Celebrating the United Nations adoption of the International Day of Judicial Well-being and recognition of the Nauru Declaration

On March 20, 2025, Australia time, March 19th here in Colorado, the Thomas More Law School of Australian Catholic University hosted a webinar on the "The Adoption of the UN International Day for Judicial Well-being and Its Global Impact" The landmark Nauru Declaration on Judicial Well-being was adopted on 25 July 2024 highlighting the importance of judicial wellbeing for maintaining an effective and resilient judiciary. For the first time, it establishes a set of principles aimed at raising awareness, acknowledging, and addressing the issue of judicial wellbeing.

In a landmark resolution, on 4 March 2025, the United Nations voted to make 25 July each year the International Day for Judicial Wellbeing taking into account the Nauru Declaration on Judicial Well-Being launched on 25 July 2024. he UN General Assembly has adopted a historic resolution submitted by the Republic of Nauru, declaring 25 July as the International Day for Judicial Well-being. This milestone follows the Nauru Declaration on Judicial Well-being, adopted on the same date last year.

The resolution was co-sponsored by 70 countries, including Australia, demonstrating a global commitment to prioritizing judicial well-being. The objective of this international day is to raise awareness of judicial well-being worldwide and to sustain a global dialogue on judicial stress, which must be de-stigmatized.

The panelist were Ms. Marie Pegie Cauchois of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; Justice Lynne Leitch, Superior Court of Ontario, Canada; Dr. Carly Schrever, researcher on issues related to the impact of stress on judges and invlved with the drating of the Naua Declaration; Hon. Chief Justice Sir Gibuma Gibbs Salika, Chief Justice of Papau, New Guinea; Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, Chief Justice of Jamaica; Justice Rangajeeva Wimalasena, President, Nauru Court of Appeals; and myself. The moderators were Dr. Anne Pickering and Professor Kunle Ola, both from Thomas More Law School, ACU.

For my part, I am very honored and humbled to have been included on this panel. The Declaration has not only raised awareness of the issue and provided a framework that is universal in nature, but it has given judicial officers a voice. My hope is that once people recognize that this is being looked at on a global level, judges who are hesitant to admit the negative impact of the work will begin the process of increasing their resilience in a healthy manner; That communities will be more supportive of providing the judicial officers with the support they need to do the work; and that all people who work in the system and are impacted by what they see and hear will also be given the appropriate resource

to do their jobs better.

These people are doing incredible work in their communities, ranging from leading retreats, encouraging time off, sharing of wellbeing tools, all to making sure their judges feel supported and are provided with the whatever they need to be the healthiest judge possible as they make decisions.