On 28 and 30 November 2022, the Max Planck Foundation held its second workshop for judges from the Administrative Section of the Supreme Court of Mali on the topic of the protection of fundamental rights by supreme administrative courts.
The workshop was officially opened by the President of the Supreme Court of Mali, Justice Fatoma Thera who lauded the expertise provided by the Foundation. This was further emphasised by Dr. Kirsten Staudt, Chargée d’Affaires at the German Embassy in Bamako who attended the workshop opening which was broadcasted on national television.
As provided for in the latest constitutional draft, the workshop sought to pave the way for the introduction of an indirect access procedure before the Constitutional Court of Mali, in which the Supreme Court of Mali is likely to play a crucial role in its operations. Against this backdrop, the complementarity between the two apex courts in the area of the protection of fundamental rights was highlighted not only within the framework of operation of the indirect access procedure involving the two Courts but also beyond. Indeed, the Workshop underlined the fact that the Administrative Section of the Supreme Court provided an alternative forum before which petitions from Malian citizens could be entertained when their rights had been infringed. This was also shown in comparative examples from the sub-region and beyond while Justice Djougal Cissé from the Supreme Court shared his insights through two presentations.
The President of the Administrative Section of the Supreme Court of Mali acknowledged in his closing speech a gain in knowledge as a result of the two workshops organised in the framework of the project “Support to the Transitional Process in Mali”, generously funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.