Chief Justice Anwar Usman inaugurating a joint conference between the Association of Asian Constitutional Court and Equivalent Institutions and the Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa on Tuesday (10/4/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Tuesday, October 4, 2022 | 14:54 WIB

BALI (MKRI)—The Association of Asian Constitutional Court and Equivalent Institutions (AACC) and the Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa (CCJA) held a joint conference on “Promoting Asian-African Cooperation For The Protection of People’s Fundamental Rights” on Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali. During the first meeting of the conference, representatives of 39 countries attended the meeting on site.

Chief Justice Anwar Usman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia inaugurated the Joint Conference of the AACC and CCJA. In his remarks, he revealed that the first conference of the AACC and CCJA was inspired by the long history of cooperation between Asian and African countries—the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955.

Today the two continents face different challenges than those that existed when the Asia-Africa Conference was organized, be it national or international. One of the challenges is running the state administration while implementing the rule of law in national and state life. Currently, Justice Anwar added, Asian and African countries have adopted the rule of law, which is realized in the establishment of independent and impartial constitutional judiciary.

“In this situation, cooperation to be encouraged between the AACC and the CCJA will be relevant, especially in implementing the rule of law and exchanging experience among the constitutional judicary within the AACC and the CCJA,” he said.

Safeguarding Human Rights Not Only State’s Duty

The citizens’ constitutional rights, Justice Anwar said, must be guaranteed by the constitution and be safeguarded by the state, whereas human rights must be guaranteed universally. Human rights were declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the United Nations and has been the standards of all nations in the world. However, he added, in line with current fast-moving global situation as well as technological and industrial advancement, safeguarding human rights is not only the state’s duty, but also that of multinational companies that might have disregarded it. He mentioned that exploitations of nature, such as mining and logging, could harm the environment and disrespect the people’s rights. Therefore, the Constitutional Court receives judicial review petitions where enacted laws are challenged for violating the citizen’s constitutional rights.

“Therefore, constitutional judiciary must carry out its role and duty independently and impartially. In addition, sometimes it is faced with resistance and intervention from various elements when handing down rulings. This can be part of a necessary discourse, as can conflicts and wars in certain regions, which may have serious impacts on the global world. Thus, this joint forum between the AACC and the CCJA can be a strategic global forum to observe such conditions in order to create peace and human rights protection for the sake of the common good. Moreover, we need to consider the establishment of the AACC and CCJA secretariat in order to facilitate communication and interaction, as well as to address rapid global developments,” Justice Anwar concluded.  

Cooperation between the AACC and the CCJA was initiated on August 9, 2017 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding, where the two organizations agreed to share experiences in exercising constitutional jurisdictions in Asia and Africa. 

The joint conference was a side event ahead of the Fifth Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ), which take place on Wednesday–Thursday, October 5–6, 2022. The congress, which 95 courts and 4 organizations attended, will be inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on October 5. In addition to the congress, the Constitutional Court of the Republic Of Indonesia will hold the 5th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (ICCIS) and the AACC International Short Course on Wednesday–Thursday, October 5–6.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari
Translator  : Ayu Wulandari
Editor        : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/4/2022 21:09 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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