Appointments Should Improve Judicial System
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said that both judges and the Lebanese wanted a good judicial system. He added that judicial appointments were the appropriate place to begin in order to ensure Lebanon had a good judicial system. He acknowledged however that “in Lebanon, we have to balance between the so-called independence of judicial authorities on the one hand and constitutional requirements introduced by the Taif Accord on the other hand.”
“What is the meaning of the independence of judicial authorities if the appointees obey political decisions, not to mention partisanship, which was lately rejected by the president?” he asked during the opening of the regional conference for a “Good Judicial System and Criminal Justice” on Saturday. Najjar also called for the judicial system to be apolitical and questioned the purpose of judicial appointments if they were not designed to improve the judicial system.
Najjar said that the issue of criminal justice was not less important than the danger of attempting to create a proper judicial system. “Lebanon suffers from terrorism, assassinations and the existence of impunity, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated yesterday when he tackled the issue of the international tribunal in Lebanon,” Najjar said.
He stated that the issue of criminal justice was related to human rights, prison safety and the treatment of prisoners. He added that it also included issues of building maintenance and good administration. Najjar said he had chosen the path toward encouraging a quality judicial system, and that judges and lawyers were seeking reform.
Najjar said that reform could only be achieved through a reliance on individual credibility because the time of positive discrimination was over, as all sects had credible representatives. “Reform should overcome sectarianism… because justice is one and the judicial system should not be partitioned,” he said.