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Mongolia (Mongolian: Монгол Улс) is the largest fully landlocked country typically classified as being a part of East Asia, though it is sometimes considered as being a part of Central Asia instead. It is bordered by Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south. Its capital and largest city is Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia was the center of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century and was later ruled by China during the Manchu Qing Dynasty from the end of the 17th century until 1911, when an independent government was formed with Russian assistance. Following the end of the Cold War, and after the fall of communism in Mongolia in 1990, Mongolia adopted a new, democratic constitution which was ratified in 1992. This officially marked the birth of Mongolia as a democratic country, making it one of the world's youngest democracies. At 1,564,116 square km, Mongolia is the 19th largest country in the world. However, the country contains very little arable land as much of its area is covered by arid and unproductive steppes with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Approximately 30 percent of the country's 2.8 million people are nomadic or semi-nomadic. The predominant religion in Mongolia is Tibetan Buddhism, and the majority of the state's citizens are of the Mongol ethnicity, though Kazakhs and Tuvans also live in the country, especially in the west. About one-third of the population lives in Ulaanbaatar.
History A large number of ethnicities have inhabited Mongolia since prehistoric times. Most of these people were nomads who, from time to time, formed great confederations that rose to prominence. The first of these, the Xiongnu, were brought together to form a confederation by Modu Shanyu in 209 BC. They defeated the Donghu, who had previously been the dominant power in eastern Mongolia. The Xiongnu became the greatest enemy of China for the following three centuries; the Great Wall of China was built partly as defence against the Xiongnu. Marshal Meng Tian of the Qin Empire dispersed more than 300,000 soldiers along the Great Wall to prevent an expected invasion from the North. It is believed that after their decisive defeat by the Chinese in 428-431, some of the Xiongnu migrated West to become the Huns. After the Xiongnu migrated west, Rouran, a close relative of the Mongols, came to power before being defeated by the Gokturks, who then dominated Mongolia for centuries. Early history
Alignment with Soviet Union The Mongolian People's Republic was aligned closely with the Soviet Union. Politicians who demanded a more capitalist course and who dissented against collective property, like Dogsomyn Bodoo or Horloogiyn Dandzan, quickly became unpopular. In 1928, Horloogiyn Choybalsan rose to power. Under his administration, forced collectivisation of livestock was instituted, and the destruction of Buddhist monasteries in 1937 left more than 10,000 lamas dead. During the Soviet-Japanese Border War of 1939, the USSR defended Mongolia against Japan. Mongolian forces also took part in the Soviet offensive against Japanese forces in Inner Mongolia in August 1945 (see Operation August Storm). The (soviet) threat of Mongolian forces seizing parts of Inner Mongolia induced the Republic of China to recognize Outer Mongolia's independence, provided that a referendum was held. The referendum took place on October 20 1945, with (according to official numbers) 100% of the electorate voting for independence. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, both countries re-recognized each other on October 6, 1949. After Choybalsan died in Moscow on January 26, 1952, Yumjaagiyn Tsedenbal took power. In 1956 and again in 1962, Choybalsan's personality cult was condemned. Mongolia continued to align itself closely with the Soviet Union, especially after the Sino-Soviet split of the late 1950s. While Tsedenbal was visiting Moscow in August 1984, his severe illness prompted the parliament to announce his retirement and replace him with Jambyn Batmonh. 1990 Democratic Revolution The introduction of perestroika and glasnost in the USSR by Mikhail Gorbachev strongly influenced Mongolian politics even though Mongolia was a sovereign nation. The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, combined with these two policies, were enough to lead to a peaceful democratic revolution in Mongolia in 1990. This, in turn, allowed Mongolia to begin engaging in economic and diplomatic relations with the Western world. The nation finished its transition from a communist state to a multi-party free-market democracy with the ratification of a new constitution in 1992. Government and politics Until June 27, 2004, the predominant party in Mongolia was the ex-communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, or MPRP. The main opposition party was the Democratic Party or DP, which controlled a governing coalition from 1996 to 2000. From 2000 to 2004 MPRP was back in power, but results of the 2004 elections required the establishing of the first ever coalition government in Mongolia between the MPRP and MDC (Motherland Democratic Coalition). The coalition broke down in January 2006, the current government has been formed with the MPRP, some small parties and some DP defectors. The President Mongolia's president has a symbolic role. Mongolia's Constitution provides three requirements for taking office as President: the individual must be a native-born Mongolian, who is at least 45 years of age, and who has resided in Mongolia for five years prior to taking office. The current President is Nambaryn Enkhbayar. The State Great Hural Mongolia uses a unicameral parliamentary system in which the president has a symbolic role and the government chosen by the legislature exercises executive power. The legislative arm, the State Great Hural, has one chamber with 76 seats and is chaired by the speaker of the house. On January 14, 2006, the parliament's 39 members, mostly MPRP but including 4 Democratic Party members (Mendsaikhan Enkhsaikhan, Narantsatsralt, Mishig Sonompil, and J. Batkhuyag), overthrew Democrat Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj's grand coalition government. It has been claimed that this violated the Constitution, as the parliament exceeded its power. The decision to overthrow Elbegdorj's government was based on the MPRP Directing Board's decision, contrary to its three agreements with the Democratic Party. The action has been protested. The prime minister and cabinet The prime minister is elected by the State Great Hural. The current prime minister is Miyeegombo Enkhbold, who was elected by 56 votes to 10 on January 25 2006. The deputy prime minister is Mendsaikhan Enkhsaikhan (since 28 January 2006). The cabinet is nominated by the prime minister in consultation with the president, and confirmed by the State Great Hural. Judiciary Establishing a judicial supervision system over the implementation of the Constitution, it founded a special Constitutional Court The courts have undergone several transformations in recent history. To understand today’s situation requires some introduction to the past. Judges in Mongolia have not always had the position and powers they now enjoy. From 1926 to 1990, judges and courts occupied one of the lowest governmental levels. This position was dictated by communist theory which held that laws and the judicial system were part of the bourgeois society and would not be needed in a truly proletariat state. The court system would, with time, simply “wither away”. In reality, the court system remained a necessity and was tightly controlled by the state. Judges were appointed by committees of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and but not by the President or Parliament as provided under the 1992 Constitution. Membership in the MPRP was not required, but the MPRP did review all candidates. Although in theory judges acted independently, party members exercised a certain amount of oversight and control. For example, although the MPRP lacked the power to overrule judicial decisions, it could summon a judge to appear before a local party committee to explain a decision. In practice, judges were responsible to the party which often influenced judicial decisions. Citizen also commonly attempted to influence judicial decisions through personal contacts with high ranking party officials. Under the communist system, prosecutors were more powerful than judges and ran trails, supervised and controlled the judiciary’s activities. They effectively decided cases in conformity with the political party line. In place of the old court system, the first official legislative act created the people’s courts and a system of judge’s directly elevated, with two assessors. The latter were laymen who served on a part-time basis. Today, judges are subject only to the Constitution. Judicial power is vested exclusively in the courts while extra-judicial interference is strictly prohibited. The process is intensifying for changing judicial control into a system that controls whether activities and decisions of the legislature and executive are in accordance with human rights. However, judicial powers are not yet politically or economically independent. The composition of judges, are not fully developed, technical provisions are not sufficient, their specialization is very low, and judicial branch is losing its independence, makes many people to have unfavorable attitude towards courts. As precedent is not considered to be a source of law, the courts in the modern Mongolian legal system play no formal role as a source of law. In Mongolia, judges are supposed to only apply law, not create it. The court system in Mongolia is based on the continental legal system as practiced in Russia and Germany. It is not a common law system and therefore decisions issued by the various courts do not have presidential value (no stare decisis). Judicial decisions by the Supreme Court of Mongolia, by contrast, are limited to individual cases. Although they are binding upon all courts and other persons for the particular purpose of that case, they have no further effect on legislation. Therefore, they do not become “law” in a general sense. Courts of Ordinary Jurisdiction Mongolia consists of 21 provinces and the capital city. Each province is further subdivided into “soum” and each “soum” is subdivided into the lowest administrative unit, the “bag”. The capital city, Ulaanbaatar is divided into nine districts, further subdivided into a number of “khoroo” Mongolia has three levels of ordinary court: • Soum, intersoum and district courts have jurisdiction only at first instance and deal with misdemeanors and less serious crimes and civil disputes where the amount in dispute is less than Tug 10 million ($22,000). • Aimag courts, found in the aimag capitals, and the Capital City Court in Ulaanbaatar have first instance jurisdiction in cases of more serious crime and in civil matters where the amount in dispute is over Tug 10 million. They also deal with appeals from the lower level courts. The judges of these courts sit in both first instance and appeal cases. (High Court) • At the highest level is the Supreme Court in Ulaanbaatar which deals with any matters at first instance that are not specifically within the jurisdiction of the other courts and appeals from decisions of the aimag courts and the Capital City Court. Administrative Cases Courts These courts deal with matters relating to public law but outside purely constitutional matters. The Administrative Cases Courts (ACC) was first introduced piecemeal in some of the larger states in the late-nineteenth century with other reforms aimed at the administration of justice. Reviews were made by an independent body of all administrative acts affecting the citizenry, the main function of the ACC is to review the constitutionality of the entire range of administrative action, particularly where it encroaches on basis rights. The ACC of Mongolia was established by the State Great Hural in June 2004. The establishment of an independent ACC is an example of significant progress in the improvement of the national judicial system, thus securing and protecting human rights. They deal with the area of law concerned with disputes between the public authorities and individuals arising from the exercise of public authority, including citizens and legal persons. This is regulated by the Law on Administrative Procedure. Any disputes which arise from an administrative act and which may affect a person’s rights, may be challenged before these courts. All areas of public life are covered: police, school regulations, roads, and the civil service. Constitutional Court Mongolia has followed the example of some other civil law countries and has established a constitutional court known as the Tsets. This court examines and settles constitutional disputes at the request of the Great Khural, the President, the Prime Minister, the Supreme Court, the General Prosecutor, on its own initiative, or on the basis of petitions received from citizens. Most of its work involves the latter and it receives around 150 petitions and requests a year. However, a substantial number of these do not fall within its jurisdiction and are transferred to the ordinary courts or other institutions. Most of the petitions that are considered concern human rights violations by state officials. For example, a recent case concerned the issue of whether the General Prosecutor breached the Constitution in the procedure adopted to investigate a complaint against a police officer. The nine judges of the Tsets panel are appointed by the Great Khural for a term of six years. Members must be at least forty years old and experienced in politics and law. At present, eight are lawyers and one is a geologist. Four are full-time and five are part-time members. Hearings are conducted before a panel of five. Decisions on the conformity of laws, decrees or international treaties with the Constitution must be submitted to the Great Khural for approval. If the approval is refused, the Tsets will reconsider with a full panel. The decision is then final and binding. Judgments of the Constitutional Court are published in the government gazette and the government newspaper. Some members of the legal community doubt the usefulness of having a separate court for constitutional matters and consider that its work would be better dealt with by the Supreme Court. The General Council of Courts In order to help ensure the independence of the judiciary, the General Council of Courts was created. It has twelve members: the Chief Justice, the General Prosecutor, the Minister of Justice, a secretary appointed by the President, two members appointed by the Supreme Court, two by the Ikh Khural, two representing the aimag and Capital City courts, and two representing the courts of first instance. The role of the Council includes submitting proposals to the Great Khural about the judiciary’s budget, personnel and court buildings, recommending candidates for appointment to the judiciary, organizing training courses for judges, and making rank and other additional payments to judges and court officials. The Judges Mongolia has about 360 positions for judges who are appointed for life by the President upon the recommendation of the General Council of Courts. This is in contrast to the previous system in which appointments were for a fixed term. The Supreme Court selects one of its members to be Chief Justice. Appointment for the six year term is made by the President. On the recommendation of the Chief Justice, the President also appoints the two Senior Judges who preside over the Supreme Courts civil and criminal chambers. All judges must have a law degree, although not necessarily from Mongolia. In the lower courts, judges must be at least 25 years old and have three years legal experience. Judges of the Supreme Court must be at least 35 years old with ten years experience. These constitutional requirements came into force in 1992. Approximately one-fifth of the judges at that time did not meet the necessary requirements but were permitted to stay in office as there were no replacements available. Failure to meet the education requirement is being overcome by courses provided by the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the National University of Mongolia – Law School. Approximately three-quarters of present graduate judges studied at the former National University of Mongolia – Law School, the others at Irkutsk and other universities in the former Soviet Union. Mongolian judges are generally young, especially when compared with judges in common law countries. Most are aged between 35 and 45. The average age was even lower before the introduction of the age requirement and it was not unusual to become a judge after graduation from the legal high school at the age of 23. Sixty percent of Mongolia's judges are women. The workload of judges has increased substantially over the last few years and the types of case they deal with have changed. Under the socialist system, most of their work was criminal. Now two-thirds of the cases are civil, primarily involving contractual disputes, although criminal matters still make up the bulk of appeals. Under the previous system, judges worked with a limited number of laws and legal publications, but they have now had to adjust to a rapidly changing legislative environment, particularly in the civil area. Although most of the judges have attempted to familiarize themselves with the new legislation, there are still some who base decisions on their old knowledge as they find it difficult to keep up with the changes. Their experience in the application of commercial laws is limited, and many find the unfamiliar situations of a market economy that they are faced with confusing. This has been alleviated with some training in commercial, contract and company law and exposure to market economy concepts, although most of these courses had a general, elementary character and were not specifically designed for the judicial practice. More training is necessary, particularly in the commercial law area. Not all judges, however, need to develop expertise in commercial matters, and it is recommended that, at least initially, training could be given to one judge in each aimag and a greater number from Ulaanbaatar’s courts. The presence of more junior judges, presumably more inclined to embark on a tedious and difficult learning program in language and new substantive domains could facilitate the emergence of such specialist judges, dealing primarily with business-related cases. All judges meet at least once a year in Ulaanbaatar for a conference or training course. The Chief Judges of the aimag courts and the Capital City and Supreme Court judges meet more often. Occasionally, judges of neighboring aimags have regional meetings and judges of the Supreme Court regularly make observation visits to the courts in the aimags. There are three branches of the legal profession - prosecutors, advocates and notaries. The prosecutors need training in the mechanisms of a market economy and in how to deal with economic crime. They also need research facilities. To some extent these various needs may be met by their own plans. As yet, there is a limited market for advocates working in commercial law and so training in this field is probably not a pressing need. However, they would benefit from some training in the adversarial process, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. The notaries will probably have their role enlarged when laws on the privatization of housing are implemented. Both in the socialist period and today there have been three groups of lawyers making up what could be called the legal profession in Mongolia: those who represent the state - the prosecutors; those who provide legal advice to the public and represent people in court - the advocates; and those who witness or authenticate documents - the notaries. As these groups have separate structures and rules and different admission requirements, each group will be considered separately. Despite the differences between these groups, however, here seems to be great fluidity in the legal profession, and its members do not expect to stay in one branch of it for their entire career. Rather, they move easily between roles as prosecutors, judges, advocates and government advisors, as well as to less strictly legal roles such as the police or tax inspection. Foreign relations and military Mongolia maintains friendly relations with the United States, Russia, Japan, the People's Republic of China, and virtually all countries in the world. It has initiated large foreign investment initiatives and encouraged foreign investment. It supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, or "Operation Iraqi Freedom," and has sent 200 troops to Iraq. On November 21, 2005, George W. Bush became the first ever sitting U.S. President to visit Mongolia. Geography and climate
Administrative divisions
Economy Mongolia's economy is centered on agriculture and mining. Mongolia has rich mineral resources, and copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production. There are currently over 30,000 independent businesses in Mongolia, chiefly centered around the capital city . The majority of the population outside urban areas participate in subsistence herding; livestock typically consists of sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and Bactrian camels. Agricultural crops include wheat, barley, vegetables, and other forage crops. GDP per capita in 2005 was $1,900 . Although GDP has risen steadily since 2002 at the rate of 6.2% in an official 2005 estimate, the state is still working to overcome a sizable trade deficit. A massive ($11 billion) foreign debt to Russia was settled by the Mongolian government in 2004 with a $250 million payment; this reduced value was accepted due to Despite growth, the proportion of the population below the poverty line is estimated to be 36.1% in 2004, and both the unemployment rate and inflation rate are high at 6.7% and 10.9%, respectively . Industrial sector Industry currently accounts for 21.4% of GDP, approximately equal to the weight of the agriculture sector (20.4%). These industries include construction and construction materials, mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar, tin, tungsten, and gold), oil, food and beverages, processing of animal products, and cashmere and natural fiber manufacturing. The industrial production growth rate is estimated to be 4.1% in 2002. Mining is continuing to rise as a major industry of Mongolia. Science and technology Mongolia has increasingly started to develop its technology industry since the democratic revolution of the early 1990s, and many new technology companies have been founded. Also, some technology companies in nearby countries, such as South Korea and the People's Republic of China, have started to open offices in Mongolia. Service sector After the democratic revolution of the early 1990s, Mongolian domestic production has picked up providing basic food production to its residents through increasing competition among companies. According to the CIA World Factbook, in 2003, the service sector accounted for 58% of the GDP, with 29% of the labor force of 1.488 million involved. However, investment from Korea and other countries have helped add more paved roads and nonono ce to China, Korea, Japan, Germany, Russia, and other countries. The air transport company of Mongolia is MIAT. Petroleum products are to a large part (80%) imported from Russia, which makes Mongolia vulnerable to supply side shocks. This is one strong example of the influence of Mongolia's neighbors on its economy. Demographics
Language The official language of Mongolia is Khalkha Mongol, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet, but there are variety of different dialects across the country. In the more western parts of the country, where there is more ethnic diversity, primarily due to populations of ethnic Tuvans and Kazakhs, the Tuvan language and Kazakh language, among others, are also spoken. In the northern parts of the country, Russian language is frequently spoken among the Russian populations. Furthermore, the Mongolian government has worked to encourage the learning of English as a second language by having it replace the teaching of Russian in schools. Religion Aside from brief periods of Islam and Christianity, various forms of shamanism have been widely practiced throughout the history of what is now modern day Mongolia, as such beliefs were common among nomadic people in Asian history. Such beliefs gradually gave way to Tibetan Buddhism, but shamanism has left a mark on Mongolian religious culture. Indeed, some shamanistic practices and traditions are still practiced in rural areas. Throughout much of the 20th century, the communist government ensured that the religious practices of the Mongolian people were largely repressed. Horloogiyn Choybalsan complied with the orders of Joseph Stalin, destroying almost all of Mongolia's over 700 Buddhist monasteries and killing thousands of monks. The fall of communism in 1991 restored the legality of public religious practice, and Tibetan Buddhism, which had been the predominant religion in the region before the rise of Communism, again rose to become the most widely practiced religion in Mongolia. The end of religious repression in the 1990s also allowed for other religions, such as Christianity, to spread in the country. Education During the state-socialist period, education was one of the areas of significant achievement. Illiteracy was virtually eliminated, in part through the use of seasonal boarding schools for children of nomadic families. Funding to these boarding schools has been cut in the 1990s contributing to a reversal in the decline of illiteracy. Primary and secondary education used to last for ten years, but has been expanded to eleven years recently and is set to be expanded further to twelve years. Mongolian national universities are all spin-offs from the National University of Mongolia. The broad liberalization of the 1990s led to a boom in private institutions of higher education, although many of these establishments have a hard time living up to their nomer of "college" or "university". Health Health care in Mongolia is rapidly improving, leading to a higher life expectancy. Childbirth is 2.26 per woman, and the increase rate is high. Average life expectancy is 63 years, and the infant mortality rate is at 6%. The health sector is comprised of 17 specialized hospitals and centers, 4 regional diagnostic and treatment centers, 12 district and 21 aimag general hospitals, 323 soum hospitals, 18 feldsher posts, 233 family group practices, and 536 private hospitals and 57 drug supply companies/pharmacies. In 2002 the total number of health workers was 33273, of which 6823 were doctors, 788 pharmacists, 7802-nurses and 14091 mid-level personnel. At present, there are 27.7 physicians and 75.7 hospital beds per 10.000 population overall. Culture The culture of Mongolia can be described as . 96% of the Mongolia's population is Vajrayana Buddhist in the Tibetan tradition. The official language, Khalkha Mongol, is spoken by 90% of the population. Mongolia has its own ethnic group, which comprises 85% of the country's population. The main festival is Naadam, which celebrates the anniversary of Mongolian independence from China. It is held on July 11 to July 13, and consists of three Mongolian traditional sports: archery, horse-racing (over long stretches of open country, not the short racing around a track practiced in the West), and wrestling. Very popular is the "flicking" of sheep footbones at a target several feet away, using a flipping motion of the finger to send the small bone flying at a target and trying to knock the target bone off the platform. This contest at Naadam is very popular and develops a serious audience. In Mongolia, the khoomii, or throat singing, style of music is popular, particularly in Western Mongolia. The ornate symbol in the leftmost bar of the national flag is a Buddhist icon called a soyombo. It represents the sun, moon, stars, and heavens per standard cosmologic symbology abstracted from that seen in traditional Tibetan thangka paintings. Sports and recreation
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