Rome – Call it 'diplomacy of law'. Or if you prefer, jurists for development, synonymous with collaboration and exchanges that become opportunities. This is the perspective of a training initiative that will bring judges, state lawyers and legislative text writers from 19 African countries to Rome for three weeks from 17 June.
From June 19th at the headquarters in via Panisperna
The sessions are organized by Unidroit, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, a multilateral organization founded in the Italian capital in 1926 with 65 member states in five continents to date.
“We have selected Africa for a master's degree not aimed at young people who have just completed their studies but at people who already work in the administration, who will arrive in Rome after an initial two-week online module,” explains Maria Chiara Malaguti, the president of Unidroit, full professor of International Law at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.
“We want to raise awareness on the continent about the possibility of unifying the law by bringing legal instruments closer together: the goal is not to make them equal or standardize but to modernize and make the systems compatible and communicating with each other”.
Sustainability Perspective
The thesis is that, between June 19 and July 7, at the headquarters in via Panisperna 28, in the rooms overlooking Villa Aldobrandini, concrete foundations will be laid in a sustainability perspective. “For us, a country develops if it has legislation that is modern and compatible with the countries that are next to it and with which it wants to trade,” observes Malaguti.
“And be careful: this communication must not only take place towards Western states but within the continent itself, including through regional organizations such as the African Union.”
22 jurists from Algeria to Tanzania, from Malawi to Mauritania
The initiative, called 'International Program for Law and Development', now in its second year and directed by Marco Nicoli, will involve 22 jurists selected in Rome based on qualifications and candidacies. The origins span the entire continent, from Algeria to South Africa, from Nigeria to Somalia, from Mauritania to Tanzania, from Egypt to Malawi.
“The tools for access to credit and finance will also be highlighted,” Malaguti continues. “We have international treaties that concern the fundamental guarantees for financing infrastructure, machinery or large-scale works; then there are the tools for agriculture, at the service of local communities, to ensure that their production can participate in international 'supply chains'”.
Other events for 2023
These are themes and opportunities that can be explored in 2023 also through remote meetings, from Algeria, Cameroon, Tanzania or Kenya, thanks to the involvement of participants in last year's edition of the courses.
How to finance good ideas
Then there is a fixed point, written in the DNA of a multilateral organization like Unidroit: the exchange is on multiple lines and in both directions. Malaguti underlines this by mentioning a convention that concerns the repatriation of cultural goods taken abroad illegally. “From African countries we have had a fundamental contribution starting from a strong interest in this topic” underlines the president. “Then there is the innovation sector, that of startups and new technologies, in strong growth: from Africa come ideas that are valid for all the countries of the world and for international cooperation itself, which comes into play when someone has an excellent idea and must however have the possibility of financing and realizing it”.
Article published on 12 June 2023 - 19:40
