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Zaid Al-Ali

International assistance

The role of international or external support for national processes of constitution building has an instrumental impact on the design of these processes and the institutional choices that ultimately are framed in constitutions.

Training programme

The new Constitution Builders CONNECT Resource – is an interactive training tool that reinforces sharing experiences as a means to building the capacity of practitioners to solve some of the dilemmas that they face in constitution building.

Handbook

The Handbook reviews and discusses some of the institutional and procedural design choices that practitioners have recently considered during contemporary constitution building.

Issue papers

Selected issues are considered at length based on emerging and ongoing dialogues among practitioners and specialists.

Multimedia

A collection of multimedia resources from and about constitution-building processes.

Web links

The web links provide a comprehensive list of relevant organizations and partners working in constitution building and related subjects.

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Amidst increasing human casualties in what has virtually become a civil war, the regime of President Bashar Al Assad - which protesters are demanding to step aside - has issued a draft Constitution which it is proposing to put to referendum later this week. The draft Charter proposes to abolish the one party state dominated by the Baath party for the last forty years, and to establish a multi-party system.  Multi- party elections will then be held within four months of the referendum vote.

South Sudan’s President, Salva Kirr, is coming under fire since issuing a decree constituting a 45 - member National Constitutional Review Commission on January 9.  The Commission, which is tasked with writing a permanent Constitution to replace the interim Charter, is made up of part time and permanent members.

Hungary’s new Constitution, which was adopted in April 2011 went into force, amidst popular protests, as of January 1, 2012. The Constitution replaces the old Charter of 1949, which was heavily amended in 1989 during the transition from Communism. In a New York Times article entitle 'Hungary's  Constitutional Revolution', Princeton University's Kim Lane Scheppele has described the judiciary as being hit the hardest by the new Constitution.

The debate on abolishing presidential term limits has once again moved to the fore in ongoing discussions on political reforms in Burkina Faso. In a three day conference from 7-9 December, participants -mostly sympathisers of the ruling party debated the tiopic.

Tunisia’s newly elected Constituent Assembly last Saturday, 10 December adopted an interim constitution, following five days of deliberation. The interim constitution will reestablish state institutions and allow for a new government to be appointed. It also paves the way for the election of a new President of the Republic who must be at least 35 years of age, exclusively Tunisian and of the Muslim religion.