Judiciary meets on human rights and rule of law

THE crucial importance of the independence of the judiciary for a stable democracy was at the forefront with the opening of a gathering of Namibia’s Judges and Magistrates in Windhoek this week.

Magistrates and Judges from Namibia’s Magistrate’s Courts, High Court and Supreme Court have been attending a conference on human rights and the rule of law in Namibia in Windhoek from Wednesday. Opening the meeting, Chief Justice Peter Shivute told his fellow judicial officers: “It is generally accepted that in a democracy the rule of law and respect for human rights are essential components for a stable and democratic state..”As members of this branch of our State entrusted with the onerous task of being arbiters of disputes and interpreters of the law, we need to be constantly aware and be responsive to these important aspects of our constitutional democracy.”One of the first speakers at the conference, University of Namibia Law Faculty Professor San Amoo, told the gathering that an independent judiciary is essential to the proper administration of justice and the promotion of liberties.”An independent judiciary requires both that individual judges are independent in the exercise of their powers, and that the judiciary as a whole is independent, its sphere of authority protected from the influence, overt or insidious, of other government actors,” Amoo said.The task of an independent judiciary is not only to dispense justice according to law and to promote and maintain the rights of the individual against the onslaught of state power, though, but also includes the development of the law, Amoo said.Not only does the Constitution grant Namibia’s judiciary this independence, but in the last five years before the country’s Independence, the Namibian judiciary already exhibited courage through attempts to integrate human rights values in its judgements at a time that the judiciary was still restrained by its integration in the South African legal system, Amoo said.With the Constitution now the supreme law, Namibia’s judiciary has been provided the constitutional leverage to promote the principles of the rule of law and constitutionalism, and to protect and advance the fundamental rights of the individual, he said.Opening the meeting, Chief Justice Peter Shivute told his fellow judicial officers: “It is generally accepted that in a democracy the rule of law and respect for human rights are essential components for a stable and democratic state..”As members of this branch of our State entrusted with the onerous task of being arbiters of disputes and interpreters of the law, we need to be constantly aware and be responsive to these important aspects of our constitutional democracy.”One of the first speakers at the conference, University of Namibia Law Faculty Professor San Amoo, told the gathering that an independent judiciary is essential to the proper administration of justice and the promotion of liberties.”An independent judiciary requires both that individual judges are independent in the exercise of their powers, and that the judiciary as a whole is independent, its sphere of authority protected from the influence, overt or insidious, of other government actors,” Amoo said.The task of an independent judiciary is not only to dispense justice according to law and to promote and maintain the rights of the individual against the onslaught of state power, though, but also includes the development of the law, Amoo said.Not only does the Constitution grant Namibia’s judiciary this independence, but in the last five years before the country’s Independence, the Namibian judiciary already exhibited courage through attempts to integrate human rights values in its judgements at a time that the judiciary was still restrained by its integration in the South African legal system, Amoo said.With the Constitution now the supreme law, Namibia’s judiciary has been provided the constitutional leverage to promote the principles of the rule of law and constitutionalism, and to protect and advance the fundamental rights of the individual, he said.

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