TNAG-0679-FCO40-828-Allegations-of-corruption-and-bribery-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 204

South Africa

In November of last year Sir John Foster visited South Africa on behalf of JUSTICE to attend the closing stage of the Black Consciousness Trial. Unfortunately the hearing was postponed but he was able to make valuable contacts with South African lawyers anxious to further the objectives of the International Commission

Paul Sieghart's Tour

In August and September of last year, Paul Sieghart visited Brazil, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles and Kenya, and was able to meet members of the ICJ., or of its national sections, as well as judges, ministers, and government legal officers in several of these countries. He was greatly impressed with what he saw of the struggle for human rights in South America, and with the enthusiasm and effective machinery for law reform in New Zealand and Australia, which have now far outstripped our own.

But perhaps the most memorable event was the discovery that the recommendations of our report Going to Law, which we published in 1974, and which have not so far produced any visible results here, have led to far-reaching reforms of civil procedure in Sri Lanka. The Administration of Justice Law of 1975 in that country is very largely based . on our recommendations.

Trinidad

In January of this year, Lord Kilbrandon was asked by a group of lawyers and businessmen concerned about human rights to give two lectures in Trinidad, and Geoffrey Garrett and Tom Sargant were invited to accompany him. The lectures and other less formal talks were widely reported in the Press and on radio and television.

When it framed its new republican constitution, Trinidad chose to retain the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council but lawyers there are concerned about the very limited value of such a safeguard. Although the new constitution specifically gives the Judicial Committee all the powers of the Trinidad Court of Appeal, including the power to receive new evidence and to order a new trial, it refused in a recent murder application to hear important new medical evidence.

Contacts with other European Sections

French Section. In July of last year 12 members of JUSTICE visited Paris for the 20th Anniversary celebrations of the French Section in which representatives of a number of other European Sections also took part. The theme of the lectures and the discussions which followed was the impact of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of the European Economic Community on the domestic laws of the subscribing countries. We were entertained in an outstandingly warm and generous way. We much look forward to the visit of the French Section to London at the week-end of 2nd/3rd July for our 20th Anniversary celebrations.

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