COMESA Court of Justice holds publicity seminar
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, July 27, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — A publicity seminar on Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Court of Justice, under the theme “ensuring economic integration by bringing justice to common market” held on 26-27 July 2011, at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The publicity seminar was opened in the presence of Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC); Hon. Judge Mr. Justice Nzamba Kitonga, president of the COMESA Court of Justice; and Mr. Tegene Getaneh, Chief Justice , Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia.
The publicity seminar was organized by the COMESA Court of Justice in collaboration with the AU. It was held within the framework of raising awareness about the operations of COMESA Court of Justice from the legal and economic perspectives.The seminar was aimed at discussing ensuring economic integration by bringing justice to the common market.
Mr. Mwencha said that COMESA and the African Union are bound together to support each other to build continental economic integration for Africa.
“The COMESA Court, in pursuit of its mandate under the COMESA treaty, is determined to offer economic justice by ensuring peaceful settlement of disputes among the member states and between the residents of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa”, the Deputy Chairperson recalled.
According to Mr. Sindiso Ngwenya, Secretary General of COMESA, the COMESA Court should fully assert its role as a primary stakeholder in the integration of the region and the continent at large; particularly, by encouraging member states to appropriately implement their obligations under the treaty and decisions. “We have adopted and implemented successful programs for trade facilitation, infrastructure, agriculture, and an array of trade-related complementary programs to consolidate the internal market” he said.
During the seminar, Mr. Nzamba Kitonga recalled that the COMESA court of Justice was created as a single chamber, but in 2003 the court was expanded. The court during the period of 17 years has dealt over 40 cases within COMESA member states, and the Ethio -Eritrea case is among others. “We must always bear in mind that peaceful conflict resolution mechanisms and arbitral system are not luxury. They are a guarantee to national, regional, continental and international stability”, he added.
Furthermore, the president, acknowledge that the court is mandated to deal with several types of disputes such as: Trade disputes between member states like unjustified trade barriers, tariffs, question of the origin of goods, counterfeit products and protectionist policies, trade disputes between individuals or corporations and states, among others.
Taking the floor Mr. Getaneh said the Ethiopian Judiciary would also be interested in the operations of the COMESA Court of Justice, in as much as the COMESA Court is a creature of a Supra National Treaty to which Ethiopia is a party.
In addition, the chief justice, underlined the need for transparency, as the COMESA Court of Justice is relatively new and young and also serves the population close half a billion, 19 sovereign states with multiplicity of legal and judicial system.
The two day publicity seminar of COMESA Court of Justice was successfully conducted with remarkable results, which aroused the interest of stakeholders. According to the organizers, “the blunt hope in the COMESA Court which was not very well known to its member states was resurrected after the deliberation of different presentations made by all resource persons; such as the judges from COMESA, AU officials and other experts”. The seminar also gave opportunity to improve and strengthen the awareness of stakeholders towards the operations of COMESA Court of Justice.
For further information please consult: www.africa-union.org and www.comesa.int
SOURCE
African Union Commission (AUC)
