Course overview

South Sudan is currently engaged in a review process of its Transitional Constitution, which came into force on 9 July 2011, its date of independence from Sudan. The National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) was established to review the transitional constitution, conduct a public consultation process, to conduct a nationwide civic education campaign, and to prepare and adopt a new draft constitution to be taken up by a National Constitutional Conference. In this context, International IDEA is supporting the constitution building process of South Sudan, and recently held on 27-30 June in Juba a capacity building workshop titled Constitution Building for Democracy.  

On 12 July, 2013 International IDEA and Tilburg Law School held a seminar at the IDEA Hague office to stimulate discussion around what role constitutions and rule of law can play in uniting, or dividing, societies. The event attracted over 25 participants from local universities and organizations working on or conducting research on the subject.

The Round table will aim to:

(1) capture and distil practical knowledge highlighting successes/failures, as well as critical success/failure factors, strategies of engagement, and lessons learnt from minority participation in constitution building processes and implementation of minority rights provisions in specific national contexts; and

(2) establish and provide a platform to encourage and facilitate on-going discourse on issues related to broader minority political participation, and the practical benefits of minority inclusion.

Note: exact date is tentative