Discussion at the 5th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (ICCIS), Thursday (10/6/2022) at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali. Photo by MKRI.

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Thursday, October 6, 2022 | 18:47 WIB

BALI (MKRI)—Dr. Miriam Cohen from Université de Montréal, Canada; Zsolt Szabó from Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church, Hungary; and Dr. Yance Arizona from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia presented their papers on human rights and the role of the Constitutional Court in protecting the citizens’ basic rights at the 5th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (ICCIS) at the 5th Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium (ICCIS) at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Bali on Thursday, October 6, 2022.

Dr. Yance Arizona from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia talked about vertical conflicts of land ownership and management in Indonesia in terms of access for land and forest resources through his presentation entitled “The Constitutional Court and Forest Tenure Conflicts in Indonesia.” He revealed that since the colonial era, forestry regulation has facilitated restrictions on the ability of local communities to benefit from land and forest resources, while also concentrating power in the hands of the state. In order to uphold state ownership, forestry law criminalizes customary practices, putting local communities at risk. In this sense, conflicts between local communities, corporations, and government agencies arise due to structural issues in the legal framework of laws and regulations that undermine the land rights of local communities.

He further explained that through its rulings such as Decision No. 95/PUU-XII/2014, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia has contributed to settling conflicts on forest areas through judicial review of the Forestry Law. “We found that the Constitutional Court has made a positive contribution to addressing the deficiency of forest legislation regarding local and customary land rights. The implementation of the Constitutional Court’s ruling is not, however, a matter of self-implementation. The ruling of the Constitutional Court will only have significance if it is continuously promoted by various stakeholders in support of forest tenure reform to facilitate the resolution of forest tenure conflicts,” Dr. Yance said in his presentation, which was responded by Roy Andrew Partain from University of Aberdeen, Scotland and Merry Christian Putri from the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia.

Supreme Court’s Role in Disputes

In the session moderated by Dhiana Puspitawati from Brawijaya University, Dr. Miriam Cohen delivered her presentation on “Conflict Resolution in Human Rights Cases: The Evolving Role of the Supreme Court of Canada.” In a multicultural society, guided by democratic principles, the rule of law, and the protection of human rights, a supreme court plays a crucial role in the settlement of disputes.

In a system where fundamental rights, such as the right to life, liberty and equality are guaranteed by the Constitution, the Supreme Court of Canada occupies a position of guarantor of constitutional norms as the final court of appeal, she asserted. Its role has however evolved in the years, and through different compositions of the Court, and will likely continue to evolve.  “The paper has argued that in a country based on a system of constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy such as Canada, the SCC has a key role in guaranteeing human rights in situations of conflict between competing rights or interests,” she said.

Next, Zsolt Szabó from Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church, Hungary delivered a presentation titled “Theoretical Framework of the Judicial Control of Parliamentary Procedure,” alongside responders Rosa Ristawati from Airlangga University and Oly Viana Agustine from the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia. Through his presentation, Szabó wanted to convey an overview of internal political disputes in resolving violations of the law and reviewing the constitutionality of laws and regulations in Hungary.

The 5th ICCIS is a side event of the 5th Congress of the WCCJ and takes place on Wednesday-Thursday, October 5-6, 2022. Through the 5th ICCIS, the MKRI called on all academics, practitioners, and legal researchers to discuss various perspectives in strengthening the Constitutional Court’s roles.

Writer           : Sri Pujianti
Editor          : Tiara Agustina
Translator     : Ayu Wulandari
Editor          : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/7/2022 14:26 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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