Central Asia and the former Soviet Union

The following Justice Initiative projects are underway in, or relevant to, Central Asia and the former Soviet Union:

National Criminal Justice Reform

Reform of the Legal Profession in Kyrgyzstan
The Justice Initiative and the American Bar Association's Central and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) together initiated a joint project monitoring and advancing the independence of the legal profession in Central Asia. The regional initiative, which began implementation in Kyrgyzstan in 2004, is aimed at: achieving the providing independent analysis of the status of legal profession in the Central Asia in accordance with international standards; developing recommendations on improving the status of lawyers in order to enable them to effectively protect human rights; building a constructive dialogue between the legal profession and the government to reach agreement over issues and reform priorities; and consolidating and supporting lawyers in developing and implementing reform program aimed at greater independence of the legal profession. Read the Kyrgyzstan recommendations

Mongolia: Legal Aid Reform
In Mongolia, the Justice Initiative's objective is to assist the government in establishing an effective legal aid management and delivery structure, and to ensure that the legal needs of indigenous persons are met at reasonable cost. The project is also exploring the benefits of introducing salaried public defenders, to take a prominent role in urban areas, while private lawyers continue in rural areas, under a unified coordination and management system. Click here for the needs assessment study of the legal aid system and the National Forum on Access to Justice's recommendations.

Kazakhstan: International Standards on Children's Rights
A pilot project has been launched in two districts of Kazhakstan—Almaty and Karasaiiskii—to establish a model system of justice for juveniles accused of crimes. Procedures were established for recording data on juvenile suspects and their treatment at every stage of the criminal justice process, from arrest through sentencing or acquittal. Police officers, prosecutors and judges were selected for specialized work with juveniles in the pilot regions, and the Justice Initiative and Soros Foundation–Kazakhstan selected lawyers and social workers on a competitive basis. Read on

Regional: Alternatives to Pretrial Detention
Latvia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are currently ranked as the countries with, respectively, the 23rd, 13th and 5th highest prison population rates in the world. It is essential to identify and highlight the gaps between a state’s de jure and de facto compliance with international standards in the area of pretrial detention. A clear, country-specific understanding of the real process through which persons come to be placed—and remain—in pretrial detention provides a foundation for project activities (such as bail supervision programs, assistance to judicial officers, or improved legal aid) to target country-specific lacunae, such as the absence of available alternative disposals or of legal representation at pretrial hearings. Paradoxically, many of the states which are the “worst offenders” in terms of excessive use of pretrial detention have enacted—and purport to apply—national legislation which closely mirrors international presumptions against the use of pretrial detention and in favor of the use of alternative measures. This is the case in three former Soviet Union countries in which the Justice Initiative is pursuing (in Latvia and Ukraine) pretrial detention projects or (in Kazakhstan) a juvenile justice project with a significant pretrial detention component. Read on

Freedom of Information and Expression

Regional: Freedom of Information Law Implementation, Legal Advice, Litigation and Monitoring Tool
Justice Initiative FOI implementation projects include legal advice and litigation in Bulgaria, Georgia and Romania. Litigation challenging government refusals to provide requested information has been a traditional tool of activists interested in making freedom of information laws work in countries that have enacted them. The Justice Initiative has developed an “Access to Information Monitoring Tool” which permits evaluation of national FOI law implementation and comparative assessment between countries. This instrument has been tested in a pilot project encompassing Armenia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Peru and South Africa. Read on

International Justice

Georgia and the Southern Caucasus: Rome Statute progress in a difficult region
Following Georgia’s successful ratification of the Rome Statute, the Open Society Justice Initiative participated in the organization of a Workshop on the Ratification and Implementation of the Rome Statute of the ICC in the Southern Caucasus. On February 29 and March 1, 2004, in Tbilisi, the meeting gathered together experts, officials and key organizations from Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss in depth the experience of Georgia, and to identify solutions to potential legal and political difficulties that may arise in Armenia and Azerbaijan. With informed and dedicated officials, academics and NGOs present in each country, it is hoped that Armenia and Azerbaijan will soon join Georgia in the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties.

Regional: Bringing the ICC to Countries of the Southern Caucasus
The Justice Initiative helped convene a workshop on the ratification and implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in the Southern Caucasus, February 29-March 1, 2004. The meeting was organized by the Institute of European Law and International Law of Human Rights at the State University of the Republic of Georgia (Tbilisi) with support and assistance from the Justice Initiative, the Open Society Policy Center the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation–Armenia and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation–Azerbaijan.

Equality and Citizenship

Russia: Combating Discrimination
The Justice Initiative is undertaking a number of projects to reduce the incidence of ethnic and racial discrimination by state actors in the Russian Federation. The initiatives aim to build NGO legal capacity, through documentation and litigation to challenge discriminatory acts in Russian courts, at the European Court of Human Rights, and/or at the CERD. Read on

Anticorruption

Russia: The Use and Misuse of Administrative Resources
The Justice Initiative and Transparency International-Russia together launched a project to monitor the misuse of these "administrative resources" during the December 2003 election campaign for the Russian Federal State Duma (parliament). Read on

Legal Capacity Development

Regional: Clinical Legal Education
The Justice Initiative seeks to improve clinical teaching and supervision through specialized training programs for faculty and the creation of course materials on subjects such as ethics and professional responsibility. Through careful allocation of resources, the Justice Initiative strives to capitalize on progress in countries where clinics have achieved rapid growth, while helping to promote clinical education in places where the idea has yet to take off. High quality clinics have emerged in Armenia, Hungary, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland and Russia, and there have been promising developments in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania and Romania. Read on

Regional: Teacher Training Program
The Justice Initiative presently organizes two teacher-training sessions per year—for Russian-speaking from the former Soviet Union and Mongolia and for English-speaking audiences from central and east Europe. Training sessions in 2003 focused on Challenges of Teaching Trial Advocacy Skills and Professional Ethics. In 2004, training was devoted to children's rights and juvenile justice. Read on

Regional Focus: Clinics in Ukraine and Central Asia
There are twenty-five university-based legal clinics in Ukraine, of which fifteen have been started since 2000 by the local Soros foundation—the International Renaissance Foundation—with the assistance of COLPI. Clinical programs in Central Asia are at various different levels of development. Clinics in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan stand out as well-established high quality programs, whereas those in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan have yet to achieve institutional recognition within their respective law departments. Read on

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