By Faustine Kapama-Judiciary, Dar es Salaam
The Deputy Chief Justice and Vice-President of Supreme People’s Court of China, Hon. Justice Yang Linping has called for enhanced cooperation between Judiciary of Tanzania and China on rule of law in environmental justice to protect the environment from more damages.
Justice Linping made such
a call when she visited the Chief Justice of Tanzania, Hon. Prof. Ibrahim Hamis
Juma in his office at the Court of Appeal building in Dar es Salaam today dated
November 1, 2023 to discuss various judicial issues and areas of cooperation
between the Judiciary of Tanzania and Judiciary of China.
‘There are need for us to
enhance our cooperation in rule of law in environmental justice between China
and Africa and between China and Tanzania because environmental justice is shared
region for all human kind,” she said.
Hon. Justice Linping pointed
out that China and Tanzania are already strategic cooperation partners, as President
Xi Jinping has a close relationship with the President of the United Republic
of Tanzania, Hon. Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan.
“China and Tanzania are
good friends and also Tanzania played very important role in global environmental
protection. I believe that we should also enhance our cooperation in justice especially
environmental justice between our judiciaries...
“We can share legal principles,
environmental principles and modal and typical environmental cases between our
countries for these areas. I understand that national policy is very important
system in your country to conserve nature and biodiversity,” she said.
Hon. Justice Linping pointed
out that the system in Tanzania is very well established and it has been there
since the founding of the country, thus China in that area would like to learn
more on Tanzania’s experience and also on any good cases, if any in terms of such
national policy.
“In China, we have some
good environmental cases to share with you as well so that we can learn from
each other the best practices. Because
we need to take preventive measures to protect the environment damages we need
to take the initiatives and act at court level,” she appealed.
The Deputy Chief Justice
and Vice-President of China Supreme Court disclosed a plan to invite the Chief
Justices of African countries to visit China and discuss judicial cooperation,
especially on environmental issues. She,
thus, seized such opportunity to invite the Chief Justice of Tanzania to visit
China next year.
On his part, the Chief Justice
of Tanzania told his guest that the area of environmental justice is covered by
so many pieces of legislations and most of the work of the court is to interpret
those laws and apart from courts, there are also some institutes which also enforce
environmental justice in Tanzania.
“For example, the Environmental
Management Act of 2002, the Wildlife Conservation Act, the Forestry Act, Marine
Parks and Reserves Act, Fisheries Act, among others. If you read all those laws,
you could note how they protect certain aspects of the environment,” he said.
Hon. Prof. Juma pointed
out some of the areas of cooperation between the Judiciary of China and Judiciary
of Tanzania, including the information communication technology and there were
also organizations within the judiciary where people to people could cooperate.
“I noted that you have Women
Judges Association of China, we also have Women Judges Association of Tanzania.
So, these are the areas where people to people can cooperate....
“In the area of
technology, China is far ahead of Tanzania and in some of our reforms we have
searched what China has done in areas of transcribing and translation to make
access to justice easier. So, this is another area where we have a lot to
cooperate,” the Chief Justice told his guests.
He thanked his guest for
coming to Tanzania and visiting the Judiciary of Tanzania, as they have covered
several areas which are very important, not only for the friendship of the two countries
but also cooperation between the judiciaries.
Other judicial officials
who accompanied Justice Linping in her visit were Chief Judge and President of
the Environment and Resources Division of the Supreme People’s Court of China,
Judge Liu Zhumei and Division Chief of International Cooperation Department,
the Supreme People’s Court of China, MS Li Wenwen.
The rest were Senior
Judge of the Environment and Resources Division of the Supreme People’s Court
of China, Judge Zhu Jing, Assistant Judge, the Environment and Resources
Division of the Supreme People’s Court of China Qiu Yanjun and General Office
of the Supreme People’s Court of China Huang Zheya.
In the same visit were also
Senior Programme Manager or Interpreter, ClientEarth Liu Mengxing and Lawyer of
Climate and Nature, ClientEarth Jiang Boya.
On part of the Judiciary
of Tanzania, judicial officials in attendance were Principal Judge of the High
Court of Tanzania, Hon. Mustapher Mohamed Siyani, Judge of the High Court of
Tanzania and Head of Delivery Unit, Hon. Dr. Angelo Rumisha and Chief Court
Administrator, Prof. Elisante Ole Gabriel.
Others were Acting Chief
Registrar and Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Sylvester Kainda, Director
of Case Management, Hon. Desdery Kamugisha, Director of Information and Communication
Technology, Mr. Kalege Enock, Personal Assistant to the Chief Justice, Hon. Venance
Mlingi and Personal Assistant to the Principal Judge, Hon. Idan Mwilapwa.
From right is the Principal Judge of the High Court of Tanzania, Hon. Mustapher Mohamed Siyani, Judge of the High Court of Tanzania and Head of Delivery Unit, Hon. Dr. Angelo Rumisha, Chief Court Administrator, Prof. Elisante Ole Gabriel and Acting Chief Registrar and Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Sylvester Kainda. Picture below is other judicial official from the Judiciary of Tanzania and China.
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