High Court judge re-elected ICJ commissioner
The international community continues spotting Malawian professionals competences with the latest being the re-election of High Court judge Charles Mkandawire as a commissioner for the Switzerland-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).
Judge Mkandawire has been re-elected to serve his third-term as ICJ commissioner until May 31 2024, after successfully serving his first-term, from 2009 to 2014, when he got re-elected for a second five-year term.
According to his appointment letter signed by the commission’s secretary general Saman Zia-Zarifi, dated July 10 2019, Mkandawire was re-elected following a ballot conducted between June and July 2019.
“The position of commissioner involves active participation in the programmes of work of the ICJ. Article 4 (2) of the ICJ Statute explains that commissioners are expected to work actively towards fulfilment of the aims and objectives of the commission and to assist in implementing its programmes,” reads the letter, in part.
During their tenure, commissioners are asked to make themselves available to participate in ICJ activities such as country missions or trial observations, representing ICJ at conferences and providing ICJ staff with expert advice and opinions in relation to their region and in their areas of thematic expertise.
Mkandawire was not available for comment when contacted, but registrar of the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal Agnes Patemba said the re-election demonstrated the contribution made by the country’s judiciary to the international jurisprudence.
The ICJ is an international human rights non-governmental organisation of 60 eminent jurists that include senior judges, attorneys and academics who work to develop national and international human rights standards through the law. It has national sections and affiliates in over 70 countries.
Other Malawian judicial officers who lead international bodies include the Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda, who heads the Southern African Chief Justice’s Forum (SACJF) and Patemba, who is in the executive board of Southern African Judicial Administrators Association (Sajaa).
