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ABOUT THE CMJA
Background
The Association was founded in 1970 as the Commonwealth
Magistrates' Association and the current name was adopted in 1988. The
Association is registered as a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom.
It is a Company Limited by Guarantee and not having a Share Capital.
The Association has a staff of two:
Dr Karen Brewer - Secretary General
Ms Temitayo Akinwotu- Executive Administrator
The Association is governed by a General
Assembly of its Members which meets not less frequently than every
fourth year.
It has been the normal practice of the
Association for the General Assembly of Members to be held during the
week of the Triennial Conference. There is an elected Council upon which
sit three representatives from each of six regions:
- Caribbean
- East, Central and Southern Africa
- West Africa
- Indian Ocean
- Atlantic and Mediterranean
- Pacific Ocean
plus the President, the Executive Vice-President,
the Treasurer.
The
Council also includes Life Vice Presidents and the Immediate Past
President. The Council meets at least once a year.
The CMJA also has a Director of Programmes,
a full time judge, who provides voluntary assistance to organise the CMJA's
educational programme. Our current Director of Programmes is District
Judge Shamim Qureshi (England and Wales)
The CMJA also has an Executive
Committee which meet four times a year.
Recent Achievements [back to top]
- The CMJA has been the repository of the Codes
of Conduct/Ethics of judiciaries around the Commonwealth since 1998.
Fighting Corruption in the Judiciary is a priority area and the Association
has been promoting the Limassol
Conclusions agreed in 2002.
- The re-launch of the Judicial
Education Programme under the auspices of a Director of Studies
in 1999; The CMJA has organised training courses, seminars, workshops
and Conferences to assist in the development and maintenance of good
standards in the judiciary, human rights, judicial independence and
the fight against corruption.
- The establishment of CMJA's Gender
Section and the subsequent involvement of the Association in four
Regional Judicial Colloquia on Women's Rights in conjunction with the
Gender and Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, held
in Zimbabwe (1994), the UN Women's Conference in Beijing (1995), Hong
Kong (1996) and Guyana (1996); and the Gender Section conferences held
in St Lucia (1999), the Bahamas (2000) and Barbados (2001); London (2002)
and Bermuda (2008)
- The contribution to the April 1996 Commonwealth
Law Ministers Meeting which established a new Ministerial Working Group
on the Independence of the Judiciary in the Commonwealth and to the
subsequent Commonwealth Law Ministers Meetings and the continued liaison
with the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth
Secretariat;
- The Victoria
Falls Proclamation 1994 approved by
the General Assembly of the CMJA reaffirming the principles of the Independence
of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law as a reaffirmation of Members'
commitment to the objectives of the Association;
- The participation, as a accredited Commonwealth
Association in the activities surrounding the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting in New Zealand, 1995 and Scotland, 1997, Durban 1999;
Abuja 2003; Malta 2005.
- The granting of Royal Patronage to the CMJA
by Her Majesty The Queen, Head of the Commonwealth.
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