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Mutual Legal Assistance – The Future

I was honoured to present a background paper for the Commonwealth Secretariat at the First Meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Central Authorities and the Commonwealth Network of Contact Persons. The paper outlines recommendations to reduce Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) delays – through better use of information communication technology and establishing stronger networks. Amongst other topics,…

Launch of iJust Europe

Ahead of Romania taking the Presidency of the European Union in January 2019 we opened iJust Europe in Bucharest. We are excited to continue the collaboration with our European partners and extending our geographical reach.

International Cooperation Working Group – Romania

For the last three days I have co-chaired a working group of Romanian, German, Belgian and Italian Prosecutors as part of a project to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Romanian DIICOT (Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism). The focus has been judicial cooperation in the EU and the development of a practical Handbook…

Tipping Point

With my Ethiopian friends in Uganda – በኡጋንዳ ከሚኖሩ ኢትዮጵያዊ ወዳጆቼ ጋር I have spent the last week in Uganda, working with twenty experts from the Greater Horn of Africa, to develop their international judicial cooperation skills. As well as preparing a roadmap for the future of the Greater Horn of Africa International Judicial Cooperation…

What We Do

iJust is a network of international justice consultants offering a range of services to enhance the rule of law around the world. The iJust team offer a range of expertise that includes legislative drafting, technical assistance to enhance the recovery of criminal assets, institutional capacity building, legal and gap analysis, advice to inter-governmental institutions and practical…

Publications

United Nations Global compendium for law enforcement, the judiciary and prosecutors to assist with requests to other States for electronic evidence and data from service providers in a joint project with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP): Practical…

Current Projects

EU funded Regional Law Enforcement Project for the Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen – Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda UNODC ‘Lawful Access to Digital Data (e-evidence) Across Borders’ Project Commonwealth Secretariat international electronic evidence consultant EU funded Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Project (ARAP) in Ghana EuroMed Justice IV with the…

San Francisco Service Provider Outreach

It was great to be back in San Francisco to meet Service Providers as part of the UN CTED/ UNODC and International Association of Prosecutors Global e-Evidence Project. The San Francisco outreach event provided a platform for the project to showcase how we can assist startups to respond to overseas requests for preservation, voluntary disclosure…

EuroMed Conference on Digital Evidence

The First EuroMed Conference for Digital Evidence was hosted in Lisbon, Portugal 23-25 April 2018. The meeting was timely with the passing into law of the U.S. Cloud Act and the EU Commission proposals for European Production and Preservation Orders. Since the Arab Spring use of social media platforms has significantly increased in the Southern…

Asset Recovery Mutual Legal Assistance Network – Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean

This week I returned to Barbados to facilitate a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) Seminar, funded by the U.S. Department of State. As criminally acquired assets can be located in a number of different States, MLA is an essential process to speedily freeze property to prevent dissipation and to enforce confiscation or civil recovery orders. Without…

Policy Advantage

It’s an age old problem – have a policy but it isn’t used. The 2016 Ghana Code for Prosecutors sets out the evidence on which a decision is taken to prosecute must be reliable, relevant, admissible and available (‘Evidence Test’) and in the public interest ( ‘Public Interest Test’). Application of the Evidence and…

Extradition Expert Working Group – Kenya

I was honoured to chair an EU funded Expert Working Group (EWG) to enhance extradition in the Greater Horn of Africa. The EWG, hosted in the stunning surrounds of the International Peace Support Training Centre, discussed the impact of procedural errors, how to manage urgent requests and sustainable reform to meet these and other challenges…

EuroMed Justice – Brussels

The Second EuroMed Conference was an opportunity to present and receive comments on the completed Legal and Gap Analyses on Cybercrime, Terrorist Financing and Special Investigation Techniques for the Southern Partner Countries (SPC) – Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia. With each SPC, the European Commission, UNODC, IAP, UN-CTED, Eurojust and EJN…

Lawful Access to Data Across Borders – UNODC/CTED/IAP Global Guide

Almost all organised crime and counter-terrorism investigations will require electronic evidence – often located in another State. Yet – to date – there is no single resource on how to secure this vital evidence from priority jurisdictions around the world. Over the last two days – UNODC hosted an Expert Group Meeting in Vienna to…

Equality of Arms?

Justice is measured on access, transparency, fairness, equality and objectivity – we should also remember participation. Section 132(2)(c) of the Ghana Criminal Procedure Code, 1960 (Act 30) precludes the right to reply for a Police Prosecutor of less than three years call as a lawyer. This means if an accused’s Attorney is 1 years call…

Djiboutian Fiches

The last EU Mutual Legal Assistance workshop of the year has produced a Fiches for Djibouti on evidence collection and use of Special Investigation Techniques for Requesting States. Over a week, key Djiboutian stakeholders from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gendarmerie, Investigative Judges and Prosecutors – plus an expert from the French…

Djibouti – Mutual Legal Assistance Training

‘Locus regit actum’ Djibouti is the third smallest country in continental Africa, after Swaziland (second smallest) and Gambia (smallest). Its geographic location makes it a strategically important area – bordered by Eritrea to the north, Somaliland to the south east and the Gulf of Aden lies to the east with Yemen less than 27 kilometres…

Criminal Prosecutions Service – Antigua and Barbuda

Great to see the passing of this Bill in the Lower House for the establishment of the Criminal Prosecution Service in Antigua and Barbuda! Criminal Prosecutions Service Bill Passed By Tameika Malone (Antigua Observer) The Criminal Prosecutions Service Bill 2017 has passed its first hurdle, the Lower House with “sundry” amendments. The aim of the Bill is…

Sudan Fiches

After successfully collaborating with key Sudanese stakeholders to produce their own Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) Manual in July – Judges, Prosecutors and Legal Advisors from the Ministry of Justice have now completed their Fiches to assist other States with MLA requests. The preparation of the Fiches was an opportunity to reflect and consider existing domestic provisions…

Greater Horn of Africa Mutual Legal Assistance Network

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack. Over the last month, as part of the Regional EU Law Enforcement Project, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia have produced their own equivalent of the Fiches Belges The Fiches summarise the relevant law and procedure for gathering evidence and…