The British Embassy and GTZ (German Technical Corporation) today concluded a two day seminar on "Law making as one of the components of legal reform."  This seminar formed part of a co-operation agreement between the British Embassy and the National Institute of Human Rights and Democracy, and the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) project “Supporting Legal and Judicial Reform in Central Asia” in Turkmenistan.  

The main participants included, the Ministries of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Justice, the Supreme Court, General Prosecutor’s Office, the Institute of Statehood and Law, and the National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights.  

The British Embassy provided a legal reform expert, Mr Michael Sayers, to run the seminar. Mr Sayers is the General Secretary of Commonwealth Association of Law Reform Agencies, which deals with promoting international co - operation in law reform across and beyond the Commonwealth. GTZ invited their long-term legal expert for transitional societies, former Chief Justice and Minister of Justice of Georgia, Director of the project “Civil and Economic Law in the countries of Caucasus and Central Asia” at the University Bremen, Germany – Prof. Lado Chanturia.

The seminar covered the following issues; the need for law reform; choosing law reform projects; what are the current trends and challenges in law reform across the world; how undertake law reform; who can reform the law (the role of government, courts, parliament and  independent law reform agencies); what are the advantages and disadvantages of independent law reform; international co-operation in law reform; standards for legal drafting.

On the 17th of September the Embassy and GTZ are planning to conduct a round-table with Parliamentarians to exchange experiences in law reform.

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