Foundation conducts first training for members of the Somaliland Parliament

Capacity building workshop on Different Legal Systems and Legislative Drafting Standards.

On 2 March 2022, the Max Planck Foundation organised the first workshop for members of the House of Representatives of the Somaliland Parliament on the topic of Different Legal Systems and Legislative Drafting Standards. The workshop was held in Hargeisa for more than 30 members and supporting staff of the House of Representatives and was formally opened by his Excellency, Hon. Sa’ed Mire Farah, First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The EU funded project envisages four workshops on the Somaliland system of law-making and legislative drafting from a comparative perspective for selected members of the House of Representatives of the Somaliland Parliament. Each workshop includes a presentation on the topic from a comparative perspective, a practical working group assignment and a plenary discussion.

This first workshop was built on an introductory workshop conducted in October 2021 in the context of a needs assessment mission for the Somaliland Parliament. Accordingly, it provided a good insight into the topic “Different Legal Systems and Legislative Drafting Standards”, which is a pertinent topic in Somaliland with its mixed legal tradition ranging from Somali customary law to the British common law system, Italian civil law system and Islamic Sharia.

The workshop on Different Legal Systems and Legislative Drafting Standards and overall capacity building for members of the House of Representatives of the Somaliland Parliament were well received. The participants, including the first Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, greatly appreciated the beginning of the planned workshops and generally the support that the Somaliland Parliament started receiving from the Max Planck Foundation.