Second Workshop with the Supreme Constitutional Court of Palestine on the Implementation of International Law by Constitutional Courts
On 10-11 October 2018, the Foundation delivered a two-day workshop on “Implementation of International Law by Constitutional Courts”. The workshop was formally inaugurated by HE Dr Mohammed al-Haj Qasem, President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Palestine (SCCP), HE Ambassador Birgitta Siefker-Eberle, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Jordan, and the Foundation’s Country Manager for Jordan.
The technical content of the workshop focused on comparative constitutional jurisprudence on the implementation of international law by constitutional courts and supreme courts and the processes by which courts adjudge the application of international law over domestic law. The ensuing discussions addressed in detail the application of international law by constitutional courts in various jurisdictions. Of particular interest was the jurisprudence of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt (SCCE). Judge Dr Adel Omar Sherif, Vice-President of the SCCE, was invited as an international expert to provide a practitioner’s perspective on this topic. Other discussions explored in detail the jurisprudence of Palestinian courts on international law to date, including some recent decisions of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Palestine on the application of international law in Palestine. The sessions also presented the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on international law, as well as the principle of proportionality and its application by courts from a comparative perspective.
The cooperation with the Supreme Constitutional Court of Palestine is one component of the Foundation’s project on “Raising Technical Capacity and Technical Knowledge of Judges of the Constitutional Court (Jordan and Palestine) and Judges of Ordinary Courts in Jordan (2017-2019)”. The project is generously supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.