2020-12-01

West Bank

West Bank / Announcement / Core Program / position paper

The National League for the Protection of the Constitution and MUSAWA: The dismissal of the two constitutional court employees requires accountability

We recently reviewed two news in the National League for the Protection of the Constitution and the Musawa Center: The first is that the President of the Constitutional Court has ratified the decision to dismiss two female employees in the Constitutional Court based on the recommendation of an investigation committee as announced to the public, and the second is the statement issued by the Constitutional Court in which it warns against dealing with this issue and misleading Public opinion regarding it, as if the statement issued by the court does not lead to misleading public opinion.

We were not surprised by the National League for the Protection of the Constitution and in Musawa from this statement as it comes in the context of the role of this court in denying the values ​​and principles on which the constitution is based. The most evident of this is its unprecedented decisions, whether related to the authorities or human rights, as it decided with unusual boldness to dissolve the Legislative Council, and also approved the dissolution of the judiciary, in contradiction to the simplest concepts of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary, and other decisions that contradict the human rights system.

Nevertheless, the decision to dismiss employees comes in a new context, which is the suspicion of the administrative and financial aspect that the president of the court also exercises in contradiction to the law and the foundations of good governance where he court pursues two female employees for carrying out their duties dictated and protected by the Basic Law by reporting serious suspicions of corruption about the administrative and financial performance in the court, which calls for the highest degrees of scrutiny and protection by all authorities and agencies that are supposed to exercise oversight over public performance and combat corruption.

As is also expected, most of the civil, human rights and media organizations did not play any role in supporting this case, whether in terms of finding out its details or conducting an independent investigation about it. Rather, these authorities considered it a source of tension for relations between them and the official authorities. It is worth mentioning that these organizations are still practicing the same approach until today, contrary to the requirements and justifications of their very existence.

In light of this, the National League for the Protection of the Constitution and Musawa announce their clear position by standing by the two employees in this suspicious case, and calling for an independent, impartial and efficient investigation in all its circumstances, and issuing a report to the public that includes all the circumstances and conditions of this case, including suspicions that have been raised, the investigation of the evidence presented therein, and what this evidence might lead to if a professional, serious and impartial investigation was conducted regarding it, and the roles of the various parties in dealing with them, especially the circumstances of revealing the identity of the informants, and failure to provide protection for them in accordance with the law, and holding accountability those involved, fair compensation for the victims, and learning lessons from them to ensure that they do not happen again.

END

The National League for the Protection of the Constitution "Dostor"

MUSAWA - The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession

01-12-2020