Having broadened debate on globalisation and the rule of law, measures to combat terrorism, judicial activism, and moral decline and resurgence, the Attorney General of India, Mr Soli Sorabjee has left Seychelles.

Visiting the country under the Indian Government's "Distinguished Visitor" programme, Mr Sorabjee delivered the second annual Radhakrishnan Lecture Series, from Tuesday to Friday last week (25-28 November).

The Radhakrishnan Lectures are named after the second Prime Minister of India, who Mr Sorabjee described as "a nationalist, with an international outlook."

After giving his first lecture, on the rule of law with reference to globalisation, in which he called for the supremacy of the law to be recognised in order to safeguard human rights, Mr Sorabjee next spoke on "Terrorism and measures to combat it, with focus on human rights obligations."

The lecture was chaired by the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Honourable Francis MacGregor, who said that today terrorism cannot escape our attention and must be addressed.

Mr Sorabjee began by discussing the difficulty in giving a precise definition of terrorism, before suggesting that "it is more than criminality, it is an assault on fundamental human rights."

He went on to caution, however, that the "war on terrorism cannot be carried out at the expense of civil liberties," and held up the example of the American prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention centres, thus far held without trial in what he described as inhumane conditions.

Mr Sorabjee said that the battle against terrorism is self defeating if human rights are neglected in the process and highlighted the need to strike a fair balance.

The Attorney General next focused on the impact of judicial activism upon a country's constitution, in a lecture chaired by Chief Justice Vivekanand Allear.

Mr Sorabjee said that judicial activism has both positive and negative connotations, siting instances where it has been used to uphold human rights and others where it has undermined government authority.

He said that, by interpreting the constitution, judiciary makes the law and that there are rights which are not specifically enunciated in the constitution but are nevertheless contained in it.

Having relied principally on examples from India, Mr Sorabjee pointed out that cases of judicial activism are not necessarily interchangeable between countries and that it is important to beware of "judicial chauvinism."

Answering a question at the end of the lecture on the role of foreign judges Mr Sorabjee explained that as a judge is answerable to the law, not to the people, their nationality should be of no consequence, but agreed that the use of fixed term contracts would help avoid the perception that contract judges made decisions designed to extend their length of service.

Mr Sorabjee's final lecture was on the decline in moral values and measures for their renewal.

Mr Sorabjee used corruption as a measure of national moral decline and said that it is necessary to make corrupt officials pariahs of society to prove that the society itself does not condone their actions.

He also stressed the role that parents had to play in fixing the moral compass of their children.

The final lecture was chaired by Minister for Education and Youth, Mr Danny Faure, who expressed his thanks to the Attorney General for having conducted the "highly entertaining and enlightening," lecture series.

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