Meeting Concludes on Anticorruption and the Judiciary

Addis Ababa, 22 November 2007 (ECA) – Experts meeting under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on judiciary’s effectiveness in combating corruption, concluded their deliberations with a 20-point set of practical recommendations aimed at enhancing the role of the judiciary and anticorruption agencies in combating corruption more efficiently at national, subregional and regional levels.

The meeting agreed that fighting corruption in the judiciary should be seen within an overall campaign for good governance at the country level and that for the judiciary to be effective in combating corruption, “the institution itself must be free from corruption”.

Participants noted that the chronic problem of backlog creates opportunities for corruption and impedes conclusion of cases. African governments were urged to set up corruption and economic crime divisions to speed up cases. Such divisions, they said, “would remove opportunities for malpractice in corrupt individuals.”

The meeting also recommended that professional ethics and code of conduct courses should be taught in law schools and faculties to address issues such as conflict of interest and bribery in the judiciary that confound the legal profession. It was also felt that continuing legal education and a structured system of earning points to maintain professional credibility should be put in place. Kenya was cited as good practice in this regard.

Participants said that in order to increase public awareness of court procedures, and demystify the judiciary in the purview of the public, “Open Days,” such as practiced in Kenya and Tanzania are needed. In the same vein, it was agreed that judicial processes and outcomes of cases should be made open through the media and through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) interfaces. As a case in point, Nigeria is using ICT applications, such as the “Fast track courts systems” to both manage cases and to make judgments available online to the public within three months.

Participants also urged state parties that have not yet ratified the African Union Convention on Corruption and Related Offences and the UN Convention on Anticorruption should do so as soon as possible.

In her concluding remarks, Justice Eusebia Nicholas Munuo from Tanzania told the participants that implementing the recommendations is the responsibility of each and every one and poignantly added, “the fight against corruption is a process, not an event.”

As part of the discussions, the participants reviewed an ECA background paper on the same theme that is scheduled for publishing in the coming months.

The final version of the recommendations will be issued in due course. Contact ecainfo@uneca.org or go to www.uneca.org/gpad/ for updates.

:: Meeting Documents