Parliamentary Forum for Democracy shares experience with young Tunisian leaders

June 26, 2013

Representatives of the Parliamentary Forum for Democracy (PFD) visited Tunisia on June 13-15 to participate in a training of the Tunisian School of Politics. At the three-day event, the Forum delegation members shared their knowledge and experience in a series of lectures and seminars aimed at the School's students- young Tunisian political leaders.

The Tunisian School of Politics was launched in 2012. In the light of the democratic transition in the country, its vision is to train the new generation of Tunisian democratic leaders and politicians on democratic values, institutions and practices, in order to consolidate the democratic culture in the country. Since the School's establishment, it has enjoyed close cooperation with the PFD, and this has been the second event of the School in which the PFD is represented.

Transitional justice, one of the most debated transition-related topics, was the theme of the current event. Presentations were given by former member of the Dutch Senate, Hanneke Gelderblom-Lankhout, and PFD Secretary General and former member of the Hungarian Parliament, Matyas Eorsi. Domas Petrulis, member of the Lithuanian Parliament, presented the Lithuanian experience of transitional justice, focusing on the reform of the constitutional and legal framework upon the establishment of the state in 1992. Mr. Petrulis' colleague from the Lithuanian Parliament, Agne Bilotaite, focused the discussion on domestic issues related to transitional justice, faced by the leaders of the Lithuanian democratic transition: the process of lustration (replacement of government officials representing the former regime), restitution of nationalized land, and legal treatment of violations of human and civic rights of the authoritarian regime. "Only a society with a restored sense of justice can overcome fragmentation and work together towards common goals", underlined the Lithuanian MP.