Law reform and review conference opens in Kigali

A law reform and review conference bringing together legal experts from around the world opened in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, on Sunday morning, the Rwandan Office of the Presidency announced.

The conference, which is jointly organised by the Rwandan Law Reform Commission and the US embassy, "aims to compare Rwanda's legal system with other countries with a view to identifying what can be best adapted to the Rwandan context", a statement from the Rwandan Office of the Presidency said. "The conference also aims to widen the vision and scope of the Law Reform Commission, and to minimise mistakes by learning from the law reform experiences of other
countries."

Participants at the conference include legal scholars and judges from Argentina, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Kenya, Mauritius, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and the USA.

Rwanda's Law Reform Commission was established by the government in July 2001 with a mandate to establish laws deemed important for good governance; to establish which laws are obsolete, and do not reflect the realities of the day; and to prepare drafts for legal bills for new laws or amendments to those deemed obsolete.