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Roundtable Meeting of Chief Justices and Ministers of Justice : Country Statements
Statement by H. E. Aung Toe, Chief Justice of the Union of MyanmarExcellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me to address this distinguished Forum of Chief Justices and other eminent persons present here today. Firstly, I would like to thank the Asian Development Bank, the President and staff of ADB for supporting and making this occasion possible. I would also like to thank all those present here today. As you all very well know, after the end of the Cold War, the global scenario is making drastic changes. Since these changes involve the judicial system, the judicial system also is faced with unprecedented challenges. The evolution of a challenging climate in the next millennium should be our prime objective of focal thought in legal affairs. Matters such as environment, multi media and information, highways, nuclear and thermo-nuclear inventions, rights relating to the child, the woman and human beings as a whole pose these great challenges. In the economic sphere, the momentum of globalization is already taking place and even at this instance there are challenges and disputes. International Organizations existing on the global level today were formed some 30 to 45 years ago. There are many charters and laws governing them that pose new challenges in the next millennium. You all well know that the judicial system can only function on valid and existing legal instruments, laws and charters. By no means can we cross boundaries to give jurisprudence once outside this framework. Likewise, national laws and charters also have to be looked into to cope with the legal requirements of the coming millennium. What are we to do then? As I have mentioned earlier, internationally the structures of internal bodies with related charters, laws etc. will have to be evaluated or redesigned to take on global challenges. Likewise, national laws, instruments, charters also will have to be aligned within international norms of the legal framework. This seems to be a challenging task to all of us who should carry forward a firm and stable legal framework into the next millennium. In Myanmar today, we have a mixed combination of laws, instruments and charters. The majority of these have been inherited from the British Common Law. After our Independence in 1948, some new laws were promulgated to cope with the changing situation but there still remains a lot to be done. Our judicial system also functions as any other judicial system. The challenges we face are those of the modern world. We have adapted the judicial system to the best of our ability and we will still have to do more to face the challenges. Regional Forums on the restructuring of judicial systems internationally, regionally and on the national basis should be organized where all the jurists could bring themselves up-to-date exchanging views and sharing experiences. This Forum is an example and I hope that many more such Forums would be organized to bring judicial systems of the world closer and promote much more understanding. In conclusion, I would once again like to thank the Asian Development Bank, all of you present here today for your kind attention and I wish this Forum every success. Thank you.
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