The leaders of constitutional courts from almost 100 countries gather in Seoul

The Constitutional Court of Korea will host the 3rd Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ), a four-day event that brings together the leaders of constitutional justice from around the world, in Seoul from Sep. 28 to Oct. 1, 2014. The Congress, on the topic of "Constitutional Justice and Social Integration", will be the largest event ever attended by the heads of constitutional courts, supreme courts and constitutional councils, as well as representatives of international organisations from nearly 100 countries around the world. This is unprecedented in the history of constitutional justice. So what is the secret behind this? What made it possible for constitutional justice to assemble the leaders of constitutional courts from all over the world despite its not-so-long history compared to other judicial jurisdictions? Maybe it is because countries around the world share the common ultimate goal of pursuing constitutional justice, namely to enhance the development of democracy, rule of law, and human rights protection through more active constitutional adjudication, despite their varying histories and different political, economic, and cultural environments.
 
The participants of the Congress are the highest-level officials of great influence over decision making in their own countries. Among them are President Andreas Voßkuhle of the German Federal Constitutional Court, who has played a leading role in the development of the world's constitutional justice, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng of the South African Constitutional Court who hosted the 1st Congress, President Ricardo Lewandowski of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil who hosted the 2nd Congress, and Chief Justice Hamdan Zoelva of the Indonesian Constitutional Court who will host the 3rd Congress of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions in 2016. Additionally, Chief Justice Robert French of the High Court of Australia will also take part in the Congress for the first time. Most participants come from Europe, followed by Africa, Asia, and America.

Under the main topic of "Constitutional Justice and Social Integration", participants from across the globe will share each other's experiences and put together their wisdom to propose solutions to the intensifying social conflicts faced by not just Asia, but the entire world. The topic, proposed by the Korean Constitutional Court and adopted by the Bureau of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice, will be discussed in five plenary sessions on five sub-topics, each of which will have a session chair, a keynote speaker, and a rapporteur. The role of session chairs will be to moderate the discussions; the keynote speakers will be invited to make introductory statements based on the members' replies to the questionnaire to serve as the basis for discussions to follow; and the rapporteurs will be invited to report on the results of the discussions at the final plenary session.

The first session will address the sub-topic on "Challenges of Social Integration in a Globalised World". The session chair will be assigned to the president of the Spanish Constitutional Court, the president of the Algerian Constitutional Council will be the keynote speaker, and the president of the Russian Constitutional Court will be the rapporteur. In the second session, the participants will discuss the topic of "International Standards for Social Integration". The president of the Constitutional Council of Morocco will be the session chair, the president of the Korean Constitutional Court will deliver the keynote speech, and the president of the Gabonese Constitutional Court will act as the rapporteur. The third session is about "Constitutional Instruments Enhancing/Dealing with/for Social Integration," which will be moderated by the chief justice of the South African Constitutional Court. A justice of the Turkish Constitutional Court will make the keynote speech, and a justice of the Angolan Constitutional Court will take part as the rapporteur. Moderated by the Assistant Secretary General of the Constitutional Court of Bahrain, the fourth session will cover "The Role of Constitutional Justice in Social Integration". The Chief Justice of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil will be the keynote speaker of this session, and a Justice of the Korean Constitutional Court will serve as the rapporteur. The last session will focus on the topic of "Independence of Constitutional Courts-Stocktaking," which will be moderated by the vice-president of the Austrian Constitutional Court. The president of the Hungarian Constitutional Court will present the keynote speech, and the president of the Constitutional Court of Dominican Republic has agreed to be the rapporteur.

During the four-day Congress, the participants will be able to see and experience the diverse aspects of Korea, such as its beautiful art and culture, long history and tradition, economic and social developments, etc. The welcome reception will be held at The Shilla Seoul, Korea's most prestigious and representative hotel that is also the venue for the Congress. The farewell dinner will be held at the National Museum of Korea, a national repository of cultural heritage that houses more than 300,000 national treasures. There are also cultural programmes for the participants and their spouses, which include tours to the Demilitarised Zone, Changdeokgung Palace and Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, and a non-verbal cooking performance NANTA.

Justice Kang Ilwon of the Korean Constitutional Court, who serves as the Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee for the 3rd Congress of the WCCJ, said: "The upcoming 3rd Congress is the third of its kind following the first Congress in South Africa in 2009 and the second Congress in Brazil in 2011. But it is also called the ‘inaugural’ Congress, being the first gathering since the World Conference officially became a permanent body. In particular, it is very meaningful that such an important Congress is being held in Asia instead of Europe that has a long history in constitutional justice. I hope that this Congress will be an opportunity to further advance democracy and the rule of law, as well as promote human rights across the Asian region."

The World Conference, a permanent forum uniting constitutional courts, supreme courts, and constitutional councils across the world, was organised to promote constitutional justice as the key element of human rights protection, democracy and the rule of law. The courts of constitutional jurisdiction across the globe have been forming regional or language-based groups in their respective regions, such as the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions, the Association of Constitutional Courts using the French Language, and the Conference of European Constitutional Courts, in their concerted efforts to share experience and knowledge. And the Venice Commission, which acts as the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters, has been providing support in these activities. In this context, it has come to the attention of the Commission that these regional, linguistic groups should be expanded to a global scale by involving all courts exercising constitutional jurisdiction around the world.

In January 2009, the Commission held the first Congress jointly with the Constitutional Court of South Africa, which signalled the first step in the history of the World Conference. The Commission also held the second Congress in cooperation with the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil in January 2011, and the draft statute of the World Conference was made more specific on that occasion. This draft statute was adopted at a meeting of the Bureau of the World Conference in May 2011 and came into force in September the same year, finally taking shape as a permanent body. In its initial stage in 2011, the World Conference had only 30 constitutional courts/councils and supreme courts as members. But within three years, the membership increased dramatically to 91 countries (as of August 2014) and the members have engaged in active exchange and cooperation since, which has developed the World Conference into the world's highest-level forum on constitutional justice in the true sense of the word.

Development of constitutional justice in Asia and the Korean Constitutional Court

Since its establishment in September 1988, the Constitutional Court of Korea has constantly worked to share its achievements with other countries over the past 26 years. The Court has transferred its experience and knowledge to many Asian countries through partnerships and exchanges, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Thailand, and Turkey. Recently, the Court also played a leading role in creating a regional forum for constitutional justice in Asia, namely the "Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions," and hosted the Association’s Inaugural Congress in 2012. As of July 2010, the Association started with seven member countries: Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Uzbekistan. However, the number of member countries increased to 14 with Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Russia joining within only a few years, and thus the Association has grown into a regional group of constitutional courts representing Asia. Moving forward, the Association is expected to further promote constitutional justice in the Asian region.