773.4.1 The advisory councils and documentation centres
3.4.3 The Centre for Legal and Judicial Studies
The Centre for Legal and Judicial Studies was created by law no. 93-43 of 26 April 1993.
It is a public administrative institution, with legal personality and financial autonomy, and operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice The administrative and financial organisation of the centre and the details of its functioning are set out in decree no. 94-454 of 21 February 1994, amended by decree no. 2005-2146 of 4 August 2005.
3.4.3.1 Organisation and structure
The Centre for Legal and Judicial Studies consists of a general director, a scientific council, a scientific committee, a study unit, a criminology unit, a consultation unit, a publication unit, and a secretariat.299
The centre is headed by a general director, appointed by decree at the proposal of the Minister of Justice. The members of the scientific council, who do not belong to the centre, are appointed by decree of the Minister of Justice for a three-year term. The chair of the scientific council can enlist the assistance of any person qualified to give an opinion when examining a specific question. In terms of its composition, this council is dominated by the executive.300 Civil society is not represented, and the appointment of academics and researchers is subject to the sole decision of the supervising ministries.
296. Decree no. 2000-884, art. 2.
297. Idem, art. 1.
298. Interview with Abdelsattar Ben Moussa, Ombudsman, Tunis, 26 May 2017 299. Decree no. 94-454 as amended and supplemented by decree no. 2005-2146, art. 2.
300. The scientific council consists of the general director for the centre, the heads of the study, criminology, consultation and publication units, a general counsel from the judicial services and an inspector from the general inspectorate of the Ministry of Justice (and Human Rights), the research director at the Supreme Judicial Council, two academics specialising in law, proposed by the Minister for Higher Education, and a researcher proposed by the Minister for Scientific Research, Technology and Skills Development.
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In his or her capacity as rapporteur, the general secretary of the Centre for Legal and Judicial Studies acts as secretary for the council and keeps minutes of its meetings.
3.4.3.2 Responsibilities
Study and research: in order to develop and adapt national legislation and to clarify major legal questions relating to the application of the law at the request of the relevant governmental bodies, the centre is tasked with organising, promoting and publishing research, organising conferences and seminars in the legal field, and supporting the publication of research by the ministry.
Legal opinions and consultations: the centre is responsible for carrying out legal consultations both internally and externally, and for preparing, at the request of the relevant ministries, responses to issues on which international organisations have requested opinions.
Communication and exchanges: the centre is required to organise international cooperation with governments and government organisations in the legal field and to promote Tunisia’s achievements in the field of justice by publishing pamphlets on this topic. It is also tasked with contributing to more effective use of computers in the legal domain and in the functioning of the courts. Finally, it is tasked with compiling legal texts and various documents and making them operational, as well as promoting and protecting the national judicial heritage.
In practice, the centre has followed the work of the secretariat of the national council for organising legislation.301 Subsequently, the centre also contributed to drafting the bill on the Human Rights Instance under the authority of the Ministry for Relations with Constitutional Bodies, Civil Society and Human Rights.
301. Decree no. 2003-262 of 4 February 2003 on the establishment of the national council for organising existing legislation and regulations, JORT no. 12, 11 February 2003, p. 360.
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W
hile the immediate aim of this study is to map and analyse the state infrastructure for the protection and promotion of human rights in Tunisia, its principal objective is to contribute to the debate on the reform and development of the Tunisian human rights system. This study shows that there are a significant number of state actors with the mission of protecting and/or promoting human rights in Tunisia. These actors have a wide range of statutes, general or specific mandates, and functions. The initiatives and reforms that are under way have been the subject of numerous political or media debates and discussions between experts, and have repercussions at the regional or international level. This study therefore suggests a number of paths to follow in attempting to resolve, in a pragmatic and long-term manner, some of the challenges and difficulties faced by the Tunisian human rights system.In an effectively functioning national human rights system, each actor has a well-defined role to play, alone and in liaison with the other state or private actors at the national level, and in some cases with the international and regional mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights. The actors contribute, within the framework of their mandate, to the establishment of public policy and laws that are directly or indirectly related to the protection and promotion of human rights. They also participate in a certain number of procedures and processes in which they play a well-defined role.
Tunisia faces two major challenges in relation to the state actors for the promotion and protections of human rights. Firstly, each actor’s status and mission need to be clarified. As shown by this study, most state actors are currently undergoing varying degrees of transformation, or in some cases being replaced by new actors altogether. These transformations and reforms are the result of the transitions from the Ben Ali era to the 2011 revolution, and then from the period of post-revolutionary transition to the current period, in which the regime established by the 2014 Constitution is being implemented. The second challenge concerns the slow pace of implementing new institutions. While actors such as parliament, government and the courts have been operating since 2011, it appears that the other key institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights must address problems relating to institutional set-up, funding, or human resources. With the new constitutional bodies not yet established, work has come to a standstill or been very limited in numerous areas.
It is therefore vital that all these actors receive the financial and human resources needed to get to work. Only then will they be able to play the role assigned to them, establish priorities for their actions, and examine how they can interact with the other state and private actors in the national system for the protection and promotion of human rights. All these actors must therefore understand their respective roles and avoid any unnecessary encroachment on each other’s mandates. The national human rights institution can thus play a role in facilitating dialogue between the government and civil society, but can never act as a substitute for either.
4. PERSPECTIVES
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Independent state actors are the pillars of the national human rights system. The more numerous they become, the more it is vital to focus on their relations – in terms of interaction and cooperation – with each other or with the other actors in the national human rights system (government actors and authorities or non-state actors). In the case of Tunisia, it is important to reflect on the insertion of independent actors, whether old or new, into the institutional landscape and on the interactions that should or could develop between them