Monrovia — The National Director of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, Cllr. Augustine Toe leaves Monrovia today for Abuja, Nigeria.

Cllr. Toe leaves Monrovia upon an invitation extended to him by the World Bank to attend a workshop on the "Demand Side of Justice in West Africa" to be held from May 6-7, 2008.

The World Bank will be hosting a discussion with practitioners, to discuss Legal and Judicial reform in Africa with a particular focus on the following areas: (a) Access to Justice (b) Criminal Justice, and (c) Institutional Strengthening. The workshop is intended to assist the African region to improve its support to the African region as part for the preparation of a Justice strategy for Sub-Sahara Africa".

The aim of this World Bank sponsored workshop is to bring together local stakeholders and practitioners, including government officials, academia, civil society organizations, Lawyers, traditional authorities and other stakeholders to identify country-specific as well as regional needs and priorities in the Justice Sector.

It is expected that the workshop will begin a process of developing common indicators which will contribute the development of a broader strategy for the African region. This first workshop for West-Africa Anglophone Countries will include participants from Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the host country-Nigeria.

Because of the experience of Cllr. Toe as a Lawyer and a Human Rights Advocate, he was requested by the workshop organizers to participate in the session on "Access to Justice" in Liberia and deliver a "Paper" in which he will share his views and impressions on the "Demand facing the Justice System in Liberia."