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Ref: 36/2005

Date: 13 February 2005

Time: 12:00 GMT   

PCHR Organizes a Workshop on the Draft Amended Law of Judicial Authority 

On Sunday morning, 13 February 2005, PCHR organized a workshop in its offices in Gaza City on the draft amended law of judicial authority, in the context of its efforts to ensure the independence and fairness of the Palestinian judiciary. 

During the workshop which was attended by a number of judges, lawyers and interested people, the speakers were: Furaih Abu Meddain, the former Minister of Justice; Sa’di al-Kuronz, Head of the Budget Committee at the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC); Ishaq Mahanna, Member of the Higher Judicial Council; and Ibrahim al-Daghma, President of the Legislation Council. The workshop was also attended by Mohammed al-Qiq representing Minister of Justice Nahid al-Rayes, Mohammed Edghaish representing the Attorney General Hussein Abu ‘Aassi, and Tariq al-Deerawi representing member of the Legal Committee at the PLC ‘Abdul Karim Abu Salah. 

Director of PCHR Raji Sourani opened the workshop, which focused on amendments related to salaries of judges, asserting the importance of the independence of the judiciary and the efforts made to promulgate the Law of Judicial Authority to promote the rule of law and democratic principles. Mr. Sourani stated that PCHR has worked on the issue of the independence of the judiciary and expressed pride for the promulgation of the Law of Judicial Authority. He further asserted that the proposed amendments are not constitutional and that making changes to salaries of the judges and putting them under the responsibility of the General Personnel Council would damage their independence and those salaries are a basic right that must not be damaged. 

In his intervention, Mr. Furaih Abu Meddain emphasized the importance of the issue salaries in its relation to the independence of the judiciary; he called for the non-application of the law on legal professionals who do not work in the judiciary, such as legal clerks. In his intervention, Dr. Sa’di al-Kuronz rejected the link between the independence of the judiciary with financial affairs as these matters are related to the general budget. He further asserted that the tables of salaries were not approved by the PLC and the law was ratified without the PLC having approved these tables. In his intervention, Mr. Yousef al-Shanti highlighted the problems faced during the appointment of judges, which did not take into consideration the conditions that must be fulfilled by judges.  In his intervention, Mr. Tariq al-Deerawi explained that Mr. ‘Abdul Karim Abu Salah, Member of the Legal Committee at the PLC, rejects the amendment made to the tables of salaries and transferring the responsibility for judges to the General Personnel Council.  In his intervention, Mr. Ishaq Mahanna emphasized that the proposed amendments are unconstitutional will make judges subject to the Law of Civil Service, which can effectively damage the independence of the judiciary.  He asserted that acquired rights can never be undermined, and raised a question on the reasons that made some parties criticize the Law of Judicial Authority and the table of salaries judges but not other employees.  In his intervention, Mr. Ibrahim al-Daghma emphasized that the PLC has the right to amend the law but under a number of limitation, including not undermining acquired rights. He further considered the amendments a form of collective punishment against all judges.  He also refuted claims that salaries of the judiciary constitute a heavy burden on the general budget as the amount paid for salaries of the judiciary and the Legislation Council is US$ 880,000, while the budget devoted to all state employees is US$ 60 million. 

There was a consensus among the participants to reject the amendments to the Law of Judicial Authority, especially those related to Judges’ salaries, questioning the reasons for making these amendments two years following the ratification of the law. 

In the conclusion of the workshop, the participants made the following recommendations:

1)               To make efforts to cancel these amendments to protect the independence and dignity of judges.

2)               To hold a meeting between the Higher Judicial Council and the PLC’s Budget Committee to discuss outstanding issues. 

3)               To organize another workshop at PCHR’s offices to discuss administrative amendments made to the law. 

PCHR has followed all development concerning the independence of the Palestinian judiciary. PCHR always makes efforts to ensure the independence of judges to be able to carry out their duties fairly and transparently.  In this context, PCHR has sent a number of letters to concerned parties on the independence of the judiciary and dangers of undermining it.  The latest of these letters was sent to the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas on 7 February 2005, in which PCHR expressed its deep concerns at ongoing efforts at the PLC to amend Law 1 of 2002 on the Judicial Authority, and provided its comments on the proposed amendments.   

“END”

Public Document

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For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 – 2825893

PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org