INFORMATION AND ANALYTICAL SECTOR
of CONSTITUTIONAL COURT of UKRAINE
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Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Mykola Melnyk and Serhii Sas participated in the International Conference on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the state independence of the Kyrgyz Republic
The conference was attended by the chairpersons and judges of the Constitutional Courts of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, as well as experts of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, representatives of public authorities, academiс community and international organisations. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kyrgyz Republic Mykola Doroshenko also participated in the above event.
The aim of the conference was to exchange experience and views on practices and trends of the constitutional control in system of checks and balances.
The conference was opened by the Chairman of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic Mukambet Kasymaliiev, who noted that the topic of the conference was very important for all democratic countries, and Kyrgyzstan was not an exception on that list. "The running of conference in Kyrgyzstan that has international significance and is dedicated to place and content of the bodies of constitutional control in the effective implementation of checks and balances system between the branches of state power is very important and responsible for us", he added.
Chief of Staff of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Farid Niyazov addressed the participants of the conference with opening speech and transmitted greetings of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic for the participants of the international conference. "It is so symbolic, that so representative and important conference is organised in the year of the 25th anniversary of the state independence of Kyrgyzstan. To build democracy and the law-based state our country has passed a difficult and dramatic way. Unfortunately, not always the Constitutional Courtperformed the high mission inherent to the body of constitutional control in a democratic state,"said President of the Kyrgyz Republic Almazbek Atambayev in his greeting.
UNDP Programme Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan Alexander Kashkarev, welcoming participants on behalf of UNDP, emphasised on the importance of the topic of the conference, and that the principle of separation of powers was one of the main principles of the law-based state, supported by the UN as well. "The role of constitutional courts as guardians of the law significantly increases. It is difficult to overestimate the activities that bodies of constitutional control provide in strengthening the rule of law, in the maintenance of the system of constitutional balances, in shaping the legal culture of population, in the correct interpretation of the Constitution. They help settle power conflicts and find a long-term and stable legal solutions, rather than political ones", he noted.
Within the framework of the conference international participants, deputies of the Jogorku Kengesh of the Kyrgyz Republic, experts and academics delivered thematic presentations.
Deputy of Jogorku Kengesh of the Kyrgyz Republic, a member of the Committee on constitutional legislation, state structure, legal and judicial issues and the Rules of Procedure of the Jogorku Kengesh of the Kyrgyz Republic Cholpon Dzhakupova stressed that the Constitutional Chamber insufficiently responded the challenges that surrounded it. She said that the body had not made any declaration in 2015, when draft laws amending Constitution were brought for public discussion. The amendments were related to several issues: appointment of heads of local bodies, parliamentary immunity as well as transformation of the status and powers of the constitutional court.
In her opinion, there is a low access to justice for citizens. She said that most appeals to the Constitutional Court were rejected.
Yet, the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Aldis Laviņš noted that it was not surprising. According to him, inLatvia the number of applications accepted for consideration was less. "For 2015 we have received more than 300 applications and only about 10% of them contained all the necessary elements and could be grounds to start proceedings," he admitted.
Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhii Sas highlighted that the key point to determine the unique role of the Constitutional Court in the balance of state powers was the state’s function to exercise constitutional control.
In turn, member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe Vladimir Grosu noted that constitutional justice was an essential element in maintaining system of checks and balances of the constitutional democracy and when other public authorities allowed public attacks on bodies of constitutional control, independence, objectivity and neutrality of the institution were at risk. "If public authorities express their disagreement with the decisions of the bodies of constitutional control, they should make clear that court decisions will be implemented, despite their disagreement. The Venice Commission condemns the practices that do not conform to the rule of law and separation of powers ", he added.
Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Mykola Melnyk presented a report, devoted to the role and importance of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in ensuring system of checks and balances between the branches of state power in Ukraine. In particular, he focused on the theoretical description of the separation of powers, provided a brief analysis of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine concerning the powers of public authorities, highlighting the kinds of competence disputes, settled by Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
During the event judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Pranas Kuconis announced the 4th Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice to be held in September 2017 in Vilnius.
Summing up the conference, Mukambet Kasymaliyev thanked all the participants of the conference for their participation, the speakers for their presentations. The participants, in turn, unanimously outlined the high level of organisation and relevance of the theme of the conference as well as special role of the bodies of constitutional control in the system of checks and balances between branches of state power, without which building of legal and democratic state would be impossible.
