Published on 18/11/2024
President of the East African Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Nestor Kayobera, alongside other Court judges, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Legal Information Institute (AfricanLII), part of the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town and Laws.Africa NPO, based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Representing AfricanLII at the signing was Ms. Mariya Badeva, Project Lead and Africa Director.
The MOU formalizes the collaboration between EACJ, AfricanLII and Laws. Africa in advancing he digitization and dissemination of EACJ Jurisprudence and enhancing accessibility and promoting transparency within the legal community.
Realising their mutual interest and in pursuit of their common agenda and respective missions, the three parties agreed to collaborate on projects designed to:
- disseminate widely the publicly available documentation of the EACJ.
- assist with the digitization and publication of court jurisprudence on the EACJ website, on the AfricanLII regional platform, and other LII websites in Africa.
- provide electronic legal research training to EACJ judges and staff; and
- facilitate regular consultations to define other projects in support of the common mission and in the interest of Africans.
The EACJ President, Hon. Justice Nestor Kayobera in commending AfricanLII for agreeing to collaborate with the EACJ in this project, emphasized the significance of this collaboration by highlighting that open access of the Court’s jurisprudence is a key driver for access to justice and as such the drive to digitize the EACJ’s jurisprudence will enable judges from the court and other jurisdictions, lawyers, legal scholars and other interested parties easily access information on the Court.
Ms. Mariya Badeva, AfricanLII Project Lead and Africa Director, in briefing the Judges on the work of AfricanLII in the continent and the region, emphasized the organization’s mission to make legal information accessible to the public.
She noted that AfricanLII has historically maintained strong partnerships with national and regional judiciaries. She further shared that EACJ is the second regional court to establish such a collaboration, after the COMESA Court. Ms. Bedeva expressed gratitude to EACJ for agreeing to this partnership, which she believes will significantly enhance the dissemination and accessibility of EACJ judgments and other critical legal information.
Principal Judge Hon. Justice Yohane Masara expressed his appreciation for AfricanLII, noting his positive experience with their collaboration with the Judiciary of Tanzania. He expressed optimism that EACJ would greatly benefit from this new partnership.
In attendance were all Judges of the Appellate and First Instance Division, the Ag. Registrar and the Court Administrator.
