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Mongolia|politics|January 16, 2018 / 09:47 AM
EU and Mongolia cooperate on criminal justice reform

AKIPRESS.COM - On 16 January, the European Union and the Government of Mongolia will jointly host a national conference, part of a project financed by the European Union’s Partnership Instrument, on the implementation of human rights in the country’s criminal justice system.

Strengthening the rule of law in Mongolia is one of the priorities of the newly established European Union Delegation under the 2016-2020 EU Human Rights and Democracy Country Strategy for Mongolia. In this context, the EU and its Mongolian partners selected the implementation of the recently adopted criminal code and criminal procedure code in line with human rights standards as an area for further EU cooperation and support.

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, Mr. Davaasuren, will open the conference which will bring together national stakeholders such as representatives from the General Prosecutor’ Office, Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Commission of Mongolia. National and European experts will present reflections and recommendations on the furtherance of international human rights standards as the country seeks to reform its criminal justice system.

While the entry into force of the criminal and criminal procedure code in July 2017 provides a window of opportunity to protect human rights and strengthen the rule of law, many challenges remain for its implementation. “This conference presents an excellent opportunity to accelerate criminal justice reform through an open debate not only on legislative amendments, but also on the wider policy environment in which these changes need to be implemented,’’ says EU’s Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Mr. Marco Ferri.

The participants to the conference will first be discussing critical criminal justice reform issues such as challenges in the classification of crimes as well reforms of criminal penalties, sanctions and alternatives. The relevance of human rights in criminal investigations and reforms of the law enforcement law will be on the agenda in the second session. The third session will highlight international human rights norms in prosecution, in fair trials, as well as in witness and victim protection. The final session addresses how criminal justice reforms should respond to gender-based violence and the more specific juvenile justice issues.

A concise report including the principal conclusions and recommendations of the conference will not only serve to raise awareness on advances and challenges in Mongolia’s efforts to bring its criminal justice system in line with international human rights norms and standards, but also to nurture and underpin the ongoing human rights dialogue between the Government of Mongolia and the European Union.

In addition to supporting this first in a series of three human rights conferences, the EU contributes to this objective by making relevant international human rights conventions accessible in the Mongolian language. ‘’But these are not stand-alone conferences,’’ Mr. Ferri adds. “The EU will also support two expert-level regulatory dialogue visits in the EU by staff from the Prosecutors' General office of Mongolia.

These visits aim at strengthening their capacity to implement the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code in line with international criminal justice standards.’’ European experts will subsequently train staff of the Training and Research Centre (TRC) of the Prosecutor General's Office to conceptualise and implement specific training programmes regarding international human rights standards, pre-service and in-service training for prosecutors in line with the provisions of the new Criminal Code.

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