Towards the establishment of an African Parliamentary Knowledge Network on ICT, legislation and documentation

Opening of the International Workshop

• Welcoming Address by Gherardo Casini, Executive Coordinator a.i. of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament
• Opening Speech and Official Opening of Workshop - Rt. Hon. Austin Opara, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Nigeria

Parliamentary Knowledge Networks: existing experiences and lessons learned

• Establishing a network for IT Managers from SADC Parliaments - Cecilia Matanga, ICT Manager SADC parliamentary forum.
• Towards the establishment of an African Parliamentary Knowledge Network on ICT, legislation and documentation - Dick F. Toornstra, Special Advisor for the promotion of democracy, European Parliament, and former co-Director of ECPRD
• Challenges & Opportunities of Legislative Informatics -James Greenwalt,  Director of informataion systems of the state of Minnesota and representative of the U.S.  National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)

The rationale behind a common approach for capacity-building

• Common approach for capacity building - Enayat Hamza School of government, University Western Cape, South Africa
• Common approach to capacity building in Africa - Dr. Ladi Hamalai  co-ordinator, Policy analysis and Research project, National Assembly of Nigeria 

The importance of a broader political and institutional framework

• Contribution by Hon. Geoffrey Q.M. Doidge, House Chairperson of the National Assembly of South Africa
• Contribution by Hon. Joseph Owona Kono, Member of the National Assembly of Cameroon

Is the scope right? Challenges for a true continental network

• Flavio Zeni, Chief Technical Advisor, UNDESA, Nairobi
• Giovanni Sartor, European University Institute, Law Department, Fiesole, Italy
• Monica Palmirani, Research Centre of History of Law, Philosophy and Sociology of Law and Computer Science and Law (CIRSFID), University of Bologna

The way ahead: ownership, support and sustainability

• The way ahead: Ownership, support & sustainability - Suzanne Vos MP  Pan African Parliament 

Conclusions

• Oluyemi Ogunyomi, Deputy Clerk, National Assembly of Nigeria
• Gherardo Casini, Executive Coordinator of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament

International Conference

African Legal Resources: Challenges and Opportunities of Legislative Informatics

21 March 2007

DAY ONE: Challenges and Opportunities

Welcome addresses

• Nasiru I. Arab, Clerk of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
• Welcome Address, John Mary Kauzya, Chief of Governance & Public Administration Branch UN/DESA

Opening speeches:

• Welcoming address - H. E. Fausto Bertinotti, President of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, represented by Mr. Nico Longo, Attache', Embassy of Italy to Nigeria
• Address by the President of the Pan African Parliament Dr. Gertrude  Mongella - represented Suzanne Vos Pan African Parliament
• Speech by Chief Ken Nnamani - President of the Senate of the National Assembly of Nigeria, represented by Senator Ben Obi

Keynote speeches:

• Access to Legislative Information:  Institutional Challenges and Opportunities - Bayo Ojo, San, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
• e-Revolution in Document Management: Opportunities and Challenges  - Suzanne Vos MP  Pan African Parliament

Official Opening

• Official opening Speech by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo - President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, represented by Minister of Justice and Attorney General Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN

Vote of Thanks

• Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Chairman LOC

Open Access to Legislation: rationale and issues

• Open Access to Legislation: Implication for Human Rights, Democracy and Development in Africa Hon. Geoff Doidge, MP, House Chairperson, Parliament of South Africa
• Legal Informatics and ICTs in the legislative process - Giovanni Sartor, European University Institute, Florence
• Legal Informatics for E-Governance - Abdul Paliwala Professor of Law, University of Warwick

Managing e-Documents: principles, standards and tools

• Legislative Documents: Emerging Standards for Legislation and Case Law - Tom van Engers Professor in Legal Knowledge Management, University of Amsterdam, faculty of Law Leibniz Center for Law, Netherlands
• AKOMA NTOSO (Architecture for Knowledge-Oriented Management of African Normative Texts using Open Standards and Ontologies) Fabio Vitali, Computer Science Department, University of Bologna, Italy
• Bungeni Norma-Africa : Management of Modificatory Provisions and Consolidation - Monica Palmirani CIRSFID – University of Bologna Italy

Experts and Stakeholders Panel : Common Legislative Standards & Guidelines: is the Africa Ready for the Challenge?

• Experiences with standardisation in Legal Informatics in Europe - Radboud Winkels, Associate Professor in Computer Science  Leibniz Center for Law Netherlands. 

DAY TWO: Meeting the Challenges and Harvesting the Opportunities

Africa: Bungeni Parliamentary and Legislative System

• BUNGENI: Parliamentary and Legislative System - Ashok Hariharan, Jean Jordaan, Flavio Zeni
• Bungeni: features and tools - UNDESA Development Team 

Africa: Guidelines for Better Legislation

• Challenges for co-ordinating law making and legislative drafting in africa - Abdul Funnah, Lecturer in Public Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa
• Legislative Drafting Guidelines: an initial critical overview - Christo Botha, Professor in Public Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Experts and Stakeholders Panel: ICT tools and services: is Africa ready to appreciate and exploit ICT unprecedented collaborating potentialities?

• Chairperson's Briefing: Dick Toornstra, Director/Special advisor on Democracy - European Parliament
• Keynote: Collaborative Open Source solutions for e-Government - Aminu Ibrahim, Coordinator, Nigeria ICT  Forum

A New Challenge: Standards for Judicial Precedents

• The Promotion of the Rule of Law in Africa: Open Standards and ICTs to support open access to the court system - Tererai Rector Mafukidze Co-ordinator, Southern African Judges Commission
• Precedents: Theoretical and Practical Foundations - Gladys Boss Shollei, Editor, Kenya Law Reports and Giovanni Sartor, European University Institute, Law Dept. Fiesole, Italy
• Common open Standards for “Precedents” - Mariya Badeva-Bright,  Southern Africa Legal Information InstituteMonica Palmirani, CIRSFID, University of Bologna, Italy.

Closing Statements

• Mr. Gherardo Casini, Executive Coordinator, Global Centre ICTP
• Closing Remarks, John Mary Kauzya, Chief of Governance & Public Administration Branch UN/DESA
• African Parliamentary Knowledge Network - Workshop Communique, Hon. Suzanne Vos, Pan African Parliament
• African Legal Resources: Abuja Declaration, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Deputy President of the Senate of Nigeria,