Regional seminar on transitional justice in Middle East and North Africa - role of parliamentarians

The National Human Rights Council (CNDH) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) hold a regional seminar on the role of parliamentarians in transitional justice processes in the Middle East and North Africa, on the 18-19 of December 2013, at Golden Tulip Farah Hotel in Rabat. 

The seminar will bring together parliamentarians from a range of political parties, members of the parliamentary human rights committees and/or legislative drafting committees, and representatives of national human rights institutions from 10 countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.

It aims at promoting exchange of experiences and good practices, as well as discussing challenges regarding legislative processes in the participants’ respective contexts. The seminar will address, in particular, the role of parliamentarians in transitional justice processes. It will flesh out what roles can be played by the parliamentarian at national consultations stage; at the level of eliminating hurdles for equal access without discrimination to accountability, truth seeking, reparation, and institutional reform.

The participants will discuss the role of parliamentarians in national consultations on transitional justice processes; the legislative steps for creating effective inquiry and truth commissions; the possible steps to eliminate legislative hurdles to achieve accountability, etc.

Participants are expected to gain a broader understanding of the good practices in their own role as parliamentarians, NHRIs or state officials in adopting legislative steps that contribute to a meaningful transitional justice process according to international standards. The recommendations to be adopted by the participants in the final session should contribute to consolidating interaction among parliamentarians and their role in the transitional justice processes in various countries in the region.

The opening of the seminar will be held on Thursday, December 19, 2013 at the Golden Tulip Farah Hotel, Rabat, at 9 a.m. Mr. Frej Fenniche, Head of the Middle East Section, OHCHR, Mr. Mohamed Mikhlafi, Minister of Legal Affairs in Yemen, Mr. Mahjoub El Haiba, Inter-ministerial Delegate for Human Rights, and Mr. Driss El Yazami, CNDH president will open the seminar.