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Mambilima urges judiciary to enhance adjudicators’ capabilities

Mambilima urges judiciary to enhance adjudicators’ capabilities
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Wed 09 June 2010, 08:10 CAT

DEPUTY Chief Justice Irene Mambilima has said the judiciary must continually enhance the capabilities, knowledge and skills of its adjudicators at all levels through training if it has to dispense quality and timely justice.

Officiating at the workshop on justice, jurisprudence, access and accountability in Zambia (JJAAZ) programme conducted for professional magistrates under the jurisprudence of equality programme (JEP) at Mukuba Hotel in Ndola yesterday, justice Mambilima said it was incumbent upon the judiciary to provide adjudicators with the skills and training they need to effectively deal with international treaties at the domestics levels especially those to which Zambia is a signatory.

“Because of the growing realisations that adjudicators need to be able to adequately apply human rights laws in their courts, it has been felt that judges of the Supreme courts, High courts and Industrial Relations Court and more magistrates need to be under the JEP,” she said.

“I have often stated that training and continued education are necessary to maintain efficient and informed adjudicators, and I wish to take this opportunity to reiterate those words. Times are changing and adjudicators in Zambia are working in an environment in which there is increasing public scrutiny of the quality of our work and the furtherance of human rights in our courts of law.”

Justice Mambilima said society expected skilled and informed adjudicators committed to equal justice and the rule of law.

“JEP training focuses on human rights, with emphasis on women and children’s rights, but its stated goal is access to justice for all. The ultimate objective of this programme is to equip adjudicators with the knowledge and skills required to resolve cases involving discrimination and or violence against women, in accordance with principals enshrined in international and regional human rights legal instruments,” she said.

She said in Zambia, JEP had a special focus on victims of property grabbing and gender violence who in most cases were women and children.

Justice Mambilima said the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) and the Zambia Association of Women judges both held the principle of the guarantee of women’s rights very dear.

“Adjudicators must while adhering to international legal principles also be equipped to deal with matters contextually, as what may be best practiced in one jurisdiction may not necessarily be appropriate in a Zambian setting,” she said.

“This is where it becomes crucial for adjudicators, as final arbiters on the contents and value of human rights, to be armed with the relevant knowledge and skills to enable them to effectively interpret these rights for the benefit of litigants appearing before them. Let me also borrow a frequently-used phrase in legal parlance namely that there is no substitute for quality.”

Justice Mambilima also said the Zambia Association of Women Judges and the judiciary were becoming increasingly concerned that attempts to curb defilement cases and despicable offences seem to be yielding little fruits.

“We simply cannot afford to deprive the children of Zambia of a happy and safe childhood. Human beings were not designed like beasts and should behave as such. It is my fervent prayer, hope and expectation that adjudicators in this country use their knowledge, skills and jurisdiction to get rid our society of this evil, unacceptable and positively wicked practice,” she said.

Justice Mambilima noted with sadness both as an adjudicator and a woman that Zambia still seemed not to be faring well on the question of women and children suffering various forms of violence.

Labels: IRENE MAMBILIMA, JUDICIARY

posted by MrK @ 2:35 PM