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DOJ/OPDAT Eurasia Programs
OPDAT has comprehensive criminal justice programs, implemented through a Resident Legal Advisor (RLA), in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine. OPDAT has also recently conducted programs in other countries throughout the region, including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
In Russia, two OPDAT RLAs work with Russian counterparts on projects in the areas of criminal procedure and advocacy training, money laundering and terrorism financing, organized crime, trafficking in persons and sex tourism, intellectual property rights violations, and cybercrime, including child pornography and enticement. The RLAs’ work with Russian prosecutors to improve their ability to try complex criminal cases before juries contributed to guilty verdicts in several recent high profile hate crime cases. OPDAT assistance has also led to the opening of victim services offices, and the establishment of working relationships between law enforcement and victim services providers across Russia, thus facilitating the use of victim/witness testimony in trafficking prosecutions. RLAs efforts have result in heightened public and governmental awareness of TIP issues, as reflected by the creation of specialized anti-trafficking police units and recent revisions to the Migration Code to address migrants’ vulnerability to trafficking.
The OPDAT RLA in Baku, Azerbaijan, works with Azeri counterparts on trial advocacy, money laundering, human trafficking and anti-corruption initiatives. The RLA partners with local legal experts to conduct training on trial advocacy and effective prosecutions based on Azerbaijan’s new Criminal Procedure Code, including covering the mandates of the European Convention on Human Rights. The RLA is also working with the Government of Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe (COE) to finalize anti-money laundering and an anti-corruption strategy compliant with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and COE standards.
The OPDAT RLA works with local legal and law enforcement professionals on criminal procedure, trial advocacy, money laundering, corruption and narcotics trafficking in Georgia. A key priority is Georgia’s Criminal Procedure Code (CPC); it will replace all remnants of the Soviet justice system with a COE compliant system. In particular, the new CPC will provide for an adversarial criminal process from investigation through trial and appeal as well as jury trials for first degree murder cases. To ensure effective implementation of the new CPC, the RLA has groomed a cadre of 60 local judge, prosecutor and attorney trainers, who are currently training their colleagues. The RLA is also helping the Georgians prepare public education materials.
The OPDAT RLA in Kyrgyzstan works on reform of the Prosecutor’s office, cross border crime, criminal procedure and money laundering. RLA assistance was instrumental in the passage of recent CPC amendments transferring arrest authority from prosecutors to judges as well as in introducing a task force approach to narcotics trafficking. In 2008, OPDAT will begin implementation of a Millennium Challenge Corporation Threshold Country Program (MCC TCP) focused on enhancing rule of law and anti-corruption efforts, including drafting a reformed CPC, improving anti-money laundering efforts and creating a training institute at the Prosecutor’s Office.
In Moldova, OPDAT has both State Department/INL and MCC funded programs. The INL-funded RLA provides assistance in the corruption, human trafficking, money laundering and criminal procedure areas. The RLA has helped ensure that Moldova’s anti-money laundering legislation complies with FATF requirements. Based on an assessment of closed cases, the RLA is also working closely with the Prosecutor’s Office to improve their capacity to successfully investigate and prosecute corruption and trafficking cases. The MCC TCP RLA has focused on reform of the organization and operation of Moldova’s anti-corruption agency.
In Ukraine, OPDAT has both State Department/INL and MCC funded programs. The INL-funded RLA provides assistance to Ukrainian law enforcement counterparts on criminal procedure, human trafficking, money laundering, and management of the prosecutorial function. In FY08, the RLA is helping to finalize a draft CPC that complies with COE and ECHR requirements for submission to the Parliament. The RLAs working on the MCC TCP program in Ukraine have helped craft new laws establishing a Code of Ethics for Civil Servants and a comprehensive financial disclosure regime in line with international standards as well as an IG type unit at the State Border Guard Service.
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