The participants with the INLUCC President, Shawki Al-Tabib (centre), and the German expert Dr. Helmut Brocke (on his left) (photo: Wassim Bougdar, INLUCC) Tunisia
On 10 and 11 March 2020, IRZ organised an exchange of experiences on “Combating Corruption in Sport – Applying the Law in Sport” in partnership with the Tunisian National Anti-Corruption Authority (INLUCC = Institution Nationale de Lutte Contre la Corruption). Whilst Tunisia has already ratified all the relevant international and regional conventions on preventing and combating corruption, the subject continues to be topical. Corruption is a relevant topic in politics, public administration, justice and civil society, such as sports associations. Prior to this event, it was reported in Tunisia that sports clubs are increasingly being financed by companies and that the bribery and corruption of referees is rising. There are also problems with invitations to tender and with elections within sports associations. It was reported that there has recently been an increase in tax fraud and money laundering in the sports industry. The Tunisian justice system does not include any form of arbitration to cover sports issues. This led to the establishment of the following main topics of conversation for the exchange of experiences:
good governance in sports associations in Germany and Tunisia
codes of conduct and the management of sports associations
mechanisms for combating and preventing corruption in Germany and Tunisia
arbitration and alternative dispute resolution
Sport is also the largest civilian movement in Tunisia and, following the 2010 revolution, sports associations now need to establish their new roles in the division from politics. At the same time, sport has high expectations of the government and state administration. Over the course of the two-day event, all the important representatives from the Ministry of Sport, state controlling bodies and sports associations were represented and positioned themselves with speeches and interventions. On the Tunisian side, the event was organised by
Shawki Al-Tabib, President of the National Anti-Corruption Authority,
Ahmed Galoul, Minister for Youth and Sport, and
Mehry Boussaine, President of the National Olympic Commission in Tunisia.
Representing IRZ at the event was Dr. Helmut Brocke, a lawyer and former Senior District Manager.
The topic of "Combating Corruption in Sport” was met with a great deal of interest from sports associations, as well as from the worlds of politics, justice, administration and, not least, the media. With participants from a wide variety of backgrounds, many different points of view were presented and discussed. An intense exchange of experiences took place throughout both days of the event. There are plans to continue the cooperation with the INLUCC.
Background information
With the help of institutional funding, IRZ has been organising bilateral projects on legal reform with its Tunisian partners since 2011. The exchange of experiences detailed above was a continuation of the opening event on “Combating Corruption – Mechanisms and Prevention”, part of the working programme for 2019 and 2020 organised by the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection and the Tunisian Ministry of Justice, which took place in Tunis in October 2019.
Work session on the first day of the conference Tunisia
On 18 and 19 December 2019, the IRZ, in partnership with the “Provisional Authority for the Examination of the Constitutionality of Draft Laws” (IPCCPL) and the Supreme Judicial Council of Tunisia, organised a two-day conference in Tunis on “The Principle of Proportionality: Significance, Scope, Control Mechanisms”. The event was held as part of the judicial reform project in Tunisia, which the IRZ implemented between 2017 and 2019. The project was supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The conference was part of project component III supporting the development of the Constitutional Court in Tunisia. The creation of a Constitutional Court was set out in the Tunisian constitution of 2014.
The conference dealt with the principle of proportionality, its significance and historic roots in German and Tunisian law and with issues concerning the suitability of the principle for dealing appropriately with the limits, challenges and considerations in the context of constitutional law.
The following experts from Tunisia and Germany gave lectures at the event:
Prof. Dr. Sami Jerbi, IPCCPL and a professor in private and commercial law at the University of Sfax in Tunisia
Winfried Schubert, former President of the Constitutional Court of the State of Saxony-Anhalt
Sondes Bachnaoui, a judge at the Constitutional Court of the North Tunisian province of Kef
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Gaier, a former judge at the German Federal Constitutional Court
Prof. Dr. Mustapha Ben Letaief, a professor in public law at the Law Faculty of the University of Tunis, Tunisia
The experts established that the lack of uniformity in the way judges interpret the law in Tunisia is down to the absence of a functional constitutional court in Tunisia. Without a constitutional court, the implementation of “straightforward” standardised legal principles presents a problem for members of the supreme courts. In Tunisia, this affects judges at the Court of Cassation as well as administrative judges. After all, the passing of unconstitutional legislation can only be revoked by a constitutional court. The absence of this controlling body also hinders straightforward civil and criminal jurisdiction in general and implies legal uncertainty for all judicial authorities.
The principle of proportionality was generally perceived by the Tunisian participants as a suitable test for the administration and application of the law and is increasingly being applied not only in public law but also in a similar form in Tunisian civil and criminal law.
Since the parliamentary elections held in Tunisia in September and October 2019, the Tunisian government has been working intensively under the newly elected President without a party, Kais Saied, to set up a workable constitutional court. Once the act on setting up a constitutional court law has come into force, the court will be able to formally start work. However, this is being prevented from happening because of the failure of Parliament to agree on the appointment of suitable candidates for judges.
Until the time when the Tunisian Constitutional Court becomes fully functional, the IRZ is advising the IPCCPL with specialist expertise. The aim of this project is to support the political and legal institutions of judicial and executive authorities in the execution of the functions that are embedded in its constitution. In concrete terms, this means that the IRZ plans to continue with the constitutional support it has provided until now. However, more time is still required to achieve these objectives.
Participants and speakers at the conference in Tunis Tunisia
On 12 and 13 December 2019, the IRZ, in cooperation with the Tunisian Administrative Court (Tribunal Administratif), the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and the Arab Union of Administrative Judiciary (Union Arabe de l‘ordre Administratif) organised an international conference on “Administrative jurisdiction and election disputes” in Tunis. The event was held as part of the judicial reform project in Tunisia, which the IRZ coordinated between 2017 and 2019 with the support of the German Foreign Office.
The aim of the conference was to enable a multilateral exchange of experiences on the subject with EU member states and partner countries of the entire MENA region. High-ranking representatives of supreme administrative and constitutional courts from Germany, Egypt, France, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia took part in the event, speaking about the legal framework for election verification processes in their own countries. The conference was opened by the President of the Tunisian parliament. From Germany, Prof. Dr. Christine Langenfeld, a judge at the German Federal Constitutional Court, and Michael Groepper, a former judge at the German Federal Administrative Court, were appointed by the IRZ to take part in the conference.
Prof. Dr. Langenfeld gave a lecture focussing on the legal framework for parliamentary elections in Germany. She also talked about electoral freedom, which should guarantee that the process of political opinion forming remains free and independent. Michael Groepper pointed out that a specific feature of the German legal system is its federal nature. This makes it very different from the centralist system in France, which the Tunisian legal system, for example, has also largely been based on until now. Due to the considerable differences compared with the German system, the lectures provided an interesting basis for discussions.
The Tunisians talked about the latest developments in the legal system and the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections. Overall, they found that both elections were a success and this was also confirmed by election observers from other countries. The positive development of the election process has inspired trust and credibility in civil society. However, Tunisia’s transition to a democratic constitutional state still has major challenges to face. In this respect, the participants discussed the role of the media during election campaigns and the role of civil society, political parties and foreign observers in the monitoring of election campaigns.
The conference continued the ongoing cooperation with the Tunisian Administrative Court and was the follow-up event to a seminar on “Election complaints and the legal evaluation of election results in election disputes”, which the IRZ organised as part of this project alongside the Tunisian Administrative Court on 8 and 9 July 2019 in Tunis.
