By Michel Cousins.
23 December 2014:
Plans by the Constitutional Drafting Assembly (CDA) to release a first draft of some of the chapters . . .[restrict]of the new constitution tomorrow, the 63rd anniversary of Libya independence, have had to be delayed, a CDA source has said.
There would, nonetheless, be a statement from the assembly tomorrow, he stated. Continuing reports that a draft constitution was ready to be released for public consultation are completely untrue, the Libya Herald has been told by members of the CDA.
Some chapters of the planned constitution are ready to be presented to the public and civil society organisations for feedback. But work on others has not even started, CDA member Elbadri Mohamed Sherif told this newspaper. The final draft of the constitution, to be put to Libyans in a referendum was “a long way off yet”, he said last week.
Speaking in Tunis, he explained that eight committees had been set up to draft specific chapters of the constitution. Some had just one chapter to produce. Others two. He himself headed a committee dealing with two: the Rights and Freedom chapter and the Transitional Procedures chapter. The latter is concerned with setting the framework to right all the wrongs suffered by Libyans since Qaddafi seized power in 1969 until now – including injustices committed since the revolution.
The first draft of the Rights and Freedom chapter was about 85-percent ready, Sharif disclosed, but work on the Transitional Procedures chapter had only just begun. The Rights and Freedom chapter was, in fact a Bill of Rights setting out all aspects of citizens’ civil rights – freedom of speech, a free press, freedom to set up organisations, to take political action; rights for women, for the disabled, for children, for what he called “cultural communities” – meaning groups such as the Amazigh, the Tebu and the Tuareg.
But the chapter would not spell out specific rights. Divorce, for example, would be left to a law to be created, he said, but such a law would have to conform to the constitution. And the constitution, Sharif stressed, would say that men and women had equal rights. Likewise, all groups in the country, such as the Amazigh or the Tebu, would have their right to express their cultures guaranteed in the constitution. That would, he added, include state support for such cultures. In practice, it would mean support for Tamzight teaching in schools or Tamzight television.
On the Transitional Procedures he said, general rules would be set up for dealing with injustices since 1969, such as property and assets seized and people killed. “All resources and assets taken [since 1969] must be returned or compensated. All state property must be returned,” he stated. The rights of those who had been displaced, in particular those displaced as a result of the revolution, would be addressed, he said, mentioning specifically the Tawerghans, the residents of Reyayna and the Mashasha.
“There are many refugees across Libya. They have to be returned home. And it is the responsibility of the state to compensate them and get them home.”
However, the chapter would be looking not only to justice but also to reconciliation. It would draw heavily from the experience of South Africa and its post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“We have to know the truth – from the Qaddafi regime and after the revolution.” Libya certainly was not going to ignore the experience of other countries in writing the constitution, Sharif added. “We’re looking to getting advice from outside” in regard to various parts of the constitution, whether it be from the South Africans on reconciliation and justice or from the East Europeans on returning property seized by the state. “We’re quite open and believe strongly in getting others’ experience.”
Public consultation was a key element in the drafting process, insisted Sharif who was in Tunis at the beginning of last week along with five other committee heads to consult with Libyan activists and members of the public who had to leave their homes because of the current crisis and were now staying in Tunisia.
“We believe in public consultation”, he said. “There has to be widespread public discussion.” In the case of the Rights and Freedom chapter, what was being drafted was but “a preliminary proposal” for activists and the general public alike to comment on and make their own proposals.
Through meetings, seminars and via a Facebook page, the suggestions would be fed back to the committee which would assess them and then come up with a revised chapter. “We will review all that is proposed.” This would result in a second draft which would be sent to the CDA for incorporation into the final proposed constitution.
It, if passed, would then be submitted to Libyans to approve (or reject) in a referendum. “We’re now at the first stage” he explained. But “we are making a constitution for all Libyans”. As for general points such as whether Libya should have a presidential system, a parliamentary one or be a constitutional monarchy, these were not yet being addressed, Sharif explained. Proposals for them would come later. For the moment, the work was on the chapters that were going out to the public for assessment. The first offerings were about to be made public, Sharif promised. [/restrict]
