Source: Department of Justice
