Activities
JRP ’s main area of concentration is the judicial sector, including
the courts and related agencies and organizations. It focuses on six major
tasks:
1. Improving Judicial Independence
JRP works to improve transparency and efficiency in court administration
by helping the General Council of Courts put workable procedures in place.
The project also works to ensure that local court administrators are trained
to carry out national policies. With assistance from the project, Mongolia
has automated all 61 of its courts. In each, it automated case management
procedures and records; initiated automated random assignment of cases;
created public information areas; and put in place more efficient records
management processes. This has significantly improved transparency and
efficiency, and reduced opportunities for system manipulation. Public
access terminals in each court make case information available to lawyers,
litigants, and the public. In 2005 a central database will be created
and case information will become available on the internet.
2. Building the Capacity of Legal Institutions
JRP is strengthening the General Council of Courts with improved budgeting
expertise and creation of a national case information database. It will
also help improve the management capacity of the Office of the Prosecutor
General, and help the Mongolian Advocates Association become a Bar Association
capable of monitoring ethics and improving member skills. JRP comments
on key legislation and Supreme Court interpretations, and it is developing
a joint procedural manual for courts prosecutors and investigators to
provide uniform implementation of key provisions to ensure compliance
with international standards for human rights and enhance coordination
among justice sector institutions.
3. Training and Continuing Legal Education
JRP helped create and build management capacity in the National Legal
Center (NLC), which has the mandate to retrain legal professionals. Together
with the GTZ, the project has also developed a group of skilled trainers
who now form the core of NLC instructors. JRP continues to develop new
courses in areas such as ethics and domestic violence, as well as improving
the skills of trainers and bringing new courses to judges and other legal
professionals in the countryside.
4. Establishing Legal Professional Qualifications
JRP has helped the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs to administer
the first qualification exam for legal professionals—fairly and
transparently. It has also helped develop amendments to the law that will
ensure administration of better-prepared and more impartial exams.
5. Ethics in the Legal Profession
JRP works in several ways to strengthen justice sector integrity. A U.S.
prosecutor with experience investigating and prosecuting corruption worked
with the Prosecutor General’s Special Investigation Unit, which
is charged with investigating crimes by justice sector officials, and
JRP provided equipment and training to the new office. The project has
also assisted the new Judicial Disciplinary Committee with equipment and
training, and it has provided advice on the new Judicial Ethics Code and
the draft Law on Courts to create an improved disciplinary mechanism for
judges.
6. Public Education
In conjunction with GTZ and PACT, JRP has created the highly rated and
award winning program “Legal Hour”, which uses dramatizations
to educate the public on its rights under the Criminal Procedure Code.
An award winning radio drama with the same aim was produced for rural
residents. JRP has trained journalists on how to report on legal issues
and continues to train the public affairs officers of justice sector agencies.
The project produces a “Rule of Law” newsletter to assist
donor coordination and inform NGOs and the public of justice sector reform
activities. It also sponsors regular columns on legal issues by justice
sector agencies, and has produced posters on a wide variety of legal issues.
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