Consultant – Legal Drafter

Since its inauguration in 2014, the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) has trained more than 7000 criminal justice practitioners through its interactive capacity-building workshops – in Malta and abroad – that enhance the competencies of parliamentarians, judges, prosecutors, police, prison and other criminal justice practitioners to address terrorism and related transnational criminal activities within a rule of law framework. The IIJ, one of three institutes with a mission to implement good practices developed by the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) and other international and regional fora, delivers capacity-building training tailored to the needs of the regions it serves, including North, West and East Africa; the Middle East; and select engagement in the Balkans, and Central, South and Southeast Asia. For more information on the IIJ, please visit the IIJ’s website www.theiij.org

Terms of Reference – Consultant

Preparing the Somali draft law on international judicial cooperation under the project “Building Strong Procedural Mechanisms for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA)”. The International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) is an international organisation located in Malta with a mission to deliver innovative and sustainable capacity-building through the implementation of counter-terrorism-related, rule of law-based good practices developed by the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) and other international and regional fora. Since its inauguration in 2014, the IIJ has trained more than 6000 criminal justice practitioners through its interactive capacity-building workshops – in Malta and abroad –that enhance the competencies of parliamentarians, judges, prosecutors, police, prison and other criminal justice practitioners to address terrorism and related transnational criminal activities within a rule of law framework. The IIJ delivers capacity-building training tailored to the needs of the regions it serves, including North, West and East Africa; the Middle East; and select engagement in the Balkans, and Central, South and Southeast Asia. For more information on the IIJ, please visit the IIJ’s website at www.theiij.org.

BACKGROUND
In 2015, the IIJ launched its Global Central Authorities Initiative (GCAI) to support partner nations in reinforcing their central authorities and strengthening their international judicial cooperation. Since then, the IIJ has worked with a wide range of countries – including in East Africa — and has published The IIJ Good Practices for Central Authorities, which build upon Good Practice 9 of the GCTF’s Rabat Memorandum and promote United Nations Security Council Resolutions relevant to international judicial cooperation (such as Resolutions 2322 and 2396).

The Canadian-funded project Building Strong Procedural Mechanisms for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) aims to build upon past programs implemented under the IIJ’s GCAI and seeks to increase cross-border sharing of information and standardise procedures for issuing and processing MLA and extradition requests in both Kenya and Somalia and between the two countries. Since December 2022, the IIJ has completed five activities under the project, working directly with Kenyan and Somali practitioners and institutions to take stock of the current state of play of their respective MLA and extradition mechanisms,
identifying areas which could be improved. At the joint Kenyan-Somali workshop of October 2023, practitioners agreed on a number of priority areas to strengthen their judicial cooperation in the mid- and long-term. Two additional activities will be implemented in 2024, including the Legal Drafting Workshop and Consultation on the Somali International Judicial Cooperation Law, to take place on 4-7 March 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The objective of this programme is to support the Somali government in drafting its first-ever law on international judicial cooperation (IJC). In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (MoJCA) of the Federal Republic of Somalia, the IIJ workshop/consultation will gather legal drafters associated with the MoJCA and representatives of federal institutions involved in IJC. The workshop/consultation will result in the preparation of the skeleton of the future law, which will integrate the feedback from earlier programs under the grant of federal institutions relevant in IJC processes in Somalia. Ultimately, the legal drafters will prepare a full-fledged draft of the legislation and submit it for validation to various institutions at federal and member state levels. A complete draft law on IJC should be finalized by 31 August 2024. The IIJ thus seeks three (3) Consultants to attend the March 4-7 drafting workshop and thereafter prepare a draft law on IJC and conduct validation sessions at federal and member state levels in Somalia.

KEY TASKS AND DELIVERABLES:
The Consultants will work under the overall guidance of the IIJ Director of Programmes,
and under the direct supervision of the IIJ Programme Manager. The Consultants’ services will entail the following tasks within the timeframes provided:

1. With the support of representatives of the MoJCA, conduct initial research to prepare
   for the drafting of the future law on IJC. This will include:

• Identifying and reviewing Somali legal provisions relative to IJC, including applicable treaty and convention provisions, as well as current practices and proceedings linked to IJC; and reviewing existing resources related to model legal provisions or legal guidelines on IJC (for instance, the UNODC Model Laws on MLA and extradition) to identify potentially relevant themes, legal solutions
  and provisions;
• Reviewing the gap analysis prepared by the IIJ International Legal Specialist (to be shared with them in February 2024), and thereafter preparing a presentation on the key themes and components of the IJC draft law, as well as a draft outline of the law, highlighting existing challenges, especially in the practice, to be further discussed at the March workshop in Nairobi;
• Preparing a work plan and timeline for the legislative drafting and the validation process to be followed (3 days).

The IIJ Programme Manager will share available data and resources collected during the implementation of the project (including international norms on IJC, templates and model provisions, and informal roadmaps stemming from past activities with Somali practitioners). The Consultants will be encouraged to liaise with the MoJCA and representatives of other Somali institutions of interest to understand existing distribution of responsibilities and past IJC practices in Somalia (through short calls, meetings and/or emails).

2. Attend the March 2024 programme in Nairobi to:

• Present the key themes and components to feature in the draft law and its outline, as well as existing challenges;
• Present the plan with timelines on the legislative drafting methodology and the validation process;
• Moderate workshop sessions, as appropriate; and
• Record individual and collective feedback from institution representatives on the content of the outline and the future law to be taken into account when developing the text of the draft law. (4 days);

2. Develop the draft IJC law, considering discussions and conclusions reached at the March workshop, any additional research required, and exchanges with other specialists on IJC (14 days);
3. With the support of the MoJCA, organise consultation sessions in each of the five Federal Member States, as well as a separate validation session for Federal Government and Federal Member States institutions in Mogadishu, including conducting preparatory work to identify and invite relevant stakeholders in consultation with the MoJCA; share the draft law for comments and conduct other
   coordination tasks; attend those sessions and partake in discussions; and record comments. (13 days);
4. In coordination with the MoJCA, incorporate suggestions and amendments discussed at the consultation and validation sessions into the draft law, as well as remarks from the IIJ International Legal Specialist’s review, and prepare the final version of the draft law, which will then be submitted for official adoption (6 days).

CONSULTANT PROFILE

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in law or a relevant discipline.
• A minimum of 6 years of relevant experience in legislation- or policy-drafting, ideally working in law- and policy-making structures in a ministry or parliament, focusing on drafting criminal procedure law or policy, international judicial cooperation and other public laws and legal instruments.
• Thorough knowledge of Somalia’s legal and political landscape and institutions as well as criminal procedure, international law on international judicial cooperation, rule of law issues (including counter-terrorism and transnational criminality), civil law jurisdictions and federal models of governance.
• Good legal and policy research, drafting, conceptual thinking and analytical skills.
• Fluency in Somali and good knowledge of English is required;
• Attention to deadlines and achieving results in accordance with qualitative and quantitative requirements.
• Ability to work in a team and with individuals from diverse backgrounds.

APPLICATIONS :
All applications are to be submitted on hr@theiij.org and trann@theiij.org with the reference LD_2024 in the subject line. The vacancy shall remain open until filled.