Juan Sebastián Villamil Rodriguez from Universidad del Rosario speaking at the call-for-papers, Thursday (7/11) in Nusa Dua, Bali. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

BALI, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) as the Permanent Secretariat for Planning and Coordination of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC) organized a call-for-papers on Wednesday (6/11/2019) in Nusa Dua, Bali. The event was the MKRI’s effort to encourage Indonesian and foreign experts, researchers, and academics to share ideas, experiences, and intellectual thoughts in the development of constitutions in the world. The event was under the theme "Constitutional Court and the Protection of Social and Economic Rights."  

On the second day, Juan Sebastián Villamil Rodriguez of the Universidad del Rosario presented a paper entitled "Structural Rulings and the Protection of the Right to Enjoy a Healthy Environment: The Role of the Judiciaries in the Enforceability." He talked about the protection of environment rights in a judicial decision, which is important in protecting the survival of human habitats so that they can also enjoy other rights such as a healthy environment. From a comparative legal perspective, Rodriguez observed the structural decisions that were first used in environmental law in India in the context of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the Supreme Court of India and in Colombia. The Supreme Court has affirmed the effects of the greenhouse emission, which accelerates global warming and changes the ecosystem. Finally, they requested that the government as well as the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development tackle deforestation in the Amazon so that it would not have a wide impact on global climate change.

Barriers to State Development

Next, Ángel Aday Jiménez Alemán from the University of Vigo, Spain presented a paper entitled "Under Pressure: The Spanish Constitutional Court Facing the Housing Right During the Great Recession." In his presentation moderated by Judhariksawan from Hasanuddin University, Angel revealed that the recession in 2008 affected Spain, especially regarding housing right. In this situation protection provided by supranational and international bodies was stronger compared to that offered by the state, including the Constitutional Court. He believed the economic crisis proved that the obstacle to state development is social problems related to the protection of the basic rights and civil liberties of citizens based on the principle of interconnectivity.

New State Constitution

Then, Svetlana Karamysheva of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation presented a paper entitled "Protection of Socio-Economic Rights by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation." She talked about the practices of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in socio-economic rights. Through statistical data, Karamysheva found that socioeconomic cases had decreased. However, there has been an increase in the number of complaints related to property ownership right. "Based on these statistics, the consistency of the court\'s role in the transition period can be seen," she said.

Karamysheva said that the Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted during a national referendum on December 12, 1993, giving birth to a new state constitution. This then marked the beginning of the transition in Russia to a new political system based on the rule of law and respect for human rights. The drafters of the Russian Constitution at that time took three important steps. First, making a list of rights and freedoms that met international provisions. Second, providing new guarantees by strengthening the institutional system, both federal and regional, aimed at protecting human rights and preventing violations of human rights. Third, pushing for Russia\'s accession to the international justice system that guarantees citizens’ constitutional rights to appeal to international jurisdiction, when all domestic methods cannot prevail.

The call-for-papers is organized by the MKRI’s Center for Research and Case Review. It is part of The 3rd Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (ICCIS 2019). It will take place for two days (6-7/11/2019). In each session, selected speakers from various countries present their papers and discuss them with participants from 17 countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Russia, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Turkey. (Sri Pujianti)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti