LEGAL AND RIGHTS EXPERTS DRAW UP DRAFT LAWS FOR POST CONFLICT SITUATIONS

19 June 2003



Legal and human rights experts meeting in Geneva have presented acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan with groundbreaking draft legislation for use in post-conflict justice systems.

Speaking on 18 June at the conclusion of a three-day conference in Geneva attended by 80 eminent judges, prosecutors, defenders, human rights experts and academics, Mr. Ramcharan said the draft legislation “represents a point of departure and the creation of an essential instrument that will be of immense use in the promotion of the rule of law and respect for human rights as societies emerge from conflict”.

“Promptly establishing an effective system of justice is essential to securing the peace and ensuring the free exercise of rights”, he continued. “This package, which integrates the lessons of numerous transitions in recent years, will make that goal more readily achievable.”

The project gives life to a recommendation in a report to the United Nations Secretary General prepared in 2000, under the direction of Lakhdar Brahimi, on the reform of UN peacekeeping operations.

The heart of the project is a Penal Code and a Code of Criminal Procedure, designed to be used by peace support missions as they attempt to restore peace and order. Model statutes dealing with police powers and detention also form part of the materials, which
are the culmination of an 18-month effort.

“These codes represent a tool kit to be used on the ground in the difficult post-war environment, and will necessarily be adapted depending upon the specific circumstances,” said Neil Kritz, director of the Rule of Law Program at the United States Institute of Peace, which sponsored the meeting. “They will be a valuable point of reference for both local authorities and international peacekeeping missions.”

A rich body of experience in Kosovo, East Timor, Cambodia, Sierra Leone Haiti and other post-conflict situations forms the basis of the work. The participants, from 24 countries, represented an enormous reservoir of practical knowledge in the implementation of post-conflict justice in such situations.

The meeting was held in partnership with the Irish Centre for Human Rights, which has coordinated the preparation of the draft codes, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and was a component of the larger programme on peacekeeping and the administration of justice organized by the United States Institute of Peace.

For more information, please contact David Marshall, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, tel. +41 22 917 9732, dmarshall@ohchr.org.




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