ASEAN Judiciaries Must Be One Step Ahead - Malaysia's Senior Judge

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- ASEAN judiciaries must be one step ahead in order to bridge those gaps to keep abreast with international and regional human rights jurisprudence, says Malaysia's Court of Appeal President Md Raus Sharif. He said for the future, these judiciaries must anticipate, have foresight and be prepared to address them now, especially in today's world of technology. "It falls on judges, lawyers, jurists and academics, if there is insufficient legal knowledge or interpretative tools regarding our ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, we must find a way to draft, publish and disseminate ASEAN's shared understanding of the rights therein," he added. He was making his closing statement at the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission of Human Rights (AICHR) Judicial Colloquium On The Sharing of Good Practices Regarding International Human Rights held at a hotel here Wednesday. Md Raus said the rapid integration that is being undertaken by ASEAN through the implementation of its economic, political-security and Dosis-cultural Community Blueprint provided both challenges and opportunities for ASEAN judiciaries to advance the rule of law and apply international human rights norms in one's daily work. The Court of Appeal president was also mindful that ASEAN judiciaries played a key role in preparing their domestic legal and judicial sectors to meet the requirements of an increasingly complex ASEAN legal framework. He envisaged the AICHR would assist ASEAN judiciaries to enhance their roles in the protection of human rights through legal consistency and institutional accountability, and narrow the development and capacity gap among the judiciaries. More than 100 participants, including senior judges from the highest judicial branches of ASEAN member states attended the three-day programme which ended Wednesday. --BERNAMA