ADVOCATES AFRICA 2005

Uncovering the Blueprint
“The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver,
the Lord is our King; it is He that will save us.”  Isaiah 33:22

The Sixth Advocates Africa Convocation of Christian Lawyers took place inSouth Africa at the Eskom Conference Centrein Midrand, Gauteng from 12 to 16 October 2005. Delegates from 21 African countries including representation from the UK, USA, France and Guernsey attended this strategic continental meeting. This included lawyers, judicial officers (judges and magistrates), advocates; government officials, missionaries and law students, all of whom are involved in matters relating to the executive, judicial and legislative arms of government, in both the private and public sectors. We also had representatives from human rights organisations and other NGO’s attend as well as members of Advocates International, the global network of Christian lawyers and parent body of Advocates Africa.

Hosted by the Christian Lawyers Association (CLA) of South Africa, conference papers included

Topics:

• Governance – The Rule of Law and Ethics
• Constitutional Development – Societal Values and Mores in Constitutional Law
• Religious Freedom: Defending Human Rights – The Challenge to Disarm Secularism
• Corruption: Perspectives on Judicial Independence and Whistleblowing
• Economic Justice – Key to Political Security
• The Priority of Legal Aid for the Poor

Workshops: 

The programme included three one-hour workshops on:

• Intellectual Property Law: Trademarks and Copyright
• Immigration and Citizenship Rights
• Electronic Media in Legal Practice

Speakers:  

A number of distinguished international academics and legal professionals were amongst those who addressed the conference. These included:

• Justice Thomas Masuku – Justice of the High Court of Botswana
• Iain Benson – Executive Director, Centre for Cultural Renewal, Canada
• Dr Uduak Ben-Udofia – Principal Partner, Restoration Consultants
• Hazel Shelton Gumede – Director, Opus Dei Advisory Services
• Prof Tina Uys – Dept Sociology, University of Johannesburg
• Dr Bankole Sodipo – President, Advocates Africa
• Rufus Malatji – Vice-Chairperson, Christian Lawyers Association
• Reagan Demas – Director Operations for Africa, International Justice Mission
• Kevin Wakeford – Chief Executive Officer, Eastern Cape Development Corporation

Full details of the programme and guest speakers have been published on the websites of Advocates International and Christian Lawyers Association. See http://www.cla.org.za/ for pictures and details of the programme.

If you wish to order CDs and DVDs of the conference please send your request to:

Bayo Akinlade
Advocates International/ Advocates Africa
P O Box 4665
Pretoria 0001
South Africa
Telephone and Facsimile: +27-12-362-4864
Or Telephone: +27-12-362-0865  Facsimile: +27-12-362-0866
Email: africa@advocatesinternational.org or Denise Woods  cla@motcon.co.za

BACKGROUND

The Christian Church is possibly the largest single network in civil society that has the potential to positively, and effectively influence the destiny of the nations of Africa. It is a fact that in many parts of the world the Church has contributed significantly to nation-building through constructive programs that mobilise and empower civil society. Many legal professionals are committed to local churches in their nations. They are thus ideally positioned to engage with people at grass-roots level (e.g. to provide legal education and training on issues of democracy, human rights etc.), while at the same time they can participate in developing and influencing political and legal systems in both the public and private sectors. Therefore, Christian legal professionals could contribute substantially toward the realisation of the “African Century”, as defined by both the AU and NEPAD, by strengthening and developing African democracies through the legal profession. This possibility has been recognised by the global network of Christian lawyers in other parts of the world and is key to the formulation of the African network.

In efforts to use this opportunity, Christian lawyers in Africa have come together to serve the nations of Africa. Hence, Advocates Africa has been formed as the regional network of Advocates International in Africa - a network of Christian lawyers, advocates, judicial officers and law students organised into national associations and located in the different African countries. These national organisations consist of local chapters and individual members.

The main objectives of the national, regional and continental networks in Africa is to:

• Engage the African Christian lawyers to serve and assist civil society groups with different aspects of constitutional development and democratic processes in their nations and regions.
• Inform, train and equip lawyers so that they can actively work for a more equitable and just society in their respective nations by “doing justice with compassion”, as they practice law.

The members of these national networks meet in their respective countries each year, and gather alternately every two years at regional and continental conferences. The continental meeting of Advocates Africa is hosted on a rotational basis in the four regions of the continent.

OBJECTIVES OF ADVOCATES AFRICA

The bi-annual conference of Advocates Africa is an essential meeting at which the national organisations gather to review and plan for the development of the continental network in order to strengthen their capacity to serve the people of Africa more effectively.

Members of the network are Christians who consider their professions to be a calling through which they are to serve humanity. The ethic and values they endeavour to apply are synonymous with a Biblical standard of law and justice. Members of the Advocates Africa network subscribe to the slogan of Advocates International: “Doing justice with compassion”, and are committed to serve individuals and their nations in line with the vision to build long-term sustainable democracies that will ensure civil liberties for all Africans.

The ongoing development of the continental network of Christian lawyers can make a significant contribution to the transformation of nations in Africa for the following reasons:

Legal Aid for the Poor and disenfranchised
On numerous occasions it has been effectively demonstrated that through the network it is possible to notify members of the plight and/or distress of individuals in need of legal aid, and raise help for them by contacting members of the network in the relevant country.  This is particularly so in Third World countries where systems are not adequately developed to readily serve the people with efficient judiciaries and courts, and thus give them access to justice.

Further development of the continental network with a view to providing legal aid for the poor and disenfranchised is therefore a primary goal of the Advocates Africa network of Christian lawyers.

Constitutional Development and Democratisation
Many African nations are currently working to build their nations into sustainable democracies. Strong civil society organisations are vital to this process in order to establish accountability and transparency that will ensure national stability. The networks of Christian lawyers can be used to equip civil society groups more adequately to play a part in the democratic processes in their countries.  These networks could also monitor elections and evaluate other processes that are vital to the stability and development of nations.  In Africa this contribution is important as the cultural and socio-economic conditions of most citizens are such that they are particularly vulnerable to the exploitation of unscrupulous politicians and governments.

Strong networks of qualified legal professionals who are committed to serve and strengthen their nations by equipping people to engage effectively in democratic processes could make a significant contribution to stabilise African nations.

Combating Corruption
The notorious state of the public administrations in African countries demands that Africa’s civilian population gets involved in fighting bribery and corruption. The network of Christian lawyers provide a civil society forum that can support and act on behalf of ‘whistleblowers’ that report illegal activities, which are otherwise covered up by corrupt officials.

Defence of Human Rights
The network is also positioned to make a very important contribution to monitoring and ensuring that human rights abuses are exposed and brought to book. In particular the violation of: citizens’ right to life; religious freedom; freedom of expression; the right to legal representation; freedom of movement, residence and security; freedom of association; political rights, etc..

These are some of the reasons that move individual members of the national organisations to support and participate in the initiatives to serve the people and nations of Africa in and through the legal profession.