Middle East and North Africa

In the Middle East and North Africa, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) administers regional and bilateral programs focusing on judicial development, women and the law, legal education, and the legal profession. These initiatives endeavor to strengthen the standing of individual countries and the region as a whole vis-à-vis international standards on judicial independence. They also support the legal rights of women and their participation in the legal profession across the region while augmenting legal professional development and legal education.

ABA ROLI programs in the Middle East and North Africa have included regional programs for members of the legal community in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. ABA ROLI maintains offices and bilateral programs in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, and Qatar.

ABA ROLI’s technical legal assistance programs are funded primarily by the United States Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development. The Dutch and British governments also provide some support to ABA ROLI programs.

Online Forum Allows Female Judges to Share Experiences

In late August, early September, approximately 400 judges, lawyers and law students from the Middle East and North Africa viewed and participated in the sixth Arab Council for Judicial and Legal Studies (ACJLS) e-forum, which focused on women and the judiciary in the Arab world. The online forum featured live chat with both proponents and opponents of women serving as judges, personal testimonies from and interviews with prominent female judges, and a video discussing the challenges of women judges. Read more »»

 

Lebanon Celebrates International Right to Know Day

On September 30, the National Network for the Right of Access to Information in Lebanon (the Network) organized a press conference in Beirut to celebrate International Right to Know Day. The press conference incorporated remarks from the Minister of State for Administrative Reform H.E. Ibrahim Shamseddine, the Minister of Interior and Municipalities H.E. Ziyad Baroud, Secretary General of the Lebanese Transparency Association Fadi Saab, Acting Program Director at the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) Marilyn Zelin, and Lebanese parliamentarians Ghassan Moukheiber, Walid Khoury and Ismail Sukkariyah. Read more »»

 

Judicial Ethics Charter Promoted in Morocco

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) is continuing its support of efforts by Hassania, the Moroccan judges’ association, to promote adherence to its Charter of Judicial Ethics. ABA ROLI assisted the association in formulating the charter, which was officially adopted in spring 2009 and is based on international judicial ethics standards. Read more »»

 

Lebanese National Anti-Corruption Network Advocates Parliament to Support Access to Information Bill

In May 2009, the Lebanese Parliamentarians Against Corruption (LebPAC) and Nahwa al Muwatiniya (Na’am), ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) partner organizations and members of the ABA ROLI-supported National Network for the Right of Access to Information, began a campaign encouraging members of parliament to support the country’s access to information bill. If passed, the bill, which fosters enhanced transparency in government, will mark an important step in anti-corruption efforts. Read more »»

 

Podcast: Jordanian Students Compete in International Moot Court

This year, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) helped prepare a team of students from Jordan University, Yarmouk University and Isra’a University to compete at the 2009 Wilhelm C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna. In this five-minute podcast, law student Salma Zibdeh, ABA ROLI Country Director Maha Shomali and Professor Nisreen Mahasneh discuss their experiences preparing for and participating in competition. Read more »»

 

Human Rights Moot Court Held in Lebanon

During July and August, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative’s (ABA ROLI’s) Lebanon office organized a mock Arab Regional Court of Human Rights, modeled after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The activity was supported by a mini-grant from ABA ROLI’s Access to Justice and Human Rights focal area. Read more »»

 

ABA ROLI Expands its Continuing Legal Education Program in Egypt

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), the Cairo Regional Centre for International Arbitration (CRCICA) and Cairo University organized two seven-week continuing legal education (CLE) programs in spring 2009. The trainings, which were attended by 50 young lawyers and recent law graduates, covered practical legal skills in legal research and problem solving, memo writing, contract drafting, oral advocacy and negotiation. Read more »»

 

Jordanian University Adopts a Professional Legal Ethics Course

Yarmouk University recently adopted a professional legal ethics course, which was developed with the ABA Rule of Law Initiative’s (ABA ROLI’s) technical assistance. Over the past year, a working group of Jordanian law professors developed a course that was both relevant to Jordan’s legal system and consistent with international standards. Prior to this effort, none of the 12 Jordanian law schools offered an ethics course. Yarmouk University will lead by launching the course this fall, while others are expected to follow suit soon. Read more »»

 

MENA Council Chairman Visits Cairo

In May 2009, Judge Robert H. Henry of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Division Council, visited Egypt to observe ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) programming. Read more »»

 

Writing Competition Helps Law Students Develop Legal Skills

On May 20, 2009, Jordan’s National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) and the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) honored 30 participants of the second annual human rights legal writing competition. ABA ROLI organized the first competition last year and assisted the NCHR in hosting the second competition with the aim of better preparing law students by teaching them practical legal skills. Read more »»

 

• MENA Council Members Meet in Jordan, Morocco and Egypt

• ABA ROLI Organizes its First Conference in the United Arab Emirates

• ABA ROLI Holds Legal Education, Legal Profession Conferences in the Gulf

• ABA ROLI Conducts First International Law School Assessment in Qatar

• Kingdom of Jordan to Host the Arab Council for Judicial and Legal Studies’ Headquarters