The Fourth Session of Arab Judicial and Inspection Leaders Concluded [Archives:2000/09/Law & Diplomacy]

Yasser M. Ahmed
Yemen Times

The Fourth Session of Arab Judicial and Inspection Leaders was inaugurated on February 16, 2000, at the Higher Judicial Institution in Sana’a. This session was organized by the Arab Center for Legal and Judicial Researches in the Arab League.
It was attended by the Prime Minister, Dr. Abdulkareem Al-Eryani, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and other thirteen delegations from different countries.
A number of papers were presented by those delegations and discussed by all the participants. They focussed on judgement and judicial inspection. In addition, they recommended a mechanism to discover the lacunae in judgement and put the appropriate judge in the right place. The session also discussed the way through which administration of justice can be more efficient. This session is one of the different activities launched by the Arab Ministers Board since its inception. This session is a valuable step towards exchanging points of view and recommendations in the field. The papers also focussed on giving independence to the judicial authority and separating it from other wings.
It was felt that judicial authority should be respected, and a judge must be independent. However, the papers focussed on the right choice of judge, giving priority to those who are competent. Some of the papers emphasized freedom of the press and how it should be separated from judiciary. At the same time, those papers concentrated on the inputs and how it is important to have strong and independent judgement.
The papers confirmed that judgement should be independent in order to be objective.
The session was concluded on February 23, 2000. It came up with different recommendations. One of those recommendations is appointing the 15th of February of the next year as the date for the 5th session at the venue could be any Arab country. All of the participants stressed the important of implementation of recommendations within the constitutional boundaries.
Regarding the independence of judgement and its effect on achieving justice, the participants recommended establishment of an independent judicial system. This can be achieved through protecting it from information media. They have to find the appropriate means through which they can meet the finances without depending on the executive. They also should take care of judges and give them enough salaries in order to avoid such negative phenomena.
The participants recommended development of a machinery for administration of justice through specialized institutions, and organizing training courses for those who are working in the judiciary. We should gain from the new information and telecommunications technology to utilize the same in judgement. Regarding the typical report of judgement, all participants were unanimous that they would hand in different samples of reports to the center.

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