Prosecutor General of the King, President of the Public Prosecution’s Office;  

Ladies and Gentlemen members of the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power;

Honorable First Presidents and General Prosecutors of the King of different Courts of Appeals;

The Supreme Council of the Judicial Power is thrilled to welcome you to our first outreach meeting with you as ethics advisors. Undoubtedly, you all know that the Council shows great interest in judicial ethics, which constitutes one of the important pillars of its strategy. The latter is based on rebuilding judicial ethics through awareness-rising, training, and litigation approaches.

The Council’s interest in professional ethics arises from the core of the judicial profession, which is derived from strict ethics. This is observable in the status ethics occupies in legal and constitutional texts regulating the judicial profession.

Fundamental principles and ethics of the judicial profession are all ethical principles, such as independence, impartiality, fairness, integrity, righteousness, loyalty, and the fair application of the law. These principles are provided for in the Constitution and the two Organic Laws of the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power, as well as in the Statute for Judges.

The Council’s Organic Law (No. 100.13) also entrusted the Council with setting a Code of Ethics that “lays down the values, principles, and regulations that judges must abide by while exercising their judicial duties and responsibilities”, to comply with the objectives set forth in Article 106 of the said Organic Law.

Furthermore, the Statute for Judges stresses respect for the profession’s honor and the judiciary’s dignity, as well as preserving its sanctity, in addition to observing judicial customs and traditions.

Therefore, the judicial profession prioritizes ethics over anything else. It is in this respect that we are constantly obliged to focus on professional ethics and called to disseminate them, build awareness about them, and train those who adhere to them. In doing so, we urge our moral compass and awaken our conscience, which oversees the application of judicial rules that come before other means of regulation and control.

Thus, the Council, whose members are on the ethics committee, seeks to bring into play the awareness role and initiate judges’ training in an effort to enable them to adhere to principles and moral values, as laid down in the code of judicial ethics, set forth in legal texts, and commonly accepted by virtue of inherent judicial traditions. Today’s meeting gives us the opportunity to exchange views and stir some thoughts about the provisions of the code, as, by virtue of its Article 33, you are assigned ethical advisory duties across appellate courts’ jurisdictions. Contributing, therefore, along with the rest of the Council’s organs, spearheaded by the Committee on Ethics and Judges’ Independence, as well as the General Inspectorate of Judicial Affairs, to the implementation of the strategic projects overseen by the Council, and to the fulfillment of the legal obligations toward professional ethics, traditions, and customs, established under the two Organic Laws.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you know, the Judicial Power has had a Code of Judicial Ethics since March 8, 2021, after its promulgation in the official gazette. The purpose of this Code is to maintain judges’ independence, integrity, and impartiality on the one hand, as well as preserve the prestige of the judiciary, uphold its virtuous customs and morals, abide by the proper application of justice, safeguard litigants’ rights and treat them fairly, and ensure the continuity of the judicial facility and its proper functioning, on the other hand.

In this respect, if the objective of the Code is to protect the Judicial Authority from error, increase citizens’ trust in the judiciary, and create as well as generalize accumulation in the behavioral and customary pattern of the judicial profession; then introducing the profession to the people and making it comprehensible by them may contribute to preventing, or rather reducing, resorting to judicial procedures, which are based on judicial sanctions, through having a responsible conscience and good morals.

In reality, the judicial ethics system needs a framework and apparatuses that ensure it is respected. At the forefront of the said apparatuses are legal texts, the Code of Judicial Ethics, judicial customs and traditions, the Committee on Judicial Ethics and Judges’ Independence, and ethics advisors, in addition to the role that judges’ professional associations may play in diffusing, introducing, and raising awareness of ethical principles, then the judge’s conscience stays the watchdog of these morals. His Majesty emphasized this point in the Throne Day speech in 2013: “Ever since I was entrusted with the sacred mission of leading the nation, the reform, moralization and modernization of the judicial system have been one of my main concerns…” His Majesty added: “However important the said reform may be, and regardless of the regulatory texts drafted and the effective mechanisms set up, it is the actual conscience of the actors involved which is going to be the real test, not only for the planned reform, but more broadly for the efficiency of the judicial system”

Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen;

Entrusting you with the duties of ethics advisors imposes on you firm obligations set out in Article 34 of the Code of Ethics, namely:

• Circulate and introduce the Code’s provisions across Appellate Court’s jurisdictions in which you serve office, urging judges to adhere to it;
• Assist and advise judges when they encounter difficulties, problems, or ambiguity as to the application and interpretation of the Code;
• Maintain the identity of those seeking ethical advice secrete.

You are also required to:

• Submit suggestions and recommendations to the Council’s Ethics Committee regarding the proper application of the Code, and suggest the necessary measures for this as well as design training and awareness-raising programs;
• Report to the Committee about unethical violations committed within the jurisdiction you oversee;
• Submit an annual report of your activities to the Committee, which is what we expect from you at the end of next December, God wills it.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The Council seeks to effectively disseminate, circulate, and raise awareness about judicial ethics, as well as contribute to training the judges bound by the Code, as a method favored over disciplinary measures.

Surely, the judges’ contribution to this matter outweighs any other contribution, taking into account the nature of their profession which is, by all means, a profession of ethics; given that judges’ training and their workplace cherish ethics above all other values. Hence, the judge’s behavior is governed by the moral aspect before the legal one. Moreover, judicial integrity is paramount to the rule of law, and is tightly linked to the concept of the judiciary’s independence. The latter requires integrity, and integrity promotes independence.

All judges share the responsibility to address corruption and all other practices impinging on judicial ethics and justice principles. However, ethics advisors are also charged with ensuring judges’ independence, protecting courts’ integrity, and acting at all times as the voice of conscience and the guardian of these values and ethics. They are also tasked with providing judges with the proper guidance on how to act in moral dilemmas, assisting and advising them, and encouraging them to go beyond themselves and be elevated to meet the challenges that must be dealt with, in service of justice and litigants. Ethics advisors must also be like fathers who advise their children and guide them with wisdom, respect, and firmness to righteousness. Indeed, parents may sometimes resort to punishment or deprivation measures against their children to achieve this righteousness, which is reflected in the disciplinary role that the judicial official contributes to. It is his legal and moral duty.

The strategic role attributed to your duties is not only confined to the weighty responsibility thrust upon your shoulders in training judges and accompanying them in their journey of being imbued with and required to abide by the best judicial values, but also to your role in changing some misconceptions in society about the judiciary. To do so, we need to build a collective judicial awareness based on the responsible conscience, to invite ethics advisors to set an example, and to cherish everything that judicial values represent in professional and personal conduct namely, integrity and righteousness, kindness and leniency in addressing others, and providing proper advice and wise counsel so that the ethics advisor is considered a safe haven to whom the judge resorts in complicated personal and professional matters, instead of concealing them and risk a tragic outcome that puts the profession’s honor, integrity, and dignity in jeopardy.

Furthermore, being close to and adequately informed about the judge’s professional and social life, as well as his living conditions and the problems he encounters, within the limit of what is permitted by law and the profession’s traditions and customs, is desirable in order to foresee problems that may encounter the judge before they happen. Do not forget that you are required to practice a form of parental care with delicacy, in order to yield positive results.

This is without a doubt a strenuous and complicated project that draws together the professional and human aspects. However, thanks to the firm determination and resolve of the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power, the judicial officials, judges, and professional associations, we shall all continue to firmly pave our way forward to fulfill the expectations of His Majesty the King in moralizing the judiciary, protecting judges, and ensuring everyone’s trust in the judiciary.

May God grant you success

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh