Judicial training for judges from Indonesia and Asia

ClientEarth and The Research, Development and Judicial Training Centre for Law and Judiciary of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia (JTC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 2 May 2023. The MoU is to collaborate on judicial training for judges from Indonesia and Asia on topical matters of environmental and climate law.

The training will be supported by the Indonesian Centre for Environmental Law (ICEL), the JTC's long-standing collaborator for judicial trainings in Indonesia. ICEL is one of the leading environmental non-profit organizations in Indonesia and has a rich history of supporting the judiciary through legal trainings advancing the understanding of environmental law, sustainability, and impacts of climate change while also strengthening environmental governance and enforcement.

This initiative comes at an important time - Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country and is home to some of the world’s most precious biodiversity. However, it suffers from air, freshwater and marine pollution, rainforest conversion, overfishing, illegal logging and mining, and is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

The training will draw on ClientEarth’s experience in organising judicial trainings in China, JTC’s track record in organising environmental law training and certification for Indonesian judges as well as ICEL’s know-how in capacity building in Indonesia.

The main objectives for this cooperation are:

1. To increase the legal capacity and knowledge of judges from Indonesia and Asia on global legal developments on environmental and climate issues that are particularly pertinent in Asia;
2. Strengthen judicial capacity in key areas of environmental and climate law, and developing resources on key legal and scientific developments across Asia-Pacific region to assist in more effective adjudication of disputes; and
3. Provide a platform for judicial members to exchange information and experiences.

Speaking to Kompas TV, Chief Justice Prof Dr Muhammad Syariffudin, of the Supreme Court of Indonesia said, “It is our hope that our judges will really understand environmental law, how to implement it, how to enforce it, so that if cases occur in our country, they can be enforced as well as possible, not only according to our expectations, but also according to the expectations of the world, because this world belong to all of us, and it is not only for us but also for future generations.”

Justice Bambang Hery Mulyono added “One of the examples of where more training is needed for certified environmental judges is advanced training in special areas such as procedures, for issues that require scientific evidence, or how we assess environmental losses.”

Raynaldo G. Sembiring, ICEL’s Executive Director said “This initiative is important as the next stage of environmental judge certification training. This initiative becomes essential as beside being a forum to exchange the knowledge, the training will be strategic as well to present the progress of Indonesia environmental judge certification to other countries”. Dimitri de Boer, ClientEarth’s Regional Director of Programmes, Asia said “It is an honour to be working with the JTC on such a momentous programme, and to facilitate environmental capacity development of judges from Indonesia and the region. We look forward to a fruitful partnership and thank JTC for the entrusting us with such an important role to play in Indonesia.”