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INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AND WORLD PEACE
Vision
1.The Association is devoted to the promotion of judicial independence and world peace by organizing conferences , conducting studies and research and by drafting and revising international standards of judicial independence .
2.The members of the Association developed under the framework of the International Bar Association a Code of Minimum Standards on Judicial independence and in 1982 the Code was approved in New Delhi. They also took part in the drafting of the Montréal Universal Declaration on the Independence of Justice in 1983.
These international standards were pioneering in formulating innovative concepts of judicial independence .
3.The works of the jurists participating in the drafting of the two sets of international Standards of New Delhi 1982 and Montreal 1983 were published in Professor Shimon Shetreet and Chief Justice Jules Descenes , Editors, JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE : THE CONTEMPORARY DEBATE ( Martinus Nijhoff 1985 ).
4.The members of Association were active in the research and study of human rights and presented Country reports and General Reports on Human Rights world peace and Judicial Independence in International professional and Academic conferences of significant International Organizations . By these studies and reports the members of the associations had significant impact on the thinking of the academic ,professional and judicial communities.
5. In 1986 the members of the association took part in 12th Congress of Comparative Law in Sydney - Melbourne) (1986),and presented General Report on human rights see Shetreet , “Limits and Promises of International Norms and Procedures for the Protection of Human Rights” in S. Goldstein (ed.), The Israeli Reports to the 12th Congress of Comparative Law (The General Report to the 12th Congress of Comparative Law in Sydney - Melbourne) (1986), pp. 1-103.
6.The members of the association took active part in the preparation of a major report on Judicial independence for the 1991 International Congress of the International Association of Procedural Law see Shetreet and “Independence and Responsibility of Judges and Lawyers: General Report to the 1991 International Congress of the World Association on Procedural Law in Role and Organization of Judges and Lawyers in Contemporary Societies”, Papers of the IXth World Conference on Procedural Law (Coimbra- Lisboan, Portugal, 1991 . Role and Organization of Judges and Lawyers in Contemporary Societies (9th World Conference on Procedural Law, Coimbra-Lisboa, September 1991)
7.The members of the association contributed to the study of the role of judges in Society in the 50th Anniversary of the International Association of Procedural Law in 2000 t the University o0f Ghent , focusing on The Discretionary Power of the Judge see Marcel Storme and Burckhardt Hess (eds.), DISCRETIONARY POWER OF THE JUDGE: LIMITS AND CONTROL (Procedure Gent 2000; Kluwer 2003), Report on “The Discretionary Power of the Judge” pp. 73-116. (On the occasion of the 500th Anniversary of the University of Gent).
8.Members of the Association have been active in the Culture of Peace project and in Religions for Peace Organization International ( RPO International ) and have organized numerous conferences all around the world including in Trento , Gaflei ,Rhodes, Aqaba, Aman, Casablanca .Culture of peace vision calls for strengthening peace by basing it on four foundations , security and political peace ,economic peace , cultural or fundamental values peace and religious peace ( see Peace Today: Reflections on Four Foundations of Culture of Peace 2005” in Prince Nikolaus Von und Zu Liechtenstein and Cheikh Gueye (eds.), Peace and Intercultural Dialogue (Universitaetverlag Winter Heidelberg and International Academy of Philosophy 2005), pp. 195-205.
9. Members of the association initiated the revision of the New Delhi Minimum standards of judicial independence 0f 1982 and began a series of conferences to develop the revised standards . The 2008 Mt Scopus international standards on judicial independence were approved in recognition of the need for the revision of the guidelines of general application to contribute to the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, with a view to ensuring the legitimacy and effectiveness of the judicial process;
10.In formulating the standards due regard has been given to the International Bar Association Minimum Standards on Judicial independence 1982 approved in New Delhi and the Montréal Universal Declaration on the Independence of Justice 1983 and other international standards such as UN Basic Principles of Judicial Independence 1985 and the long series of sets of other international rules and standards relating to judicial independence and the right to a fair trial; and The Burgh House Principles of Judicial Independence in International Law (for the international judiciary
11.The Standards were drafted bearing in mind the special challenges facing the judiciary in view of the challenges and problems in both the national and international spheres.
12.The maintaining of judicial independence is essential for democracy liberty human rights and world peace and international investments
An updated comprehensive revision of minimum standards for judicial independence is called for in order to give appropriate response to the developments and challenges regarding the position of courts and judges in contemporary society. This revision is important to enable the judiciary to play a role in the adequate protection of human rights and in the operation of an efficient and fair market economy with a human face in the era of globalisation.
13. The standards give due consideration particularly to the fact that that each jurisdiction and legal tradition has its own characteristics that must be recognised .It is also recognized that in the international judiciary each court or tribunal has its unique features and functions and that in certain instances judges serve on a part-time basis or as ad hoc or ad litem judges.
The International Project on Judicial Independence
14.The International Project on Judicial Independence began over 30 years ago, when under the framework of the International Bar Association, The Code Of Minimum Standard of Judicial Independence was drafted between 1979 and 1982, in Berlin, Lisbon, Jerusalem and final approval in New Delhi in 1982. Later the group took part in the conference on The Independence of Justice in Montreal in 1983, and in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of the Independence of Justice. In 1985, the works on the project were published in Shimon Shetreet and Jules Deschenes, Judicial Independence: The Contemporary Debate (1985 Martinus Nijhoff).
15. The International Project of Judicial Independence has conducted major international conferences around the world, and developed the Mount Scopus International Standards of Judicial Independence. The works of the International Project of Judicial Independence have been published in Shimon Shetreet and Christopher Forsyth, Culture of Judicial Independence: Conceptual Foundations and Practical Challenge (2012, Martinus Nijhoff).
16.The international conferences have been held all around the world as follows: Hebrew University of Jerusalem (March 2007), Vaduz (December 2007), Jagelonjan University, Krakow Poland (November 2008), Jerusalem March 2008 ,University of Cambridge (August 2009), University of Utah, Salt Lake City (October 2010), University of Vienna (May 2011), City University of Hong Kong (March 2012,and at the University of Ghent, in Ghent Belgium, (October 2012), The next conferences are scheduled at the University of San Diego,
San Diego California, USA (August 2013) and in Moscow in cooperation with the Russian Academy of justice .
17. The International project of the judicial independence had a significant impact on securing judicial independence and adding new dimensions on the concept of the independence of the judiciary as a central foundation of democracy, liberty and freedom. Judicial independence is also central foundation of culture of peace, rule of law and law of peace.
Among other contributions the project introduced the new concepts of institutional independence of the judiciary, the concept of internal independence, the concept of fair reflection of society or the concept of judicial diversity.
18. Through the persistent and continuous work of the group leading the International Project of Judicial Independence, the project made a significant contribution for world peace.
19.The works of the project has been relied upon by academics and by supreme courts all around the world in support of protecting judicial independence of individual judges and judiciaries as a whole. Numerous such cases were handed down in Canada, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, England, Fiji, Australia, South Africa and Other countries.
20. As mentioned , the second volume containing the works of the International Project of Judicial Independence was published in 2012 in Professor Shimon Shetreet and Professor Christopher Forsyth , Editors, CULTURE OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE ; CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS AND PRACTICAL CHALLENGE ( Martinus Nijhoff 2012 ) . A third Volume is under preparation entitled CULTURE OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE: RULE OF LAW AND WORLD PEACE ( to be published in 2013 )
B Aims of the association:
1. To promote the principle of judicial independence as a central foundation democracy and peace domestic and international
2. To strive to encourage and support the building of culture of Judicial independence
3. To draft international standards of judicial independence and to revise them from time to time, based on the work and deliberations of an International team of Jurists
4. To Conduct research projects on judicial independence and world peace
5. Promote the ideals of peace ,democracy, freedom and liberty by strengthening and maintaining judicial independence in all its aspects.
6. To help judges, judiciaries and jurists when they face threats or challenges to judicial independence
7. Conduct conferences on judicial independence
8. To initiate educational projects promoting judicial independence
9. To follow up challenges or threats to judicial independence or practices adversely affecting judicial independence
10. To support culture of peace in all its aspects