The spread of de-mocracy in the region needs to be accompanied by the establishment of constitutional courts, Bahrain's Constitutional Court Secretary-General Dr Fat'hi Kemicha has said.

"Constitutional courts are a prerequisite of healthy democratic development and the indispensable guardians of democratic values.

"This ensures that judicial entities that guarantee and safeguard the rights and freedoms stipulated in the constitution boost democracy and human development," Kemicha yesterday told Gulf News ahead of the Forum for the Future being held here.

"Constitutional rights would remain abstract laws if their immunity is not maintained and protected against all forms of infringement," he said.

Establishing the constitutional court in 2002, His Majesty King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa said that it was the legal shield to protect the rights of all people.

According to the Sorbonne-educated lawyer, establishing an effective constitutional court in a region where democratic institutions and practices are still embryonic is a formidable challenge.

"There is first the daunting task of overcoming deep-rooted traditions of suspicions about legal institutions. There is also the arduous tackling of ideological puzzles in order to promote the democratic acceptance of judicial review," said Kemicha who was a member of Bahrain's legal team during the border conflict with Qatar.

The third challenge was to ensure that the court must be Bahrain specific.

"Countries willing to establish constitutional courts as they build a democratic system often tend to blindly copy models that have worked well within their own environments.

"Such models do not necessarily work in the region for various reasons, including the absence of open and democratic settings and, very importantly, the lack of a court culture within society," Kemicha said.

"We are now working with the education authorities to include legal courses in the high school curriculum to boost knowledge about rights and duties," he said.

A major problem he confronted as he set about establishing the court was the definition of independence within the court.

"The court is independent in its decisions, but it is funded by public money. This meant that administrative and financial matters were to be determined by governmental establishments," he said.

A code of ethics was also important to keep possible corruption at bay. "Secrecy and impeccable behaviour were very important factors that I had to highlight when I took over my assignment," he said.