The Azerbaijan Constitutional Court mission led by the Chairman Farkhad
Abdullayev took part in the 2nd Congress of the World Conference on
Constitutional Justice in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The congress on theme
"Separation of Powers and Independence of Constitutional Courts and
Equivalent Bodies" took place on 16-18 January 2011. The event was organized
by the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil in cooperation with the Venice
Commission of the Council of Europe.
Some 88 Constitutional Courts, Constitutional Councils and Supreme Courts
as well as the 10 regional and linguistic groups of courts from Africa, the Americas,
Asia and Europe gathered for the 2nd Congress. The Congress allowed the Courts
to discuss issues of their independence in their relations with other state
powers, especially on pressure from the executive or the legislative but at
times also from the media.
The purpose of the Congress was to enable judges to draw inspiration in
such situations from their peers in other countries, especially at a time when
constitutional justice is endangered in a number of countries.
The discussions focused on the independence of the constitutional court or
equivalent body as an institution, the constitutional independence of
individual judges and operating procedures of courts as a means to guarantee
independence. The discussions revealed that these aspects are closely
interlinked.
The participants also discussed a draft Statute for the World Conference
as a permanent body, which is expected to be opened for accession later in
2011.
Since 1996, the Venice Commission has established co-operation with a
number of regional or language based groups of constitutional courts, in
particular the Conference of European Constitutional Courts, the Association of
Constitutional Courts using the French Language, the Southern African Judges
Commission, the Conference of Constitutional Control Organs of Countries of
Young Democracy, a number of Asian constitutional courts, etc.
In the pursuit of the goal of uniting these groups and their members, the
Commission organized for the first time a Congress of the World Conference on
Constitutional Justice, which was held in Cape Town, South Africa on 23-24
January 2009 in co-operation with the Constitutional Court of South Africa and
which gathered together 9 regional or linguistic groups some 90 courts.
On the basis of a declaration adopted at this occasion, the Venice
Commission assists a Bureau in the establishment of the World Conference as a
permanent body. At their first meeting in Mexico in April 2009, the Bureau
prepared a draft statute, which was discussed at other meetings of the Bureau
on 12 December 2009 and 5 June 2010 in Venice together with questions of the
organization a second Congress.
