Commonwealth Law Ministers to Hold Triennial Meeting in Australia

LONDON, July 4, 2011 -

Meeting provides a
periodic opportunity, every three years, for ministers and senior
officials to come together to stock take and look ahead

Law Ministers and Attorneys-General from the 54-member
Commonwealth will hold their triennial meeting in Sydney,
Australia, 11-14 July 2011, to discuss important legal issues
affecting Commonwealth citizens.

Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and Deputy Secretary-General
Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba will join host Attorney-General Robert
McClelland for the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting (CLMM 2011)
under the theme “Fostering a Just and Secure Commonwealth”.

“CLMM 2011 will be an excellent opportunity for law ministers
from across the Commonwealth to work together to advance a broad
range of initiatives aimed at achieving this year’s theme of
fostering a just and secure Commonwealth,” Mr McClelland,
Australia’s Attorney-General, said.

“There will be a special thematic session on cyber crime and
further discussion on the development of a Commonwealth plan of
action to combat human trafficking. Concrete solutions in these
areas really matter to Commonwealth citizens in order to foster a
just and secure Commonwealth for all,” said Mr Sharma said.

“The Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting is unique in the legal
calendar. It is the only high level event on the international
stage that facilitates information sharing, best practice and
collaboration among law ministers and Attorneys-General from both
developing and developed countries from every continent in the
world who share a common legal tradition,” Mr Sharma added.

Akbar Khan, Director of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat, offered more details on
the conference.

“We are talking about those global threats for which
collectively we need to find solutions. Today many of the legal
threats don’t have borders. We’re talking about human trafficking,
we’re talking about cyber crime, and we’re talking about forced
marriages,” Mr Khan said.

“These issues need to be dealt with on a collective basis and
ministers have that experience in providing the protection and
security and respect for human rights that need to come to bear to
decide these issues,” added Mr Khan.

A special feature of CLMM 2011 will be its focus also on youth,
marked with an event for young lawyers from the Pacific region to
promote youth mainstreaming within the Commonwealth and to discuss
the challenges they face in the legal profession.

Another special event will focus on access to justice for women,
under the Commonwealth’s theme for 2011, “Women as Agents of
Change”.

The women’s event will hear about the challenges that women in
the Commonwealth face in accessing their rights through judicial
mechanisms and legal systems.

The CLMM is the summit meeting of First Law Officers of the
Commonwealth and is held every three years.  This is the first
time Australia has hosted the meeting which will take place in
Sydney from 11 to 14 July 2011. The meeting is a precursor to the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth in October
2011.

To access further information regarding CLMM, go to href="www.clmm2011.org">www.clmm2011.org

For video sound bites of Akbar Khan, go to href="www.thecommonwealth.org">www.thecommonwealth.org

For media enquiries: Manoah Esipisu, Conference
Spokesperson, +44-789-446-2021 and href="mailto:m.esipisu@commonwealth.int">m.esipisu@commonwealth.int

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