The Foundation delivered a 5-day technical workshop for drafters at the Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the Supreme Judicial Council and EUBAM Libya
The second and third workshops under the project were combined and held over 5 days in Tripoli in May 2021, with experts from the Max Planck Foundation and EUBAM-Libya joining via live video conference from Heidelberg and Tunis. The workshop was formally inaugurated by Yves Flocon, Head of Operations of EUBAM Libya, and the Head of Project at the Foundation, and Dr Victor Chimienti, Legislative Drafting Advisor (EUBAM Libya).
Yves Flocon welcomed the participants and thanked the Foundation for providing technical expertise and knowledge in the design, implementation and delivery of the workshop. He emphasised the importance of continued professional development in legal drafting for strong, transparent and up-to-date legal frameworks. The Foundation Head of Project welcomed the drafters of the Law Department (Idārat al-Qānūn) and introduced the rationale for the topics for the current workshop and their link with the previous workshop. He emphasised that the Foundation provides technical legal expertise from an independent and apolitical perspective, with a view to providing comprehensive training on the technical skills required in contemporary legislative drafting processes. He also emphasised that these technical skills would be extremely relevant for the future development of the legal framework in Libya during both the current transitional period and also after the adoption of the permanent Constitution of Libya.
Each of the five workshop days had a thematic focus related to technical aspects of legislative drafting, in the context of the specific competences and roles of the Law Department. The first day focused on skills and legislative drafting techniques related to the structure of legislation, the second day on statutory interpretation and limiting executive discretion through accurate and coherent legislative drafting, the third day on the incorporation of rule of law principles in draft legislation, and the fourth day covered the compliance of legislation with the constitution, constitutional principles such as proportionality and the separation of powers, and with international law and ratified human rights treaties. The final day of the workshop focused on reviewing and improving the quality of draft and existing legislation. Each day of the workshop concluded with a practical exercise related to the technical aspects discussed during the day, where participants were given the opportunity to apply what they had learned to practical scenarios.
Arabic-language technical materials, including a manual on legislative drafting covering the topics delivered as well as presentations and exercises were prepared and delivered by Foundation Research Fellows Ahmed Badr, Aymen al-Briki and Praveen Chacko Ninan. The workshop was formally brought to a close by the Head of Project from the Max Planck Foundation and Yves Flocon on behalf of EUBAM Libya, who distributed certificates of completion to participants.
The workshop represented the second and third in the series of workshops under the project, “Enhancing Legislative Drafting Skills (Libya)“, generously supported by the European Union External Action Service and the European Union Integrated Border Management Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM Libya).