The Secretary-General of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) and also the Head of the Permanent Secretariat for Planning and Coordination M. Guntur Hamzah attended the Meeting of Secretaries-General of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC), which the Constitutional Court of Mongolia as the AACC President organized virtually on Thursday, March 31, 2022. At the meeting, he conveyed the progress report of the MKRI as a Permanent Secretariat of the AACC for Planning and Coordination (SPC).

“I am grateful for the improving world situation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As a mandate of the amendment to the AACC statute at the Board of Members Meeting (BoMM) in Solo in 2017, the AACC has three permanent secretariats in different locations: the Permanent Secretariat for Planning and Coordination in Jakarta, the Secretariat for Research and Development in Korea, [and] the Secretariat for Training and Human Resource Development in Turkey,” he explained.

AACC Work Programs

At the meeting, he gave a brief report on the implementation of the AACC SPC programs in August 2021-March 2022, where four AACC secretariats formed a synergy. “Since the MSG and BoMM by the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan in August 2021, we have been supporting the meetings of the four secretariats involving the Constitutional Court of Indonesia, the Constitutional Court of Korea, the Constitutional Court of Turkey, as well as the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan as the Secretariat of the AACC President at the time. The four secretariats’ meeting took place once again when the Constitutional Court of Mongolia became President for 2022-2023. In August 2021-March 2022, the four secretariats had convened twice, on November 9, 2021 and March 17, 2022. Overall, at the meetings, the work plans, evaluation of the secretariats, and the preparation for the MSG, Congress, and BoMM were discussed,” Guntur explained.

In addition, Guntur added, the AACC provided communication support. As the SPC, the MKRI continues to communicate intensively with AACC member states and prospective AACC member states, especially in supporting the MSG, BoMM, the 5th Congress, the transfer of the AACC presidency from the Constitutional Court of Mongolia to the Constitutional Court of Uzbekistan for 2025-2027.

Guntur also revealed that the AACC had held a Conference between the AACC and the CCJA (Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa). The AACC had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CCJA in 2017, agreeing to develop their well-established cooperation through various joint activities. After being postponed for several years, in 2022, the AACC-CCJA Conference will be held as a starting point for cooperation between the two associations. The MKRI will host this conference at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center on October 4, 2022.

The SPC also had continued to update its website and the AACC LO WhatsApp group, on which it to disseminated information and improve cooperation between the AACC member states.

5th WCCJ Congress

The MKRI will also host the 5th Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ) on “Constitutional Justice and Peace” on October 4-7, 2022 in Bali. As part of the event, it will also host the first AACC-CCJA Congress on October 4, as well as the AACC short course for legal officers in the member states and the ICCIS (Indonesian Constitutional Court International Symposium) on October 5-6.

“On this occasion, I would like to encourage to all of the AACC member states to inform us of your international events so that all member states will be able to participate more in those events,” Guntur explained.