Ref: 20/2009
Date: 23 June 2009
PCHR Stresses Illegitimate Nature of Legislation Passed under Political Fragmentation and the Ministerial Decision Concerning Non-Profit Companies during a Workshop in the PLC
On Tuesday, 23 June 2009, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) participated in a workshop organized by the Economic Committee in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), in cooperation with the Ministry of National Economy in the Gaza Government. The workshop discussed amendments to the Non-Profit Companies Bylaw. PCHR was represented by Mr. Eyad Alami, Director of the Legal Aid Unit.
During the workshop, Mr. Alami expressed PCHR’s reservations regarding all legislation passed under the current state of political fragmentation, whether enacted by the Change and Reform Bloc in Gaza on behalf of the PLC, or Presidential Decrees issued by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank on the basis of a lack of quorum in the PLC.
Mr. Alami stressed that the PLC was established to unite the various legacy laws applicable in the OPT (including Ottoman, British Mandate, Jordanian, and Egyptian laws) and to establish a single unified legal system to replace the two systems that were effective in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Mr. Alami further emphasized that despite PCHR’s reservations regarding the PLC’s performance since its establishment in 1996, the PLC had made some steps towards uniting these legislations, most significantly via the codification of the Basic Law, which serves as a temporary constitution for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Preventing the PLC from assuming this role, and utilizing it to enact laws and legislations which strengthen fragmentation – resulting in a return to the era of two separate legal systems in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank – undermines the essence and legitimacy of the PLC’s role.
Mr. Alami expressed PCHR’s concern over the disruption of the PLC’s basic mission: monitoring the Executive’s performance. The Executive is divided into two governments in Gaza and the West Bank both of which carry out their jobs without parliamentary observation. Additionally, the PLC is completely sidelined, especially with regard to financial issues as there are no approved budgets, no clear information about financial performance and no transparency and accountability.
Concerning the ministerial decision (8) of 2009 related to the Non-Profit Companies Bylaw issued by the Minister of National Economy in the Gaza Government, Eng. Ziad al-Zaza, Mr. Alami asserted that the decision violates the Basic Law as it was issued by unauthorized body according to the provisions of the Bylaw.
Mr. Alami noted that the wording of the ministerial decision related to the Non-Profit Companies Bylaw violates the Company Law of 1929, so it constitutes an amendment or abolition of provisions, which is of the PLC’s mandate rather than the Executive or one of its ministers. Accordingly, the decision can never be named a system or a bill, rather it is an amendment or abolition of legal texts of Law 18 of 1929, and placing new legal provisions, a power that has never been afforded to any minister in the PNA.
In the end of the workshop, Mr. Iyad Alami presented a position paper issued by PCHR concerning its reservations on all legislations enacted under the state of political fragmentation, and a legal memorandum concerning the ministerial decision (8) of 2009 related to the Non-Profit Companies Bylaw, to Dr. Aatef Edwan, the Head of the PLC Economic Committee.
