Asean judiciaries urged to stay in tune with the times

KUALA LUMPUR: Asean judiciaries must keep up with international and regional human rights jurisprudence so there is no injustice, said Malaysian Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif.

“The law develops slower than society, especially in today’s technology. Any gaps risk injustice.”

He said this yesterday at the closing of the three-day Judicial Colloquium on the Sharing of Good Practices Regarding International Human Rights Law.

The event was organised by the Asean Intergovernmental Com­mission on Human Rights (AICHR).

More than 100 chief justices and senior judges of the region and Malaysia, representatives of various Asean bodies and civil society organisations attended the colloquium.

“In order to bridge those gaps, Asean judiciaries must stay one step ahead,” said Md Raus.

“It falls on judges, lawyers, jurists and academics to keep ourselves abreast of international and regional human rights jurisprudence.”

He commended AICHR for facilitating interaction between Asean human rights stakeholders, enabling a sharing of good practices and unlocking opportunities for cooperation and collaboration.

“We must create a regional judicial and legal cooperation mechanism to advance the full realisation of the peoples’ human rights in Asean,” he said, adding that such a mechanism would be in line with the grouping’s objective for a people-oriented, people-centred and rules-based Asean Community.

He welcomed the recommendation of the participants to “concretise a regional judicial cooperation framework”, saying it would assist Asean judiciaries in enhancing their roles in the protection of human rights.

Among the other recommendations agreed on yesterday to be forwarded to AICHR were:

> Capacity building programmes;

> Developing common approaches and positions;

> Compile a regional reference guide in respect of the Asean Human Rights Declaration, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and

> Strengthen the provision of legal aid in the region.