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:

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 Commonwealth Principles (Latimer House) on the Three Branches of Government distilled from the Latimer House Guidelines for the Commonwealth on Parliamentary Supremacy and Judicial Indepdence, 1998 which were a result of the Joint Colloquium on Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Independence of the Judiciary (a co-operative venture with the Commonwealth Legal Education Association, the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association) and the continued work in promoting the Principles throughout the Commonwealth in particular the Edinburgh Plan of Action for the Implementation and Development of the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles

• 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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Justice for the Next Generation The Promotion and Protection of Judicial Independence and A Colloquium on the Child and the Law (jointly with UNICEF) Triennial Conference held in Turks and Caicos, September/October 2009 The Magistrate in the Commonwealth An updated Training Manual - available on CD Rom and hardcopy Gender and Human Rights Toolkit available on CD Rom