Background
OPDAT has advanced the development of the rule of law in Central and Eastern Europe for over two decades. OPDAT supports the strengthening of justice sector institutions and builds their capacity to effectively investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate criminal activity, particularly organized crime, corruption, trafficking in persons, and terrorism. OPDAT’s programs are primarily funded by the Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and Bureau of Counterterrorism, as well as by the Department of Defense.
OPDAT stations DOJ attorneys (Resident Legal Advisors (RLA)) throughout the region, as well as at the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) in Stuttgart, Germany. The RLAs provide direct support to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. They also provide a range of criminal justice assistance programming through regional projects based in Bulgaria, Croatia, and Latvia.
Selected Issues
Terrorism and Foreign Terrorist Fighters: Terrorism, and the return of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs) poses significant security threats across the Balkans. To address this, OPDAT provides support to justice systems across the region, and in particular to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. This support is focused on training and mentorship for investigators and prosecutors working on terrorism or FTF cases and on legal analysis and legislative drafting to strengthen terrorism laws. OPDAT, working closely with the Department’s National Security Division, has assisted prosecutors in the region to obtain 237 terrorism-related guilty dispositions since 2015.
Battlefield Evidence: OPDAT works to facilitate the sharing of information seized from the battlefield or other locations with European partners and allies to support criminal cases against terrorists and FTFs in civilian courts. Foreign law enforcement counterparts often seek access to this information and are stymied in their efforts by the lack of an efficient processes for disseminating battlefield evidence and evaluating its contents for declassification and use in civilian criminal proceedings. To meet these challenges, OPDAT has assisted EUCOM in developing a whole-of-government approach to enabling the use military intelligence in civilian judicial proceedings of terrorists and FTFs across the region.
Corruption: Effectively combating corruption is a major criterion for the EU accession process and a major policy focus for the Department. OPDAT develops the anti-corruption investigative and prosecutorial capacity throughout the region and provides legislative drafting assistance to strengthen relevant legal frameworks.
In Serbia, OPDAT helped to establish specialized police and prosecutor anti-corruption units and is working to enhance the capacity of these units to combat official corruption, procurement fraud, bribery, and embezzlement. With OPDAT support, these units have obtained 843 convictions in corruption and economic crimes cases in the past two years.
In Albania, OPDAT is supporting the formation of the Special Structure Against Corruption, which is responsible for prosecuting high-level corruption. This new institution is the result of sweeping reforms that OPDAT supported in Albania through a series of constitutional amendments which create independent anti-corruption agencies and establish a rigorous system of vetting for all judges and prosecutors in the country. This vetting has resulted in the dismissal of 115 judges and prosecutors for corruption, unexplained wealth, or ties to organized crime, as well as the resignation of 43 others to avoid undergoing vetting. OPDAT monitors this process through a partnership with the EU to ensure its integrity.
Organized Crime: Organized criminal groups in the region engage in trafficking drugs, persons, and weapons, as well as extortion and corruption. OPDAT’s programs strengthen special prosecution units in the region and providing case-based mentoring as well as capacity building for investigators and prosecutors, on developing proactive investigations and complex prosecutions.
Human Trafficking: Trafficking-in-persons in the region is closely linked to organized crime. OPDAT addresses human trafficking through building the capacity of law enforcement and NGOs to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate human trafficking cases as well as to provide material and psychosocial support to trafficking victims. OPDAT has provided technical skills workshops to police, prosecutors, judges, and NGO personnel from across the Balkans on identifying trafficking victims, victim interviewing, and victim support through the investigative, judicial, and reintegration processes. These programs include mentorship for judges on effects of trauma on adult and child victims and best practices for the adjudication of trafficking cases. In addition to these regional projects, OPDAT has provided assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia on the creation and management of law enforcement task forces for combatting human trafficking and has provided ongoing mentorship to their leadership.
Victim-Witness Programs: In Albania, OPDAT worked with the Prosecutor General’s Office to stand up a victim-witness (VW) advocates program. This program has led to the hiring of 24 Victim Advocates attached to regional prosecution offices. OPDAT is providing training and mentorship to these new advocates as they work in partnership with police and prosecutors to support victims. OPDAT’s program in Kosovo has supported the creation of the first victim compensation system in the region, which now serves as a model for other countries.
Domestic Violence: OPDAT works in partnership with law enforcement and civil society institutions to strengthen the capabilities of the justice system to combat domestic violence by establishing dialogue and cooperation between stakeholders and providing targeted training to justice sector practitioners. OPDAT helps police and prosecutors to employ a survivor-centered approach to domestic violence cases through training on victim identification, the modalities of intimate partner violence, and the impact of trauma on victim testimony and law enforcement interaction. OPDAT also works with judges across the region to evaluate psychological and economic harm in addition to physical violence and to adapt court proceedings to the needs of child victims. In addition to skills development, OPDAT also conducts legal analysis and legislative drafting on laws related to domestic violence.
Curriculum and Academy Development: OPDAT programs in the Balkans focus on achieving sustainable reforms that can be carried out and implemented by local institutions. OPDAT works with in-country training institutions to develop curricula and instructional capacity to teach investigative, prosecutorial, judicial, and management skills. Over the past two years, these initiatives have been highly successful in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, where primary responsibility for providing instruction in key areas such as trial advocacy and financial investigations has shifted to local institutions. OPDAT-designed curricula, tailored to the region, have been adopted not only by national academies, but also by other international donors such as the Council of Europe and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.
Digital Evidence and Online Investigations: OPDAT works in partnership with the Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, and the regional International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Advisors in Bucharest, the Hague, and Zagreb to conduct skills development programs for prosecutors and investigators to obtain, analyze, and persuasively present digital evidence in criminal proceedings. OPDAT also works with prosecutors and investigators to utilize new investigative techniques using open source information available on the internet, including the use of social media in criminal cases.
COVID-19 Assistance: During the COVID-19 pandemic, OPDAT has assisted criminal justice systems in the Balkans to develop procedures for the prioritization of cases, implement social distancing in prosecution offices and courts, and conduct virtual hearings. OPDAT also provides case-based mentorship to law enforcement and prosecutors conducting investigations of procurement fraud crimes related to corruption in purchases of personal protective equipment and medical devices.
RECENT PROGRAMMATIC ACTIVITIES
OPDAT Recognizes International Human Rights Day (December 10, 2020)