Criminal Law and Human Trafficking
Overview
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| The Rule of Law Initiative works with local partners around the globe to strengthen criminal justice institutions in their countries. |
In response to a plethora of rapidly evolving issues facing criminal justice systems across the globe, such as organized crime, trafficking in persons, and war crimes, the criminal law reform and human trafficking program of the Rule of Law Initiative provides technical assistance to national governments, civil society actors, and legal and police professionals to provide the skills and knowledge necessary to combat these issues. The Rule of Law Initiative provides advocacy skills training to lawyers so that they may more zealously represent the rights of their clients and empower them to bring about changes to criminal justice systems from within. Our vital and active role in the establishment of public defender and indigent defense centers is creating a legacy of fairness and access to justice in many countries. Our program also focuses on delineating the respective roles of judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel to ensure fairness and a balance of power between the state and the accused. Targeted, substantive training on issues such as money laundering, terrorist financing, domestic violence, and protections and remedies afforded by international as well as regional legal instruments further professionalize criminal justice actors.
The Rule of Law Initiative prioritizes efforts to prevent trafficking in persons and to investigate and prosecute traffickers competently. The Rule of Law Initiative's work on human trafficking focuses on conducting assessments to measure compliance by countries with international standards; providing expertise on drafting legislation, national action plans and strategies; promoting cooperation across borders; enhancing the capacity of national organizations and government ministries involved in anti-trafficking efforts; improving public awareness; training law enforcement officials, judges, and prosecutors to investigate and try human trafficking cases appropriately; targeting more effective protection and assistance measures for victims; and implementing trial monitoring projects.
The Rule of Law Initiative knows the impact that a well-functioning criminal justice system has on protecting and promoting individual rights. Its efforts in criminal procedure code reform have resulted in increased fairness in criminal investigations and trials and in more thoroughly enumerated and protected rights for the accused and for victims at all stages of criminal investigations and proceedings, including in the introduction of trials by jury.
The Rule of Law Initiative has also developed an assessment tool focusing on prosecutors. The Prosecutor Reform Index (PRI) is intended to offer international organizations, development agencies, technical legal assistance providers, and local reformers a reliable means to target prosecutorial reform programs and monitor progress towards establishing more accountable, effective, and independent prosecutor offices. The PRI is conceptualized and designed on the basis of comparative legal traditions as well as international standards, including:
- The International Association of Prosecutors' Standards of Professional Responsibility and Statement of Essential Duties and Rights of Prosecutors;
- The UN Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors;
- The Code of Professional Conduct for Prosecutors of the International Criminal Court;
- Council of Europe Recommendations;
- The American Bar Association Standards on the Prosecution Function; and,
- National laws, regulations, and ethics codes relating to the prosecutorial function from countries around the world.
The PRI was piloted in June 2006 in Bulgaria. The report is now available on line at:
Recent Program Highlights
Indigent Defense
In Armenia, the Rule of Law Initiative is engaged in an on-going project related to the creation of a national Public Defenders Office. The Rule of Law Initiative has organized trainings for the newly appointed public defenders addressing the following topics: professional ethics, mechanisms for appointment of counsel, drafting and litigating motions during the pre-trial and trial stage of criminal proceedings, interrogation techniques, pre-trial detention, and trial advocacy skills.
Trial Advocacy Skills Training
In cooperation with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), the Rule of Law Initiative has provided trial advocacy skills training throughout the Central Europe and Eurasia regions to prosecutors, defense lawyers, and judges. In Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, selected participants have been able to benefit from advanced advocacy training. The Rule of Law Initiative also partners with NITA to conduct a faculty development trial skills courses to ensure the creation of indigenous capacity to continue in-country training efforts in the future. In furtherance of this partnership, NITA and Hofstra Law School have provided full scholarships on an annual basis for top advocates and staff members to attend U.S.-based trainings.
Pretrial Detention
The Rule of Law Initiative piloted a project in Mykolaev, Ukraine to identify human rights violations at the pretrial stage of criminal proceedings. The project collected valuable data noting general conditions and length of pretrial detention and assisted in developing alternatives to detention in appropriate circumstances and identifying other issues bearing on the human rights of the accused. The Rule of Law Initiative is also training judges, prosecutors, and investigators in human rights standards governing this important stage of criminal proceedings.
Investigation of Organized Crime
The Rule of Law Initiative's Regional Criminal Justice Initiative, based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in partnership with DOJ/ICITAP, is targeting organized crime in its efforts to foster more effective investigatory and prosecution practices. The Rule of Law Initiative assisted in the formation of an Organized Crime Task Force and has developed a training curriculum to train task force members in the use of more sophisticated techniques in combating organized crime. The training has created a formal certification process for agency members wishing to participate in these types of investigations. The curriculum will cover the use of electronic surveillance and other undercover techniques, witness security and protection issues, and underlying criminal case theories such as joint criminal enterprises and conspiracies.
International Fair Trial Standards Training
In Azerbaijan and Russia, the Rule of Law Initiative continues to train judges, advocates, and prosecutors in international fair trial standards. These efforts not only further compliance with these important standards and identify mechanisms for redress, but also promote the principle of equality of arms -- a principal rarely observed since prosecutors still maintain the majority of power in many Eurasian countries.
Institutional Building within the Criminal Justice Sector
The Rule of Law Initiative also focuses on supporting the development of professional associations essential to a functioning criminal justice system. In Bosnia, the Rule of Law Initiative provided technical expertise and assistance to its local partners in convening the first state-wide professional association of prosecutors, and then, of judges. In Moldova, the Rule of Law Initiative is supporting the development of the Defense Bar Association, including the inception of a web site, which will provide defense lawyers with vital access to criminal codes and criminal procedure codes. The Rule of Law Initiative also continues to assist in the creation of a culture of effective continuing legal education programs through professional associations, as well as the enforcement of professional ethics standards. In Azerbaijan, the Rule of Law Initiative partnered with DOJ/OPDAT to achieve a more fairly administered written entrance examination for prosecutors.
In July 2006, the Rule of Law Initiative began a major project to enhance the criminal justice system of Ecuador. As the transition from an inquisitorial to an adversarial system has taken place, there have been certain areas where a lack of understanding of how an adversarial system operates has created problems. Areas of interest include confidential investigations, rules of evidence, pretrial stipulations, and changes in the roles of police, prosecutors, judges, and defense lawyers in an adversarial system. To provide information and guidance on these issues, the Rule of Law Initiative is leading a major project that will include training of police, judges, and prosecutors, as well as outreach to the larger judicial and legal community in Ecuador to give reforms practical meaning. The project has begun with an in-depth assessment of the current state of the criminal justice system that is being carried out by an internationally-recognized expert who has done similar work in both Latin American and Eastern Europe.
Trafficking in Persons
In Tajikistan, the Rule of Law Initiative, working with the Government of Tajikistan and international and domestic organizations and NGOs, spearheaded the development of a national action plan to combat trafficking. The plan addresses prevention and protection for traffikcing victims and the prosecution of traffickers.
In Georgia, the Rule of Law Initiative is working with the Inter-Agency Coordinating Council to implement a national referral mechanism for victims of trafficking intended to assist in the identification of victims and to provide legal assistance and protection to those individuals. The Rule of Law Initiative also has organized victim sensitivity training for investigators in order to ensure that treatment and protection of the victims at all stages of an investigation is in compliance with international standards.
In East and West Africa, specifically Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria, human trafficking has resulted in a surge of women and children subjected to forced involvement in war, exploitative labor, and sexual exploitation. Children are trafficked from rural to urban areas for work and they are often sexually exploited or denied wages. Trafficking is often more prevalent among girls, as girls are often viewed as economic burdens to their families.
To combat this problem in East Africa, the Rule of Law Initiative has developed and is implementing a long-term regional anti-trafficking program. The Rule of Law Initiative's program is a three-track effort comprised of (1) legal education for judges, lawyers, police, and NGOs; (2) media awareness; and (3) legal aid. To facilitate implementation, the Rule of Law Initiative is providing small sub-grants to NGOs as well as governmental departments.
In addition, the Rule of Law Initiative has supported the creation of national working groups composed of NGOs, criminal justice professionals, legislators, judges, magistrates, prosecutors, police, and immigration officials. These national working groups are responsible for developing national strategies to combat trafficking. They support the work of the sub-grantees by ensuring coordination of sub-grantee activities and providing ideas and input when and where appropriate. Furthermore, the national working groups serve as a link between NGOs in the HIV/AIDS sector, and those working on trafficking issues.
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| A poster developed as part of an awareness campaign by the Rule of Law Initiative Latin America Division Anti Trafficking project is displayed throughout Ecuador, for example in provincial airports. |
The Rule of Law Initiative successfully organized the first ever East African Regional Anti-Trafficking Conference. This historic event brought together jurists from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the United States. The participants discussed the challenges and opportunities involved in combating human trafficking, as well as recommendations on a way forward. In preparation for this conference, the Rule of Law Initiative completed a comparative analysis of the trafficking-related laws in East Africa. The report and conference assisted in not only shaping the agenda and focus of the anti-trafficking National Working Groups in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, but also the focus of future programmatic activities.
The Rule of Law Initiative is providing crucial leadership in addressing human trafficking issues in Ecuador. The project began with the first in-depth assessment of trafficking in Ecuador. The Rule of Law Initiative then worked with Ecuador's legislature and the President's office to update national anti-trafficking laws and trained judges, prosecutors, and other government officials on trafficking. In 2006, the project achieved the following goals: 1) an awareness campaign that included anti-trafficking billboards, posters at train and bus stations and airports, and sticker advertisements in taxi cabs; 2) continued in-depth training of judges, prosecutors, and police; and 3) assistance to shelters for victims in their design, training of personnel, and procedures regarding intake and programs. In 2007, the project will conduct training for "911" operators. This training will focus on appropriate handling of calls from trafficking victims.
Financial and Cyber Crimes Investigations
The Rule of Law Initiative also focuses on improving the ability of criminal justice systems to deal with organized crime issues such as financial crimes and cybercrime. In Algeria, Bulgaria, Morocco and Oman, the Rule of Law Initiative has trained investigators, prosecutors, and judges on international cybercrime standards, including specific sessions on online crimes against children, introduction to computer crimes and network systems, online financial fraud, and crimes against computer systems and networks. The Rule of Law Initiative assisted with the creation of a fully equipped cybercrime training center in Sofia. A vital component in the effectiveness of its cybercrime work is the Rule of Law Initiative's partnership with the relevant actors from the private sector, such as E-bay and VISA and organizations such as the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The Rule of Law Initiative convened a regional conference in Central Asia to better prepare judges to adjudicate money laundering cases. Over 100 judges from all over Central and East Asia were trained on applicable international standards and conventions, relevant legal and investigatory terminology and techniques, and available criminal and civil sanctions including asset forfeiture.
Jury Trial Implementation
In 2007, the Republic of Kazakhstan will take the significant step of introducing the right to jury trials by criminal defendants charged with certain very serious crimes, including aggravated murder. The Rule of Law Initiative, with the support of the British Embassy in Astana, and in cooperation with the Union of Advocates of Kazakhstan, the Collegium of Advocates of the City of Almaty and the Collegium of Advocates of the City of Aktobe, conducted three mock jury trials using the new law on jury trials in Kazakhstan. In order to promote efficient implementation of the new law, the Rule of Law Initiative then submitted procedural recommendations to all relevant actors, including the judiciary, based upon lessons learned and observations made during the preparation and conduct of the jury trials.
Resources
The Rule of Law Initiative recognizes that legal and police professionals depend on access to practical reference guides and materials in their practice. The Rule of Law Initiative has coordinated the production of investigative guides on cybercrime in Bulgaria. In Iraq, the Rule of Law Initiative produced a set of training manuals for judicial investigators on money-laundering, drugs, cybercrime and human rights. In Bosnia, the Rule of Law Initiative partnered with the new Prosecutors Association to compile and publish all judgments rendered in domestic war crimes cases. In Azerbaijan, the Rule of Law Initiative and the Azeri Association of Advocates drafted a trial bench book intended to be of assistance for trial attorneys while engaged in court proceedings.
For more information about the Rule of Law Initiative Criminal Law and Human Trafficking, contact:
Mary Greer, Director, Criminal Law Program, at mgreer@staff.abanet.org
Dubravka Piotrovski, Senior Staff Attorney, Bosnia-Herzegovina, at dubravka@ceeli.ba
