Advocates from across the region selected in a competitive process met in Tunis January 15-16, 2013 for the opening session of the program “Informing the Constitutional Moment” funded by National Endowment for Democracy.
The program is centered on fostering a regional network of youth advocates of rule of law to be better able to participate in constitutional debates in their home countries in part through shared experiences and comparative analyses of constitutional solutions for the most pressing and challenging issue. Moderated by RN Chairman Chibli Mallat, the conference—“Integrating the Islamic/Middle Eastern legal traditions in a 21st century constitution”—brought together promising youth activists from
the MENA region with experts including Prof. Baber Johansen of Harvard, Sayyed Hasan Bahr al’Ulum of the Najaf hawza, and leading Tunisian human rights defenders Ahmed Karaoud, together with Hachemi Ben Frej, a veteran civil society leader and Prof. Jawhar Ben Mbarek, founder of leading Tunisian constitutional initiative Doustourna. Special background papers had been prepared by Bahr al-‘Ulum and Mallat.
Session I of the conference focused on a deep line of thought in Islamic law from the great Hanbali jurist Ibn ‘Aqil through to the jurisprudence of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) of Egypt, now under threat, and the recent experience of constitutional courts across the region. Session II examined issues of citizenship equality, minority rights, and sectarian divisions, especially on gender, with strong contributions from advocate Zahra’ Langhi; and Session III addressed the practical ways to a bill of 
rights that integrates religious values and tradition with modern/secular texts. The importance of drawing on the rich Middle Eastern and Islamic traditions in law, and specifically to focus on the creative potential of Arab constitutional conventions – both non-Islamic and the Islamic fiqh– in addressing constitutional transitions underway was emphasized.
A network of constitutional advocates was formed and follow-up meeting considered. Further communications by participants on various constitutional topics are planned, as well as the publication of the papers and most important debates in the workshop. Selected content from the conference will be made available on this site. For updates join our mailing list here.
List of participants:
Salwa Abdel Wahed
Yussef Auf
Hasan Bahr al’Ulum
Krystel-Rare Bassil
Hachemi Ben Frej
Jawhar Ben Mbarek
Laurence Blattmer
Karim El Chazli
Islam Chiha
Hanouf Al Hazzaa
Baber Johansen
Salem Mostafa Kamel
Ahmed Karaoud
Zahra’ Langhi
Pietro Longo
Farea Al Muslimi
Chibli Mallat
Tamer Mallat
Khaled Oweiss
Mara Revkin
Ilyes Zine
