09:00 – 18:00

Registration

18:00 – 20:00

Reception Cocktail Party for the participants of the Conference hosted by the Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, Table Bay Hotel.

Welcoming address by Chief Justice of South Africa, Justice Pius LANGA, and by Mr Gianni BUQUICCHIO, Director, Secretary of the Venice Commission

Friday 23 January 2009

08:00 – 09:00

Registration

Opening session [09:00–10:30]

- open to the media –

Chair: Chief Justice P. Langa, South Africa

09:00 – 09:05

South Africa’s National Anthem: "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (God bless Africa)

09:05 – 09:15

Welcome and opening remarks by the Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, Justice Pius LANGA

09:15 – 09:30

Opening remarks by Mr Jan HELGESEN, President of the Venice Commission

Opening remarks by Ms Maud de BOER-BUQUICCHIO, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

09:30 – 9:40

Video presentation of the Constitutional Court of South Africa’s role in building a Constitutional State

9:40 – 10:05

Key Note Speech by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Kgalema MOTLANTHE

10:05 – 10:15

Photo session

10:15 – 10:40

Tea / Coffee break

1^st session - Plenary [10:40–13:00]

 

Chair: Mr Helgesen, President of the Venice Commission

The eight groups uniting the participating courts on a regional / linguistic basis will make short presentations of their groups and provide an impetus for the discussion of the topics of the World Conference from the viewpoint of their group. These presentations are to stimulate discussions within the workshops in the afternoon.

10:40  - 10:50

Mr Kong Hyun LEE, Judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea  for the Asian Constitutional Courts

10:50 – 11:00

Mr Dé Albert MILLOGO, President of the Constitutional Council of Burkina Faso, President of the Association of Constitutional Courts using the French Language (ACCPUF)

11:00 – 11:10

Lord PHILLIPS of WORTH MATRAVERS, Senior Law Lord, House of Lords, United Kingdom, for the Commonwealth courts

11:10 – 11:40

Discussions (during all discussions at the Conference, interventions must not exceed 5 minutes at most. The oral presentation of papers submitted to the Conference by individual participants must also stay within this limit. All such papers will be made available on the web-site of the World Conference and published by the organisers).

11:40 – 11:50

Mr Gagik HARUTYUNYAN, President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia and President of the Conference of Constitutional Control Organs of Countries of Young Democracy (CCCOCYD) (Russian)

11:50 – 12:00

Mr Ioan VIDA, President of the Constitutional Court of Romania, President of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts (CECC)

12:00 – 12:10

Mr José Ramon COSSIO DIAZ, Judge at the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, holding the pro tempore Secretariat of the Ibero-American Conference of Constitutional Justice (CIJC)

12:10 – 12:20

Chief Justice Pius LANGA, President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and President of the Southern African Judges Commission (SAJC)

12:20 – 12:30

Mr Abd Al Rahman ALY ABUTUTA President of the Supreme Court of Libya, President of the Union of Arab Constitutional Courts and Councils (UACCC) - delivered by Mr Mohammed Abdel Kader ABD ALLAH, Secretary General of the Union of Arab Constitutional Courts and Councils, Vice-President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt,  (Arabic)

12:30 – 13:00

Discussion

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch Break

2^nd Session – Workshops [14:30–17:30]

During this session, the participants will split into workshops on the basis of the membership of their Courts in the various regional / linguistic groups of courts. The workshops will discuss the two sub-topics of the Conference (the influence of constitutional justice on society and the development of a global human rights jurisprudence). The groups will report to the Plenary Session on the second day of the Conference. To the extent possible, the list of questions distributed with the programme should be dealt with within the workshops. Within the workshops, each regional / linguistic group will appoint a rapporteur. Where two groups have been joined (as in Group A and D), two rapporteurs may be appointed.

The separation of the workshops is not a strict one and the participants may even chose to participate in a workshop not related to their own regional group, if they so wish. If a delegation is composed of more than one person, they can split and be present in more than one workshop.

The workshops will be composed as below:

A.

For reasons of interpretation and space, the Conference of European Constitutional Courts (CECC) and the Conference of Constitutional Control Organs of Countries of Young Democracy (CCCOCYD) will meet together under the umbrella of the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice of the Venice Commission (courts in member and observer states of the Commission) – room A, interpretation in the following languages will be available: English, French and Russian

B.

Union of Arab Constitutional Courts and Councils – room B, the language used will be Arabic

C.

Association of Constitutional Courts using the French Language (ACCPUF) – room C – the language used will be French

D.

Southern African Judges Commission and Commonwealth courts meet together in room D, the language used will be English

E.

Ibero-American Conference on Constitutional Justice (CIJC) – room E, the languages used will be Spanish and Portuguese (without interpretation).

F.

Asian group – room F, the language used will be English

14:30 – 16:30

Discussions in the workshops

16:30 – 16:45

Tea / Coffee break

16:45 – 17:30

Continuation of discussions in the workshops

18:30

Buses leave for the Groote Schuur, venue for the Presidential Gala Dinner

19:30

Presidential Gala Dinner at Groote Schuur – (Key Note Speakers: the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, South Africa, M.E. SURTY, and the Former Chief Justice of South Africa, Justice A. CHASKALSON), reply by Mr Helgesen, President of the Venice Commission

Saturday 24 January 2009

3^rd Session - Plenary [09:00–13:00]

Panel discussions of the regional groups’ reports

Chair: Chief Justice Langa, South Africa

09:00 – 09:10

Rapporteur for the Asian Constitutional Courts (Group F) - Mr Kong Hyun LEE, Judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea

09:10 – 09:30

Discussion (during the discussion after each group, the participants from the regional group will also be invited to make interventions from the perspective of their Courts; all interventions will be limited to 5 minutes at most)

09:30 – 09:40

Rapporteur from the Association of Constitutional Courts using the French Language (ACCPUF) - M. Robert DOSSOU, President of the Constitutional Court of Benin (group C)

09:40 – 10:00

Discussion

10:00 – 10:10

Rapporteur(s) for the Southern African Judges Commission (SAJC) and Commonwealth courts - Sir Anthony CLARKE, Master of the Rolls, Court of Appeal of England and Wales (Group D)

10:10 – 10:30

Discussion

10:30 – 11:00

Tea / Coffee break

11:00 – 11:10

Rapporteur(s) for the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice (JCCJ) including the Conference of European Constitutional Courts (CECC), Mr Peter PACZOLAY, President of the Constitutional Court of Hungary, and the Conference of Constitutional Control Organs of Countries of Young Democracy (CCCOCYD), Mr Gagik HARUTYUNYAN, President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia (Russian) (Group A)

11:10 – 11:30

Discussion

11:30 – 11:40

Rapporteur for the Ibero-American Conference on Constitutional Justice (CIJC), Mr José Ramon COSSIO DIAZ, Judge at the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (Group E)

11:40 – 12:00

Discussion

12:00 – 12:10

Rapporteur for the Union of Arab Constitutional Courts and Councils (UACCC), Mr Mohammed Abdel Kader ABD ALLAH, Secretary General of the Union of Arab Constitutional Courts and Councils, Vice-President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt (Arabic, English / French) (Group B)

12:10 – 12:30

Discussion

12:30 – 13:00

Additional Discussion (If necessary)

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch Break

4^th Session [14:30–17:30]

Chair: Mr Helgesen, President of the Venice Commission

14:30 – 14:45

Mr Didier MAUS, State Counsellor (France), President of the International Association of Constitutional Law, Member and former President of the Constitutional Court of Andorra, The Use of Foreign Precedents and the Dialogue between Constitutional Courts

14:45 – 15:00

Mr Christos ROZAKIS, Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights, The interaction between the European Court of Human Rights and other courts

15:00 – 16:00

General discussion, including short presentations of national papers submitted

16:00 – 16:30

Tea / Coffee break

16:30 – 17:00

Discussion and adoption of final declaration

17:00 - 17:30

Closing remarks

Mr Denis HUBER, Executive Director, North-South Centre of the Council of Europe

Mr Gianni BUQUICCHIO, Director, Secretary of the Venice Commission

Chief Justice Pius LANGA, President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa

Sunday 25 January 2009 – Excursions / Departure

09:00 – 14:00

Visit to Robben Island

Participants leaving on 25 January will be transported to Cape Town International Airport