(ANSAmed) - RAMALLAH, MAY 23 - Yesterday a document was
signed in Ramallah on training Palestinian magistrates and on
developing a legal system at the birth of a State that has been
awaiting recognition for decades. But the agreement is also a
stage in the project meant to 'export' the Italian justice model
- considered to be a credible example of defending civil rights
- to the parts of the Mediterranean area that have felt the
impact of the Arab Spring uprising.
The document on legal cooperation was signed by the vice
president of the Italian Judiciary self-Governing Body (CSM),
Michele Vietti and the president of the High Court of the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Farid al-Jallad. The
ceremony was held during a mission attended by councillors Paolo
Corder, Guido Calvi and Paolo Auriemma, and was concluded by a
meeting with PNA Premier Salam Fayyad. Today the mission will
continue to Israel.
Arriving in an area where the fight against corruption has
just begun (this week a special Palestinian body was formed),
Vietti also mentioned the debate in progress in Italy on a new
draft law. ''Hearing people speak in Ramallah about the fight
against corruption makes me feel at home,'' he commented.
Referring to the agreement on legal cooperation, Vietti
explained that it includes ''an exchange of magistrates, already
done in the past but better organised this time, to set up a
continuous flow of information and a permanent training
process.'' It makes it possible to ''pass on fundamental values
for the protection of human rights which I believe will benefit
our Palestinian friends.''
The effort can also be an opportunity to help the key reforms
the PNA has promised to carry out: from the abolition of the
death penalty (subjected to a de-facto moratorium in the West
Bank government by President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), but
still applied in the Gaza Strip under control of the Islamic
fundamentalists of Hamas) to the abolition of extenuating
circumstances in the case of crimes committed to vindicate one's
honour.
In reality the autonomy of the Palestinian justice system is still in its early stages: more a hope than a fact. ''I have seen a well-organised and structured Palestinian High Council,'' said Vietti, ''but the autonomy of the Palestinian magistracy is very young, going back to 2002, and needs to be completed. We are like an older brother from that point of view.'' But there are also other countries in the changing Middle East that may take the Italian justice system as an example: from Egypt to Tunisia. ''I hope this will be the first of a series of agreements we will close with countries in the region,'' Vietti commented, because ''respect for the law is crucial for any other form of development: both economical and social.'' (ANSAmed).
In reality the autonomy of the Palestinian justice system is still in its early stages: more a hope than a fact. ''I have seen a well-organised and structured Palestinian High Council,'' said Vietti, ''but the autonomy of the Palestinian magistracy is very young, going back to 2002, and needs to be completed. We are like an older brother from that point of view.'' But there are also other countries in the changing Middle East that may take the Italian justice system as an example: from Egypt to Tunisia. ''I hope this will be the first of a series of agreements we will close with countries in the region,'' Vietti commented, because ''respect for the law is crucial for any other form of development: both economical and social.'' (ANSAmed).
