Max Planck Foundation organises the fourteenth workshop for members of the Somali Boundaries and Federation Commission
On 10 October 2016 the Max Planck Foundation organised a workshop for the Boundaries and Federation Commission of Somalia on constituent unit participation in foreign affairs. The workshop is part of a series of knowledge building training by the Max Planck Foundation and was attended by all nine members of the Boundaries and Federation Commission.
The accession to and implementation of international treaties is imperative for Somalia’s statebuilding process. The lack of a central government in Somalia over previous decades has led to an informal and ad hoc approach when it came to the relationship of Somalia’s regions with international partners. Somalia’s Provisional Constitution, adopted in 2012, does not provide clear guidance on the formal powers given to the federal member state governments with regard to foreign affairs. Moreover, Somalia’s regions have promulgated their own constitutions, mandating their regional governments with the power to engage in international affairs.
It is at this juncture that the Max Planck Foundation provided this workshop on “Constituent Unit Participation in Foreign Affairs” to members of the Boundaries and Federation Commission. In fulfilling its mandate, the Commission is required to consult with various regions of Somalia on boundary demarcation. The Commission also undertakes the role of discussing what effects border demarcation will have regarding the powers which newly demarcated regions are given – foreign affairs being one of them.
The workshop forms the fourteenth workshop delivered under the Foundation’s project “Support to the Federalisation Process”, which is financed by the German Federal Foreign Office. The project supports key institutions in the Somali federalisation process through the provision of continuous legal assistance and capacity building.