CfP: African Judges Preventing and Responding to Political Attacks Workshop

African Judges Preventing and Responding to Political Attacks

An informal workshop organised by the Centre forGovernance and Democracy (QMUL) and the African Judiciaries Research Network(AJRN)

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Date: Wednesday 26th February 2025.

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Time: 10am-4pm (UK time).

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Place: Queen Mary – University of London, Mile End,E1 4NS (and online).

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Political attacks on judges have long been a feature ofpolitics in sub-Saharan Africa. In recent years, however, they have becomeprominent in even more seeminglyconsolidated democracies with powerful andassertive judiciaries, such as Kenya and South Africa. The main aim of thisworkshop is not simply to criticise politicians for making these attacks.Instead it aims to 1) understand why these attacks have surfaced when and wherethey have, and 2) to ask how judges might therefore best prevent and respond tothem. Our answers to the second question will be enriched by listening toexperiences from across the continent, where the (in)formal norms governing howjudges should engage in public debate have differed enormously betweenjurisdictions.

Workshop presenters will not have to give formal papers.Instead, they should prepare an informal 5-10 minute presentation dealing withone country. This should outline why attacks on judges have emerged, how judgeshave responded, and (optionally) if attacks could have been better prevented ordealt with. At the end of theworkshop there will be time for collectivereflection on comparative lessons learned. If you are interested inparticipating in this workshop then please send a brief email to Peter Brett(p.brett@qmul.ac.uk) before November 15th.

This email should include 1) whether you would be interestedin presenting or simply participating; 2) if presenting, which country (orcountries) you would prefer to report on; 3) whether you would be presentingin-person or online; 4) if you would have a compelling need to present earlieror later in the day (e.g. because of your time zone, an unmovable work/teachingcommitment, or travel distance making it hard to reach East London for 10am);and 5) a very brief one-paragraph CV. Unfortunately, funding for this eventwill only cover catering but not accommodation or travel. Online participationwill be limited to presenters. Those hoping to simply participate in discussionwill therefore have to attend in-person. Space will, however, be limited, sopreference will, if need be, be given to those presenting.

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For any questions please write to Peter Brett:p.brett@qmul.ac.uk.

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