The Institute for Somali Studies organized a two day workshop on“Constitution-Making in Post-Conflict Societies: Principles and Concepts in the Charter of Medina and the Magna Carta”for Somali young scholars in law and political science, in 8-9 December, 2015; under the Somali Young Researchers Initiative (SYRI) program.
The The Charter of Medina and The Magna Carta are one of the eldest famous constitutional documents in the world. The Charter of Medina was written fourteen centuries ago while the Magna Carta was written before eight centuries, that is six centuries after the Charter of Medina.
The Magna Carta is the Anglo-American constitutional and legal base while the Charter of Medina is belonging to Islamic Civilization.Both documents are the model of state building and foundations of rule of law after armed rivalry and political crisis, and they contains frameworks in constitution-making for post-conflict societies.
The Charter of Medina (صحيفة المدينة),also known as the Constitution of Medina, is considered the first written constitution in the world. It is written in the year 622, 1 AH, to end the intertribal fighting between the rival clans in Medina, then known as Yathrib, and to declare the formation of a multi-religious state in Medina. This charter recognized the diverse groups in the new state which is based on unity within diversity. The Charter also instituted peaceful methods of dispute resolution among them.
Magna Carta, means"the Great Charter", is one of the most famous documents in the world. It was written in 1215 as a peace treaty between the King John of England and the rebel factions. In constitutional perspective, it provided a new framework for the relationship between the ruler and his subjects.
Somalia is in its peacebuilding and constitution-making process after decades of tribal and factional armed conflicts.The Somali scholars, of constitutional law and political science, may extract principles and concepts from these two documents, within the other experiences and documents, in constitution-making for post-conflict societies.
