IOJT Sydney 2009
The Fourth International IOJT conference was held in Sydney on October 25-29, 2009.
It was hosted and beautifully organized by the National Judicial College of Australia (NJCA) and supported by the Federal Attorney-General of Australia, the Australian Overseas Aid Agency and the Lenfest Foundation (USA).
The conference brought together 215 participants from 48 countries. Under the title "Justice through Judicial Professional Development" 58 speakers from around the world delivered presentations and held workshops on a wide variety of interesting and important topics. The conference theme focused on two main topics: Educational Methodologies - dealing with the "how" and Managing the Work of a Judge – dealing with knowledge and skills required to carry out the judicial function in the best possible manner.
The first topic opened with a plenary session on "Developments in Judicial Education around the World" and delegates from China, France and Ghana reported about new reforms and transitions in their respective judicial institutes. Among the Issues dealt with within the first topic were initial training, training for longer serving judges, models for skills-based judicial education, distance learning and others.
The second topic included workshops on court and case management and how to teach it, judicial leadership, court technology and its impact on judicial ethics, online learning among countries, pan-continental legal training, evaluation of judicial education programs and more.
A special plenary session was devoted to the subject of enhancing judicial performance and innovative methods and experiences were presented by representatives from Australia, India and Brazil.
The full conference program, speeches, papers and photos are available through the links below.
The opening reception included greetings by IOJT President, Dr. Shlomo Levin, and welcome words by the Federal Attorney-General of Australia, Mr. Robert McClelland and by Chief Justice Wayne Martin, Chair of the National Judicial College of Australia.
Chief Justice Robert French, Chief Justice of Australia, was the keynote speaker at the opening session of the conference and was followed by a Chief Justices Panel on the subject "Judicial Training as a means to Strengthen Judicial Independence."
Three distinguished Chief Justices - Chief Justice Michael Black, Federal Court of Australia, Chief Justice Madhat al-Mahmood, Federal Supreme Court of Iraq, and Chief Justice Albert Palmer, High Court of Solomon Islands - shared with the participants their ideas and experiences on the subject and answered questions from the audience: The panel was chaired by Deputy-President of the Supreme Court of Israel, Justice Eliezer Rivlin.
Special appreciation and Honorary Awards were bestowed upon three IOJT founding members who recently retired from their active voluntary work in organization. IOJT President personally thanked Executive Committee members Senior Judge J. Clifford Wallace from the United States and Mr. George Thomson, former director of the Canadian National Judicial Institute and IOJT Regional Deputy-President for Asia and the Pacific, Justice (Ret.) Ameurfina A. Melencio Hererra from the Philippines, for their important contribution to the establishment and the development of the organization.
During the conference a meeting of delegates from African Countries was held and it was agreed to establish a "List Serve", or chat group, for all 53 African countries’ judicial educators. This will not only enable future communication and cooperation among African judicial educators but will also open possibilities for important projects in collaboration with IOJT experienced trainers and other international organizations. During the Sydney Conference, four African delegates were elected to serve on the IOJT Board of Governors (full list appears under the "about us" tab).
The social program included guided tours of the Taronga Zoo which is home to native Australian wildlife and of Sydney's most iconic building - the Sydney Opera House. The highlight of the social program was, no doubt, a unique Gala Dinner aboard the exquisite "Starship Sydney"; it combined dazzling views of Sydney Harbor with fine food and wine, in a warm and friendly atmosphere – and was a perfect closure to a very successful conference.
More photos of the Sydney Conference
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Conference Papers
Speakers
Conference Booklet
Conference Photos