The adoption of Common Drafting Recommendations is a strategic condition to enable the utilisation of the potential of ICTs in disseminating information and in granting access without the barriers of time or space.
Developing Africa-wide shared standards for legal drafting will not only contribute the accessibility and understandability of laws in Africa, and facilitate integration and harmonisation of legislation in the African context, but will also allow the relevant role-players to exploit the immense potential of ICTs in the legal domain.
Following the indications that emerged from the Conference in Abuja, the Workshop is aimed at finalising the African Drafting Recommendations by bringing together the best experts in legislative drafting from the three main African legislative traditions (English, French and Portuguese) in the spirit or safeguarding the differences while promoting harmonisation. These experts will be supported by specialists from European Parliaments and universities to discuss in detail the draft guidelines presented in Abuja and to make final recommendations.
The two-day workshop will be followed by a one-day meeting of the Editorial Board to finalise the African Drafting Recommendations (based on the recommendations of the Workshop). The Recommendations will then be made available online for a further revision by the participants of the Workshop before being finalised and delivered to the Pan African Parliament for a follow-up and possible adoption.
Another objective of the Workshop is to set up a permanent working group that will not only support the dissemination of the Recommendations and the related training activities, but also to manage the evolution of the Recommendations and develop new guidelines for related domains.
an initative of United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)