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Recent and current events
30/11/2009 - 01/12/2009
The Hague, the Netherlands – the Venice Commission in co-operation with the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and the Electoral Council of the Netherlands organise the 6th European Conference of Electoral Management Bodies on “Enhancing participation in elections”
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23/11/2009 - 26/11/2009
Trieste, Italy - The third seminar in 2009 training for civil servants of sixteen participating states on "The protection of the Fundamental Rights of irregulars migrants".
The UniDem Campus, a programme for legal training of the civil servants of Eastern European countries was launched in 2000 by the Venice Commission with the financial support of the Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia government. Since it has been a great success: nearly 3000 civil servants have been trained.
This activity is intended for officials from national administrations of 16 Eastern European countries who are invited, following the seminar, to pass on the insights they have gained to their colleagues in their respective countries. The one-week seminars provide training on subjects such as democratisation and human rights, rule of law and law enforcement, institution building as well as European integration.
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23/11/2009 - 24/11/2009
Budapest - In co-operation with the Constitutional Court of Hungary, the Commission oganises a Conference on "Politics and law in constitutional justice - from the political questions' doctrine to judicial politics" on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Court.
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20/11/2009 - 21/11/2009
St. Petersburg - In co-operation with the Institute for Public Law and Policy and under the aegis of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, a Conference on "Property, free enterprise and constitution - new and old questions".
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17/11/2009 - 18/11/2009
Mexico City - The Venice Commission takes part in the 2nd international seminar of the Judicial Electoral Observatory, which addresses issues such as limitations of freedom of expression, electoral quotas and deprivation of the right to vote. This conference is an opportunity to disseminate the principles of the European electoral heritage, as defined in the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters drafted by the Venice Commission.
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16/11/2009 - 17/11/2009
Pristine - In the context of the preparation of the opinion on "Mechanisms to review the compatibility with human rights standards of acts by UNMIK and EULEX in Kosovo", a delegation of the Venice Commission will meet representatives of these organisations and of the civil society as well as the Ombudsman.
The Commission had previously recommended the setting up of the UNMIK Human Rights Advisory Panel (opinion CDL-AD (2004)033).
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Text of the opinion avis CDL-AD (2004)033
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16/11/2009 - 17/11/2009
Brussels - Thomas Markert, the Deputy Secretary of the Venice Commission, will participate in the Forum on behalf of the Venice Commission and will intervene on the following topic “Independence of the Judiciary and the Prosecution”
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12/11/2009 - 13/11/2009
Dushanbe - In cooperation with the Judge's Training Center of Tadjikistan and the Open Society Foundation, a seminar on "International experience and standards in the field of the independance of the judiciary"
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09/11/2009 - 11/11/2009
Istanbul, Ankara - A Delegation of the Venice Commission visits Turkey in connection with the forthcoming Opinion on the recognition of the legal personality of religious communities in Turkey. The Delegation will meet representatives of religious communities, including the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and representatives of the Turkish authorities.
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07/11/2009 - 08/11/2009
Batumi - In co-operation with the Constitutional Court of Georgia and GTZ, the Commission organises a Conference "Judicial Precedents as a Source of Law".
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06/11/2009
Riga - Conference in co-operation with the Constitutional Court of Latvia on “Access to the Court – The Applicant in Constitutional Jurisdiction (persons authorised to apply to the Constitutional Court)”. The Conference will also deal with the issue of the standing for legal persons, which is an increasingly important topic especially in the field of the protection of the environment.
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05/11/2009
Chisinau - The Venice Commssion participates in a Round table on media monitoring during elections, organised by the Council of Europe's DG-HL Media division. Ms Herdís Thorgeirsdóttir, Member of the Venice Commission and a co-author of the Commission's Guidelines on media monitoring presents the Commission principles in this area.
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03/11/2009
Podgorica - In co-operation with the Constitutional Court of Montenegro and OSCE, the Venice Commission organises a regional Conference on the competence of the Constitutional Court to control the conformity of laws with ratified treaties.
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31/10/2009 - 01/11/2009
Algiers – The Constitutional Council of Algeria, the Union of Arab Constitutional Courts and Councils and the Venice Commission organise a Conference on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Algerian Council on the "Relations between the Constitutional Court and Parliament".
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29/10/2009 - 30/10/2009
Chisinau - The Venice Commission will participate in a conference organised by the Central Election Commission of Moldova on the electoral reform.
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28/10/2009 - 31/10/2009
La Paz - a delegation of the Venice Commission visited Bolivia to meet with representatives of the Bolivian authorities and discuss the modalities of possible cooperation in the implementation of the new Constitution. This cooperation will be financed by the European Commission.
During the visit it was agreed to start cooperation in the field of constitutional justice. The authorities informed the delegation inter alia of their intention to request an opinion of the Venice Commission on the new Law on the Constitutional Court. Other laws could be subject of the Commission’s opinions during the year 2010.
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21/10/2009 - 23/10/2009
Kyiv - The Venice Commission participates in the Forum for the Future of Democracy, on "Electoral Systems: Strengthening Democracy in the 21st Century". In particular, the President of the Venice Commission takes part in the High-level Panel debate on "The Future of Elections".
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20/10/2009 - 21/10/2009
President Hotel, Kyiv – In cooperation with the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine, Parliamentary Committee for Public Authorities and Local Self-Governnance Development of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Commission organises an international conference “Quality of Elections – Making Democracy strong”
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15/10/2009 - 16/10/2009
Bucharest - The Commission participates in the preparatory meeting for the XVth Conference of European Constitutional Courts.
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14/10/2009
Luxembourg - A delegation of the Venice Commission meets with the Commission on Institutions and Constitutional Revision of Luxembourg in the framework of the preparation of an opinion on the draft revision of Luxembourg's Constitution
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09/10/2009 - 10/10/2009
The Commission
- paid tribute to its late member Mr François Luchaire;
- held an exchange of views with Mr Rusmali, Head of the Legal Affairs Committee of the parliament of Albania, and adopted the opinion on the Law “on the cleanliness of the figure of high functionaries of the public administration and elected persons” of Albania (the law on lustration), subject to certain amendments;
- adopted the second interim opinion on the draft Law on amending the Civil Code of Armenia, and gave mandate to the rapporteurs to assess the latest version of the amendments with a view to submitting a final opinion at the next Plenary Session;
- was informed on follow-up to the Joint Opinion on the Election Code of Armenia;
- was informed that the EU and the US would propose shortly to the party leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina a new package of constitutional amendments based on the Venice Commission’s opinion on the constitutional situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the powers of the High Representative and on the opinion from 2006 on the draft Amendments to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- held an exchange of views with Ms Chiora Taktakishvili, Deputy Chairperson of the Legal Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, and adopted the interim opinion on draft amendments to the Law on occupied territories of Georgia, with certain amendments;
- held an exchange of views with Mr Akaki Minashvili, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, and took note of the rapporteurs’ comments on the amendments and supplements to the Law on “Assemblage and Manifestations of Georgia”, pending the preparation of the opinion to be submitted to the Commission at the next Plenary Session;
- was informed by Mr Igor Rogov, President of the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan, on recent constitutional developments in Kazakhstan and a request for an amicus curiae opinion on the constitutionality of a customs union by the Constitutional Council;
- Adopted the joint opinion with OSCE-ODIHR on the draft Law on political parties in Kyrgyzstan, subject to certain amendments;
- Held an exchange of views with Mr Gunars Kutris, President of the Constitutional Court of Latvia, and adopted the opinion on the draft amendments to the Law on the Constitutional Court of Latvia, subject to certain amendments;
- was informed on the progress of work in relation to the revision of the Constitution of Luxembourg;
- adopted the opinion on the draft Law on the prohibition of discrimination of Montenegro;
- adopted the joint opinion with the Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe (DG-HL) on the amendments to the Law on the protector of human rights and freedoms of Montenegro, subject to certain amendments;
- was informed on follow-up to the Opinion on the Draft Law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro;
- was informed on constitutional developments in Norway;
- adopted the joint opinion with OSCE-ODIHR on the draft Law on the State Election Commission of Serbia, the draft Law on the Unified Register of Voters of Serbia and the draft Law on the Election of Councillors of Serbia;
- was informed on the request from the Slovak authorities to examine the law on the State language of the Slovak Republic;
- held an exchange of views with Mr Portnov and Mr Pysarenko, Members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and adopted the joint opinion with OSCE-ODIHR on the Law amending certain legislative acts on elections of the President of Ukraine;
- postponed consideration of the draft Law on the Judicial System and the Status of Judges of Ukraine to the next Plenary Session;
- examined the draft report on the independence of the judicial system – Part I Judges, and decided to pursue its work on this matter;
- decided to pursue its work on the report on the notions of good governance and good administration, on the guidelines on an internationally recognised status of election observers and on the report on the cancellation of Election results;
- held an exchange of views with the representatives of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe;
- accepted the request from the Committee of the Regions of the European Union to take part in the sessions of the Commission and the Council for Democratic Elections;
- was presented with the Liber Amicorum Antonio La Pergola, published by its former member Mr Hans-Heinrich Vogel of the University of Lund;
- fixed the dates of the next sessions as follows:
11-12 December 2009; 12-13 March 2010; 4-5 June 2010; 15-16 October 2010; 17-18 December 2010.
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Adopted documents
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01/10/2009 - 02/10/2009
Ankara - The Venice Commission organised, in co-operation with the Constitutional Court of Turkey, the 4th Conference of Secretaries General of Constitutional Courts
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Conference page
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01/10/2009 - 03/10/2009
Yerevan - XIVth International Yerevan Conference in co-operation with the Constitutional Court of Armenia and the International Association of Constitutional Law on "The interaction between constitutional courts and parliaments in guaranteeing the supremacy of the Constitution"
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30/09/2009
The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has requested a joint Venice Commission/ODIHR opinion on the draft Law of Ukraine "on the order of organising and conducting peaceful events".
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28/09/2009 - 01/10/2009
Palazzo del Ferdinandeo,Trieste, Italy - One week training of civil servants of sixteen participating states on the independence of the judiciary.
The UniDem Campus, a programme for legal training of the civil servants of Eastern European countries was launched in 2000 by the Venice Commission with the financial support of the Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia government. Since it has been a great success: nearly 3000 civil servants have been trained.
This activity is intended for officials from national administrations of 16 Eastern European countries who are invited, following the seminar, to pass on the insights they have gained to their colleagues in their respective countries. The one-week seminars provide training on subjects such as democratisation and human rights, rule of law and law enforcement, institution building as well as European integration.
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25/09/2009
The Slovakian authorities asked the Venice Commission to deliver a legal opinion on the Act on the State Language of the Slovakian Republic.
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24/09/2009 - 25/09/2009
Lviv, Ukraine – Representatives of the Venice Commission participate in a conference on "Quality of elections : making democracy strong" organised by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, the Committee on State Building and Local Self-Governance of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
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24/09/2009 - 26/09/2009
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - The Venice Commission participates the 6th Conference of Asian Constitutional Court Judges organised by the Constitutional Court of Mongolia and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
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23/09/2009 - 24/09/2009
Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan - Upon the invitation of the OSCE/ODHIR, the Venice Commission participates in a round table on the “Interaction between parliament and government in the preparation of the draft laws”.
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17/09/2009 - 19/09/2009
Athens, Greece – Upon the invitation of the OSCE/ODIHR, the Venice Commission takes part in a round table on the “Funding of Political Parties”. This activity is organised in the framework of the OSCE Chairmanship of the OSCE.
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17/09/2009 - 18/09/2009
Fiesole, Italy - The Venice Commission in co-operation with the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and the European University Institute (Florence) has organised a round table on the challenges for the judiciary in the fight against terrorism.
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14/09/2009 - 16/09/2009
Seoul/Namhae - The Venice Commission takes part in the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy. In particular, it emphasis the importance of the Code of Good Practice on Referendums.
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08/09/2009 - 09/09/2009
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – The Venice Commission organises in cooperation with the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation), a conference on the trials by jury. Participants - judges, prosecutors, lawyers and civil society representatives - hold a preliminary exchange of views with the international experts on the implementation of the Law on trials by juries in Kyrgyzstan adopted in July 2009.
This activity is part of the Central Asian Initiative of the European Commission being implemented by the Venice Commission.
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04/09/2009 - 05/09/2009
Yerevan - On the sideline of the ACEEEO annual conference, the Venice Commission takes part in the Advisory Board as well as in an expert meeting of the project "Developing accurate voters' lists in transitional democracies"
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03/09/2009 - 05/09/2009
Yerevan - The Venice Commission takes part in the ACEEEO (Association of European Election Officials) Conference and General Assembly meeting. The Conference deals in particular with judicial protection of the electoral process and international experience in applying sociology in electoral processes
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28/08/2009
The parliament of Georgia has requested the opinion of the Venice Commission on the draft amendments to the law on occupied territories of Georgia, which were prepared following a previous, critical opinion by the Commission on this law.
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20/08/2009
The first Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia has requested the Venice Commission to assess the amendments, recently adopted and entered into force, to the law on assemblies and manifestations, the law on police and the code of administrative violations
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07/08/2009
Paris - Former member of the Venice Commission in respect of Andorra (2000-2007), eminent French constitutionalist François Luchaire, has passed away ion 7 August 2009 in Paris at the age of 91.
Professor François Luchaire was an active member of the Commission: he was inter alia one of the authors of the Code of Good Practice on Referendums and of the Declaration on Women’s Participation in Elections. His contribution to the Commission’s work was of great clarity and relevance.
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06/08/2009 - 09/08/2009
Kasane, Botswana - In co-operation with the Chief Justices of the Southern Chief Justices Forum (formerly Southern Chief Judges Commission), the Commission organises a Conference on two topics: (a) The enhancement of the Rule of Law, separation of powers and judicial independence and the relationship of these doctrines to socio economic development. (b) The protection of human rights in general through the court system by way of Judicial Review. It is intended that the Conference should examine how effective the use of Judicial Review of administration action is in controlling excesses in the use of statutory powers and in promoting human and other rights. The objective of the Conference is to draw a direct link between the lack of development, lack of the Rule of Law and absence of democratic governance under a democratic constitution.
The SACJF has also been invited to be a founding member of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice. The Conference will take a decision on such a participation in the Conference.
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Conference page
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26/07/2009 - 31/07/2009
Chisinau - At the invitation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mr Owen Masters, Elections Experts, takes part in the Observation Mission of the Parliamentary Assembly as legal advisor during the 29 July 2009 repeat Parliamentary elections. His mandate is to advise the PACE delegation on the legal aspects of the elections.
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22/07/2009 - 23/07/2009
Chisinau - Conference on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Constitution of Moldova on "Fundamental Constitutional Values as a Stability Factor of the Constitutional Regime"
3 themes will be dealt with
- The Constitution – a stabilising and stimulating factor in the socio-economic process,
- the universality of constitutional law and its impact on human rights protection,
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- the evolution of constitutional justice in the prism of the European Court of Human Rights.
Presidents and Judges from European Constitutional Courts as well as academics will take part in the Conference.
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20/07/2009
Kyiv, Strasbourg - the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Ms Onishchuk, requested an opinion on the draft Law on the Judicial System and the Status of Judges of Ukraine. This opinion is prepared by the Venice Commission in co-operation with the Co-operation Department of the Directorate of Human Rights and Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe (DG-HL).
In 2007, the Commission has adopted an opinion on two previous draft judiciary laws (CDL-AD(2007)003). The new opinion is to be adopted by the Venice Commission at its plenary session in December 2009.
On 19 November, a round table is to take place in Kyiv to discuss the draft law.
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16/07/2009 - 17/07/2009
Vienna - This Expert Seminar, organised in the framework of the Greek Chairmanship of the OSCE, focuses on the role of electoral management bodies in ensuring the conformity of electoral processes with the OSCE and the Council of Europe commitments.
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15/07/2009 - 05/08/2009
Chisinau - At the request of the Moldovan authorities, the Council of Europe provides a Project Coordinator on media monitoring and voters lists.
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10/07/2009 - 12/07/2009
Batumi - Conference in cooperation with the Constitutional Court of Georgia and the Directorate of Co-operation of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs on the “Justiciability of Social Rights in Constitutional and ECtHR Jurisprudence”.
Social rights are often ambiguous and are, contrary to civil rights, often not judicially enforceable, which poses complex challenges to courts. The conference will give insight on the rationales underlying Constitutional Courts' and the ECtHR's decisions in relation to these matters.
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04/07/2009
Tbilisi - The Venice Commission takes part in a meeting of the Election Code Working Group, in charge of the preparation of the revised electoral code. The Electoral Code Working Group includes representatives of political parties, with embassadors, international organisations, international and local NGOs observing the meeting, as well as with the participation of the Central Election Commission.
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03/07/2009
By letter dated 3 July 2009 addressed to the Secretary of the Venice Commission, Azerbaijani authorities requested an opinion on the draft Law “About obtaining information on activities of the courts of Azerbaijan”.
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02/07/2009 - 03/07/2009
Odessa - Representatives of the Venice Commission participate in an international conference entitled "Quality of Elections: making democracy strong", organised by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives. The participants discuss issues like European election standards and their implementation in Ukraine and the next coming presidential elections in Ukraine. The conference is attended by representatives of the Verkhovna Rada, the Constitutional court, the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine as well as by representatives of NGOs and international organisations.
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29/06/2009 - 02/07/2009
Trieste, Italy - The first in 2009 training for civil servants of sixteen participating states on "Policies on the protection and social integration of immigrants, and their implementation at the international, national and local level" at the Palazzo del Ferdinandeo, Largo Caduti di Nasirya n° 1.
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26/06/2009 - 29/06/2009
Albania - The Venice Commission will provide legal assistance to the parliamentary elections observation mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
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24/06/2009 - 26/06/2009
Cotonou - The Commission participates in the 5th Congress of ACCPUF on "Constitutional Courts and Crises".
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18/06/2009 - 19/06/2009
Tallin – Upon invitation by the Supreme Court of Estonia, the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice of the Venice Commission holds its 8th meeting in Tallin.
A main topic of the meeting will be the draft Statute of the new World Conference on Constitutional Justice of which the Joint Council is to become a founding member. Other topics will be the co-operation with the various regional and linguistic bodies uniting the constitutional and supreme courts (Arab, Asian, European, French speaking, Ibero-American, Southern African, Young Democracies), the publication of the Bulletin on Constitutional Case-Law, improvements in the CODICES database (www.CODICES.coe.int) and the Venice Forum, which enables quick on-line exchanges between the Courts.
The meeting will be followed on 19 June by a 'mini-conference' on the execution of constitutional court judgements. The participants will seek to identify solutions to problems with the execution encountered in some countries .
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12/06/2009 - 13/06/2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
Armenia - - Freedom of religion
The Armenian National Assembly has requested the assessment by the Council of Europe of the draft amendments to the law on freedom of conscience and on religious organisations. These amendments concern in particular the conditions for registration of religious associations. The assessment has been carried out jointly by the Venice Commission, the Legal and Human Rights Capacity Building Division of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs, and the ODIHR Advisory Council on Freedom of Religion and will be discussed at the next Plenary Session.
Serbia -– criteria for judges and prosecutors
At the last plenary session on 13 June, the Commission has adopted two opinions, at the request of the Ministry of Justice of Serbia, on:
(1) the draft Criteria and standards for the election of Judges and Court Presidents; and
(2) the Rules of procedure on criteria and standards for the evaluation of qualification, competence and worthiness of candidates for bearers of public prosecutor’s function.
THE DRAFT CRITERIA ON JUDGES are welcomed by the Venice Commission and are on the whole in line with European standards. However the Venice Commission raises reservations with respect to the manner in which the various skills are going to be evaluated and balanced against one another. It is important that a proper evaluation is carried out and that these criteria are not simply treated as a numbers exercise.
The draft criteria have partly addressed the Venice Commission’s concerns about the re-appointment procedure for existing judges, who have not been guilty of any wrongdoing, notably with the presumption that these judges fulfil the criteria in this draft. However, this presumption can be overturned, and in this respect, the Venice Commission advises that caution be applied.
It seems to the Venice Commission that the timeframe for the implementation of the re-appointment procedure, which is currently 1 December 2009, is very short.
THE DRAFT CRITERIA ON PROSECUTORS are very detailed, comprehensive and form a good basis on which to establish objective criteria for the appointment and promotion of prosecutors. They provide for a concrete and objective evaluation of prosecutors, carried out by the State Prosecutorial Council, an authority that provides guarantees of impartiality and competence.
The main concerns raised by these criteria relate to the following:
• the risk of an over mechanistic approach to statistical information concerning workloads and the like, and
• evaluating persons through the use of questionnaires by their colleagues which are filled anonymously poses some risks, which could be overcome by introducing some safeguards to avoid the possibility that a prosecutor could be evaluated unfairly.
In addition, the evaluation procedure is going to require much work from the prosecutors and from the State Prosecutorial Council. It is therefore important that the persons responsible for the evaluation be able to take on this duty under conditions that will lead to a fair outcome.
Opinion on constitutional reform in Ukraine
The Commission adopted, at the request of the Permanent Representation of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, an opinion on the proposal of President Yushchenko for a new version of the Constitution. The Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Mr Onishchuk, took part in the discussions.
The Venice Commission notes that the draft provides clear improvements both with respect to previous drafts and to the current Constitution. These improvements are particularly apparent with respect to the provisions on the judiciary and the prosecution service. Here the draft no longer reflects the Soviet model of prokuratura but a model of the prosecution service in line with European standards and in compliance with Ukraine’s commitments to the Council of Europe.
The Venice Commission also welcomes that the draft abandons a number of questionable provisions of the current Constitution, e.g. on the formalised majority coalition in the Verkhovna Rada, on the so-called imperative mandate, the double responsibility of the Cabinet of Ministers to the President and to the Verkhovna Rada and the distinction between ministers appointed on the proposal of the President and ministers appointed on the proposal of the Prime Minister.
According to the Venice Commission, opinions on one of the major innovations of the draft, the establishment of a second chamber, may differ. Advantages and drawbacks of this solution have to be weighed carefully.
Other proposed amendments receive a more critical assessment. The requirement that all constitutional amendments require a referendum risks making the Constitution excessively rigid and the expansion of direct democracy at the national level creates additional risks for political stability. While changes with respect to the position of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are not dramatic, they tend to decrease the autonomy.
Finally, the Commission notes that the draft describes the powers of the state organs more precisely and that it removes a number of sources of tensions between them. Nevertheless, in view of the Commission it is not evident that the draft attains its main aim of putting an end to the constant institutional conflicts between the main state organs. The draft maintains a semi-presidential system with a double executive and areas of potential conflict between the President and the Cabinet of Ministers remain.
The imperative mandate and "recall" practice are contrary to the principle of free and independent mandate
The imperative mandate and "recall" are procedures through which citizens have the right to revoke or replace an elected official before the end of his/her mandate. This concept of imperative mandate is widely rejected in democracies although some countries have used this institution to try to solve a particular problem (the "political nomadism" or "floor-crossing", the defection of a political party or change of affiliation).
The report, which was adopted by the Venice Commission on 12 and 13 June 2009, concludes that at present, the imperative mandate and the "recall" is not practiced in European countries. The Commission has repeatedly argued that the disqualification of a representative capacity for changing of his/her political affiliation violates the principle of a free and independent mandate. Even if the purpose of such measures (i.e. to prevent an elected member to "sell" his/her mandate to the highest bidder) may be treated with some understanding, the fundamental constitutional principle that prohibits any practice aimed at depriving a representative of his/her mandate, should prevail as a cornerstone of the European democratic constitutionalism.
Increased use of private military and security firms - Venice Commission opinion
The Venice Commission addressed the questions raised by the increased use of private military and security firms (PMSCs) in the light of the proposals made by the Parliamentary Assembly in its Recommendation 1858(2009), which calls for the elaboration of a new instrument on this matter. The Venice Commission considers that some of the issues taken up by the PACE – while undoubtedly of international concern – are not appropriate for inclusion in a Council of Europe treaty. Other parts of the PACE recommendation could form the basis of future treaty provisions. However, for a number of reasons analysed in the report, a Council of Europe treaty on the subject of PMSCs would, at the present time, be very time-consuming and problematic to draft.
Nonetheless, certain of the issues taken up by the PACE are suitable subjects for a Committee of Ministers recommendation, such as the invitation to the CoE member states
1) to review their national laws dealing with registration/licensing of PMSCs, to see if these provide a proper degree of regulation of the extraterritorial activities of PMSCs,
2) to review their criminal legislation to determine whether there is jurisdiction over serious offences committed by personnel of PMSCs and
3) to review their civil law systems to determine whether it is possible to make claims for damages for extraterritorial civil wrongdoing against PMSCs incorporated in the state.
Joint guidelines on media analysis during election observation missions
This document summarises more developed guidelines adopted previously by, inter alia, OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission. It aims at giving tools for analysing how media can influence the electoral process. It focuses on the following issues:
o voters’ right to receive information;
o candidates’ right to impart information;
o the media’s freedom of expression.
In particular, it examines issues such as news coverage, free airtime and paid advertising.
Report on the impact of electoral systems on women’s representation in politics
Following a request of the Committee on equal opportunities for women and men of the Parliamentary Assembly, the Commission adopted a report on the impact of electoral systems on women’s representation in politics.
This report concludes that there are a wide variety of socio-economic, cultural and political factors that can hamper or facilitate women’s access to parliament.
Among the institutional factors, both the electoral system and gender quotas can strongly influence women’s parliamentary representation. Among other factors favourable to women’s representation are:
o district size ( number of seats per district);
o party “size” (i.e. number of seats per party);
o thresholds (excluding small parties).
In addition, it shouldn’t be forgotten: the electoral systems aim to fulfil a number of objectives, and women’s representation may oppose some of them (e.g.: the most proportional representation possible).
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Adopted documents
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12/06/2009 - 13/06/2009
Podgorica – The seminar is organised jointly with the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro.
The new Law on the Constitutional Court, adopted in October 2008, introduces individual complaint to the Court. The Venice Commission gave its opinion on a draft (see link below). The seminar aims at providing international experience on how this important institution for the protection of human rights can be best implemented in practice.
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Opinion on the draft law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro CDL-AD(2009)030
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12/06/2009
Venice - The Enlarged Bureau of the Commission met with the Presidential Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
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Adopted documents
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