Draft legislation set for UN-backed meeting on rule of law in post-conflict States

Preparing for a United Nation-sponsored meeting later this year to help countries emerging from armed conflict rebuild their justice systems, legal and human rights experts have just concluded work on groundbreaking draft legislation designed to be used by peace support missions and transitional administrations.

The draft laws of a Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, drawn up by experts meeting in Galway, Ireland, earlier this week also include model statutes on police powers and detention.

They are expected to be presented to an international workshop in September sponsored by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to review relevant rule-of-law policy tools for post-conflict States, following regional consultations in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

The drafts give life to a recommendation made in a report to Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2000 under the direction of Lakhdar Brahimi on reforming peacekeeping operations. Based on a cross-cultural model that builds upon internationally recognized standards and experiences from UN peacekeeping operations, they are intended to be flexible so as to meet local circumstances effectively.

The Galway gathering was the second round of consultations on the draft laws, developed by the United States Institute for Peace in partnership with the Irish Centre for Human Rights, following a UN-sponsored meeting of experts in Geneva last June.