Ambassador Assamba Receives International Jurist Award

Jamaica’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Her Excellency Aloun Ndombet-Assamba on Monday, June 23, received the 2014 International Jurists Award from the International Council of Jurists, for her contribution in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

The award was presented to the High Commissioner at the Council’s International Conference in London.

Mrs. Assamba was a Mediator and trainer for many years at the Disputes Resolution Foundation in Jamaica, having been one of the first persons trained when the organisation began its work.

She was also a trainer in Mediation under the Jamaican Bar Association/Capitol University Programme. The Ambassador is a Supreme Court-appointed Mediator, and taught mediation at the Norman Manley Law School prior to her appointment as High Commissioner.

At the conference Mrs. Assamba co-chaired the session on Mediation during which she spoke of the Jamaican experience in ADR, which spans more than 15 years.

She told the session that there has been a growing acceptance of ADR in the island, and that the concept is, “coming into its own and was helping to make sure that swift justice was available to all especially in civil matters”.

The conference also hosted working sessions on: Freedom of information (issues and challenges); the press; law and ethics; terrorism, human rights and immigration; the relationship between the judiciary, legislature and the executive; arbitration; the protection of intellectual property rights; and corporate governance.

Other awardees included: Mark Stephens, President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association; and author J.K. Rowling. President of the International Court of Justice, Peter Tomka was the special guest speaker.