Showing posts with label EF3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EF3. Show all posts

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Rule of Law in Afghanistan

Video - RoL and BG Mitch Chitwood. The leader of Essential Function 3 at NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan is assisting the Afghan National Security Forces in aligning their effort with the rule of law, increased transparency, and the fight against corruption. In this 2-min long video posted on DVIDS on December 9, 2015 the general tells us about his job and the progress being made. For once it sounds like we got the right advisor in the right job! Many advisors are poorly selected and trained for their posting while working at the MoD and MoI.
www.dvidshub.net/video/441465/resolute-supports-essential-function-3-rule-law

International Anti-Corruption Day - Dec 9th. The United Nations led an international campaign to focus on how corruption affects education, health, justice, democracy, prosperity and development. I wonder if any progress was made in stemming corruption in Afghanistan?
www.anticorruptionday.org

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Day in the Life of a RoL Advisor

One of the hardest jobs in Afghanistan is that of a Rule of Law advisor. I have known and worked with several RoL advisors and trainers and they had a frustrating job. On one hand there were the Afghans that had no clue what RoL was (and if they did, had no desire to observe it) and on the other hand were American military officers that brushed the whole concept aside - at least in the early and mid years of the Afghan conflict. Even in a later period of the war (just a few years back) I can recall RoL advisors at the national level working at ISAF being reassigned to other jobs because there was not much progress being made in RoL within the Afghan government, military, and police. It wasn't all gloom and doom for the RoL advisor - there were some success stories and some progress; just not enough.

With President Ghani now running the government and the appointment of new ministers to the cabinet perhaps the Rule of Law advisors working in Resolute Support Essential Function 3 will see the doors open a little wider and be able to assist the Afghans with some measurable and meaningful progress.

Jade Wu, a former Rule of Law advisor in Afghanistan, provides us her perspective on the Rule of Law advisor assignment in "A Day in the Life of a Rule of Law Advisor", International Policy Digest, April 17, 2015. Jade is a foreign policy analyst, author, and lawyer. She has worked on humanitarian assignments in Iraq, Kosovo, Philippines, Germany, and Malawi. She is currently writing a book with the working title "Moments that Flashed". You can follow her on Twitter at @jadejournal.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

USIP Report - Rule of Law (RoL)

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has published a report entitled Islamic Law, Customary Law and Afghan Informal Justice - dated March 6, 2015. The author of the report is Hamid Khan, deputy director of the Rule of Law Collaborative at the University of South Carolina. He previously served as a senior rule of law program officer with the Center for Governance, Law and Society at USIP.

"As Afghanistan's nascent democracy works to establish the rule of law across the country, it finds itself contending with the ways that Islamic law converges and diverges from the tribal norms that shape the settling of disputes outside Kabul. Based on surveys conducted in Afghanistan, this report examines the points of tension and agreement between Islamic and customary laws, looking into both of their pasts to suggest a way forward for the Afghan state, particularly in granting greater rights and protections to women". 
This could be a helpful reference for current or future Rule of Law advisors working in Essential Function 3 (RoL) at Resolute Support Headquarters in Afghanistan.

www.usip.org/publications/2015/03/06/islamic-law-customary-law-and-afghan-informal-justice

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Paper - RoL and Biometrics

In developing countries people have a stereotypical view about judicial systems being slow, rigid, and secretive. In Afghanistan these three views are prevalent as well as a widely-held view of corruption in the Afghan judicial system. This impression exists largely because of the slow judicial process and corruption within the system due to the unavailability of modern age technologies to establish accountability of judicial personnel. Biometric identification technology can help to establish more accurate and secure identification and thus help the judicial system become more efficient, fast, responsible, and user-friendly. Read a report entitled How Biometric Identification Can Help the Judicial Management System, International Network to Promote the Rule of Law (INPROL), February 2015. This report may be useful for Rule of Law advisors in Afghanistan working in the Resolute Support Mission's Essential Function 3 RoL.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Guide to Change Management for RoL - EF3

Dr.Vivienne O'Connor of the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law (INPROL) has penned a practitioner's guide entitled Guide to Change and Change Management for Rule of Law Pratitioners, January 2015. A good reference for Rule of Law advisors working in Essential Function 3 RoL. Chapters in the guide include: I. Introduction, II. Theory of change for RoL Assistance, III. Applying Change Concepts to RoL - Assessment to Design and Implementation, and IV. Creating a Change Management Strategy.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Paper - Defining RoL

Dr. Vivienne O'Connor of the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law has penned a practitioner's guide entitled "Defining the Rule of Law and Related Concepts". The document, published in February 2015, explores the topics of Rule of Law, Justice, Access to Justice, Human Rights, Human Security, and more. A good primer for those SFA Rule of Law Advisors working in Resolute Support Mission Essential Function 3 - RoL.