Algiers – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed today an agreement with the Constitutional Council of Algeria to support a set of reforms that institute accessible procedures to enable ordinary citizens and legal persons to ensure that laws applied to them comply with the constitution.

President of the Constitutional Council, His Excellency Mr. Mourad Medelci, and United Nations Assistant Secretary General and UNDP’s Regional Director for Arab States, Mr. Mourad Wahba signed the four-year agreement, ending in 2021and requiring close to USD3.5 million in funding.

“We greatly appreciate the trust that the Constitutional Council is placing in UNDP through the agreement that we are signing today, and we are commitmetted to providing the best support to fulfill its objectives,” said UN Assistant Secretary General Wahba. “UNDP has accompanied many constitutional processes around the world, providing technical and substantive support, that is grounded in our unwavering respect of the sovereignty of national constitutional processes and the imperatives of neutrality and impartiality that always guide our actions.”

The Constitutional Council’s endeavour to enhance the efficiency, openness and accountability of its operations will require three parallel tracks of work, included in the agreement: 1) strengthening the effectiveness of the Constitutional Council itself to be better equipped to deal with proceedings appealing unconstitutionality, through technical support and exchange of experience; 2) supporting the development of necessary legal texts framing and structuring procedures to appeal unconstitutionality of laws; and 3) informing and enabling all actors involved, including citizens, legal professionals and government institutions, to be able to avail themselves of and apply such procedures effectively.

This effort by the Constitutional Council comes within the context of constitutional reforms introduced in the latest revision of the Algerian Constitution, adopted in 2016. Paving the way towards more inclusive and effective democratic governance, these reforms strengthen the rule of law and open constitutional jurisdictions to citizens that give them more control over the implementation of guarantees that the Constitution affords to them.

For further information, please contact:

Nassima Benzitouni, Communication Associate,
United Nations Development Programme in Algeria
Address: 41 Rue Mohamed Khoudi El Biar-Alger Algeria
Email: nassima.benzitouni@undp.org
Mobile: + 213 6 6140 0660