Making Constitutions Work Post War
Insights from Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka
A Virtual Workshop
20-21 August 2020
This workshop was a joint initiative of the Laureate Program in Comparative Constitutional Law and Constitution Transformation Network at Melbourne Law School.
We examined questions and issues on constitution-making in post-war contexts, including but not limited to, the following topics:
- State building through constitution-making;
- Local initiatives, movements, leadership etc in post-war peace building, and state building as they relate to constitution-making;
- Relevance of international law, the United Nations and other international actors;
- Direct public participation and consultation; and
- Transitional justice.
Draft papers of invited speakers (available via this website) were the basis for discussion at the workshop.
Thursday 20 August 2020
Times listed are in Australian Eastern Standard Time. To convert time to other locations visit https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
| 14:00 - 14:10 | Open Workshop - Professor Adrienne Stone | ||
| 14:10 - 14:15 | Introduce Workshop - Dinesha Samararatne | ||
| Session 1 | |||
|
14.15 - 14.45 14.45 - 15.15 | Mr Sanjayan Rajasingham 1a. Innominate Constitutions and Power: Sharing in Sri Lanka Mr Iain Payne 1b. Constitutionalising the Warscape in Nepal: Transformation in Exceptional Times Discussant: Mr Rohan Edrisinha Chair: Dr Erika Arban | ||
| 15.15 - 15.30 | Break | ||
| Session 2 | |||
|
15.30 - 16.00 16:00 – 16:30 | Dr May Thida Aung and Professor Khin Khin Oo 2a. Constitutional Amendment, Peace Process and Military Involvment in Myanmar's Democratic Transition Dr Bipin Adhikari 2b. The Nepalese Experience in Making Constitutions Work in the Post-Conflict Scenario Discussant: Dr Dinesha Samararatne Chair: Dr Anna Dziedzic | ||
| 16.30 | End of Day 1 | ||
Friday 21 August 2020
Times listed are in Australian Eastern Standard Time. To convert time to other locations visit https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
| 14.30 - 14.45 | Welcome and Preliminaries - Dr Dinesha Samararatne | ||
| Session 3 | |||
14.45 - 15.45 | Mr Rohan Edrisinha 3a. Constitutional Reform for Conflict Resolution: Lessons from Sri Lanka and Nepal Dr Dinesha Samararatne 3b. Public Participation in Constitution Making Post-war: Insights from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar Discussant: Emeritus Professor Cheryl Saunders Chair: Ms. Leena Rikkila Tamang | ||
| 15.45 - 16.00 | Break | ||
| Session 4 | |||
| 16.00 - 16.30 16.30 - 17.00 | Ms Prakritee Yonzon 4a. Making the Constitution Work: Insights from Nepal Dr Isabelle Lassee 4b. Post-war Reforms in Sri Lanka: The Politics of Prioritization and the Case for Political Expediency Discussant: Professor Tarun Khaitan Chair: Professor Jeff Redding | ||
|
17.00 - 17.15 17:15 - 17.30 | Themes Emerging from the Workshop. Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders Way Forward & Closing Remarks - Dr Dinesha Samararatne | ||
| 17.30 | End of Workshop | ||
The workshop is organised by Dr Dinesha Samararatne of the Laureate Program in Comparative Constitutional Law at Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne. Please direct queries about the workshop to laureate-constitutions@unimelb.edu.au