Criminal Law and Human Trafficking

Overview
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 The Rule of Law Initiative works with local
defense centers is creating a legacy of fairness and partners around the globe to strengthen criminal
access to justice in many countries. Our program also justice institutions in their countries.
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:

• Executive Summary of the 2006 Prosecutorial Reform Index (PRI) for Bulgaria.
• Prosecutorial Reform Index for Bulgaria 2006 (also available in Bulgarian).

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.

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 A poster developed as part of an awareness
human trafficking, as well as recommendations on a campaign by the Rule of Law Initiative Latin
America Division Anti Trafficking project is
way forward. In preparation for this conference, the displayed throughout Ecuador, for example in
Rule of Law Initiative completed a comparative provincial airports.
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.