By Precious D. Freeman
The National Association of Trial Judges of Liberia (NATJL) says, beginning Monday, May 6, 2024, it will host for the first time, the Annual Rotational Meeting of the African Regional Group of the International Association of Judges (IAJ) in Monrovia.
Addressing the Press yesterday, the president of NATJL, Nancy Sammy, mentioned that delegates of the IAJ African Regional Group held in Bamako, Mali, unanimously selected Liberia as the venue for the 2024 IAJ meeting, under the theme: “The Judiciary in Contemporary Times: Dispensing Justice in The New Information Age”.
Judge Sammy emphasized that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh, is expected to deliver the keynote address at the meeting on the topic: “The Impact of the Media on the Public’s Perception of Justice in the New Information Age”.
She maintained that Professor PLO Lumumba of Kenya is among several African legal luminaries expected to deliver papers at the meeting, who will be speaking on the topic: Building Integrity through Positive Actions: A Means of Ensuring an Independent Judiciary.
According to her, IAJ is a professional, non-political international organization, and its key objective is to promote the rule of law, access to justice, independence of the judiciary, and the protection of human rights.
She added that the organization was founded in 1958 in Salzburg, Austria, and has its headquarters in Rome, Italy.
“The IAJ currently comprises 98 member countries and representative groups from five continents, with the African Regional Group comprising 20 countries, including Liberia. Liberia became member of the IAJ in November 2017, during the IAJ international conference held in Santiago, Chile,” she said.
Speaking further, NATJL president noted that international delegates expected at the five-day gathering are Judge Marcelle Kouassi, president of the African Regional Group of the International Association of Judges; Judge Giacomo Oberto, Secretary General of the IAJ; Justice Gertrude Arabia Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Ghana, and Justice Olivia Obeng Owusu.
Others are vice president, Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana, Justice Nicholas C. Brown- Marke; Acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone, Justice Jamesina King; Justice of the Appeals Court of Sierra Leone, Professor Patrick Lumumba, Lumumba and Lumumba advocate, and Hannibal Egbe Uwaifo, Esquire, president of the African Bar Association.
Meanwhile, NATJL expressed their appreciation to President Joseph Boakai, Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh, and Associate Justices, for their financial and moral support towards the scheduled meeting.
