Chief Justice Anwar Usman and Chief Justice Peter S. Shivute of the Supreme Court of Namibia signing of a memorandum of understanding on the side of the 5th Congress of the WCCJ, Wednesday, (10/5/2022) at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | 17:42 WIB

BALI (MKRI)—On the sidelines of the 5th Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ), the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) held a bilateral meeting with a number of delegates from the Constitutional Court of the countries participating in the Congress. On the first day of the Congress, Chief Justice Anwar Usman held a friendly bilateral meeting with the Chief Justice Peter S. Shivute of the Supreme Court of Namibia at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC), Bali on Wednesday afternoon, October 5, 2022.

In the meeting, Justice Anwar Usman welcomed and expressed his appreciation for the participation of the delegates of the Constitutional Court of Namibia in the 5th Congress of WCCJ. He also extended his gratitude to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Namibia who took part in the Congress. He said that for the MKRI, the cordial friendship with constitutional courts or constitutional judicial bodies in African countries, including Namibia, is important and strategic and needs to be improved.

Apart from the existing differences, there are certainly many similarities between the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia and the Supreme Court of Namibia, which reflect the legal cultures of Asian and African nations. Therefore, the models or experiences adopted by both courts may be an inspiration to each other.

The MKRI and the Supreme Court of Namibia inherited the spirit of cooperation and solidarity of the 1955 Asian-African Conference, which must be preserved. Moreover, as a member of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC), Indonesia has forged an organizational cooperation with the Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa (CCJA), of which the Supreme Court of Namibia is a member.

In general, the two institutions face similar contemporary challenges, especially in enforcing and protecting human rights in the current era of advanced digital technology. For this reason, according to Chief Justice Anwar, bilateral cooperation between the MKRI and the Supreme Court of Namibia needs to be improved and expanded following their respective authorities.

During the meeting, the MKRI and the Supreme Court of Namibia agreed to establish bilateral cooperation by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen the cooperation between the two institutions in constitutional law. This includes opportunities for cooperation in the institutional capacity-building programs.

The MoU promoted exchange of information and experiences to realize constitutional justice, co-organization of conferences, congresses, symposiums, and other activities. It also encouraged the development of capacity and competence of human resources in both courts through training, joint research, internships, which are to be tailored to the needs of both courts. The signing of this MoU added and expanded the scope of the MKRI’s international cooperation.

Writer        : Tiara Agustina
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Ahmad Yusuf
Editor        : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/6/2022 15:55 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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