US embassy cable - 03KABUL1215

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KABUL 001215 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR ZKHALILZAD, JDWORKEN, RHANSON; DSEDNEY 
STATE FOR SA/PAB, SA/AR AMBASSADOR JOHNSON, PAT 
HASLACH 
AID FOR ANATSIOS, JKUNDER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, EAID, SOCI, AF, SNAR 
SUBJECT: Second update on USG support for the 
Justice Commission 
 
REF:  Kabul 639 
 
1.  Summary: The Commission for Reform of Justice 
and the Judiciary (CRJJ) continues to make 
strides in implementing elements of its Master 
Plan, which includes 29 reform tasks and a rough 
budget and timeline.  The entire Plan has not 
been officially approved, which impedes needed 
upgrades in donor coordination and commitments. 
Nonetheless, the Commission?s selection and 
initial implementation of priority actions should 
elicit optimism over the possibility of reform 
occurring in the justice sector.  The USG has 
been the primary donor, to date; though, the 
Italians are designated to be the lead 
coordinating country.  Through USAID, STATE/INL 
and CJCMOTF, the USG will continue to support the 
Commission and will help the CRJJ initiate four 
out of the five high priority activities that it 
has selected from its Master Plan.  End Summary. 
 
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Establishment of the Work Plan 
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2.  USAID, through contracts with Bearing Point 
and Management Systems International (MSI) and a 
subcontract with the Asia Foundation (TAF), has 
been providing assistance to the Judicial 
Commission, since its inception.  Technical 
assistance helped the Commission for Reform of 
Justice and the Judiciary (CRJJ) establish a 
Master Plan and initialize the implementation of 
elements of the Plan.  The Plan comports with 
both mandates from the Bonn Accords and 
Presidential Decree #153 that direct the CRJJ to 
operate in the following four areas:  1) Law 
Reform; 2) Surveys, Physical Infrastructure, and 
Training; 3) Legal Education and Awareness; 4) 
Structure of Judicial Institutions. 
 
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CRJJ Progress with USG Assistance 
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3.  The USG, through OTI and CJCMOTF, has 
assisted the CRJJ with extensive reconstruction 
of the judicial infrastructure and equipment. 
 For example, OTI funded the Kabul Public Court 
House.  Currently, the USG is also contributing 
to four of the five priority areas of the Work 
Plan selected by the CRJJ for immediate 
implementation.  For each priority area, the CRJJ 
will establish a working group.  The CRJJ has 
already selected appropriate lead and cooperating 
Ministries, as well as participating legal 
entities, organizations and actors.  USAID will 
provide technical advisors for four of these 
priority areas to help facilitate cooperation 
among the working group, budget development and 
other organizational needs.  USAID advisors will 
also provide substantive technical advice that 
includes methods for research and implementation 
of the reforms.  It remain  unclear how 
successful this cooperation will be between 
entities, particularly among other Ministries 
that may resist elements of the reform tasks. 
 
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Summary of the four USG support areas 
-------------------------------------- 
 
4.   Advisor to the Chairman of the CRJJ:  The 
CRJJ faces many challenges and multiple tasks. 
It is charged with rebuilding the domestic 
justice system, which includes assessing the 
current state of the system, researching and 
proposing reforms and, in cooperation with UNAMA 
and the Italians, enlisting and coordinating the 
necessary technical and donor support.   USAID, 
through the TAF and MSI, will provide a technical 
advisor to support the CRJJ?s efforts in law 
reform and compilation, to organize a process for 
public input into decision for reform, to revise 
laws and to analyze need for reform the court 
systems.  The advisor will also provide 
administration support to the Commission and 
design approaches to training. 
 
5.   Property Deed Rehabilitation:  Property deed 
rehabilitation is considered an urgent issue to 
secure mortgages in urban areas and title for 
collateral in rural areas.  The Ministry of 
Finance is charged with the issue and may provide 
some funding from the ARTF.  USAID will manage 
the process by providing technical assistance on 
deed registry systems with the aim of proposing 
appropriate reforms.   The technical advisor will 
work with a CRJJ working group to make decisions 
about the appropriate technology, draft proposed 
amendments on the law for recording deed and 
other laws related to land tenure.  USAID will 
also provide infrastructural support for the 
rehabilitation of the property deed registry at 
the Kabul court, attempt to preserve property 
deeds and modernize the property deed recording 
office.   This work will build upon current 
USAID/OTI-funded emergency assistance in 
preserving the property deeds presently found in 
two locations. 
 
6. Prototype Legal Facility for the district 
level:  The physical infrastructure of courts is 
a fundamental componento thelong-term plan for 
judicial rehabilitation. The CRJJ plans to have 
designed a government complex which would 
encompass the district court facilities.  The 
Ministry of Urban Development will coordinate the 
design process.  STATE/INL will fund the 
construction, contributing $200,000 to $250,000. 
With USAID support, MSI will hire an architect to 
develop an optimal design for a district 
courthouse that would accommodate all appropriate 
functions for such a facility.  The legal 
facility is designed to become a demonstration 
model and develop information regarding the costs 
of such a facility.  The building will include 
space for the public to watch the proceedings, 
for staff to work and possibly reside, a law 
library with public access, detention facilities 
for criminal suspects, legal aid and a bar 
association.  The prototype will also include an 
incinerator for narcotics, a place for evidence 
storage and a center for prosecutorial training. 
Currently, CJCMOTF is considering assisting in 
the construction of district level legal 
facilities.  This design will provide a good base 
model for that construction. 
 
7.  Public Education Advisor:   Public awareness 
of the formal law in Afghanistan is minimal. 
Legal literacy is needed to inform the public, 
strengthening democracy and enhance access to 
justice.  USAID is expected to provide at least 
one technical advisor to CRJJ to assist the 
public education process around reforms in the 
justice sector.  The technical advisor will also 
work with the CRJJ to coordinate with the 
Constitutional Commission on publicity related to 
the new constitution after its adoption.  The 
public education program may include legal 
seminars, workshops and round-tables for the 
public; radio programs on legal rights and 
advertisements in the print media. 
 
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Possible future USG assistance to the CRJJ 
------------------------------------------- 
 
8. Planning for support for the CRJJ has 
proceeded in two additional areas.  INL, through 
TAF, plans to provide support for a one-year 
program in prosecutorial training.  Training 
prosecutors would inaugurate CRJJ plans to 
require training and examinations and pay scales 
for the justice sector and tie personnel for 
promotion and increases in salary to an 
examination process.   A second area currently 
under planning is USAID?s supported reform in 
public administration.  Following the 
ratification of the Constitution, the 
organization of the state and building 
transparency and accountability into this 
organization will be a pressing priority. 
However, the law reform demanded by reform in 
public administration is a politically sensitive 
area, which involves reform that reaches beyond 
the specter of judicial and criminal reform. 
Consequently, public administration is burdened 
with political uncertainty and apprehension that 
hinders the pace and the uniformity of its 
implementation. 
 
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CRJJ assistance from other government donors 
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9. The Italians have adopted the lead on 
performing a survey on the institutional status 
of the Justice Sector across Afghanistan, as well 
as an evaluation of the existing informal 
systems.  Initial development of this survey was 
executed by USAID-funded technical assistance 
through the TAF, in cooperation with CJCMOTF. 
The survey of Kabul is complete and USAID has 
been informed by the Italians that the survey 
process has begun in 5 other regions.  It is 
unclear when the Italians will complete the 
project. 
 
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Concerns on progress of the Justice Commission 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
10. Three issues related to the work of the CRJJ 
should be monitored.  First, the CRJJ needs to 
officially approve the Master Plan and release 
it, in order to elicit greater donor commitments. 
 Second, it is important to note that many of the 
first approved projects focus more on the form of 
the system and less on the substance of law 
reform.  The political sensitivity around 
extensive law reform often slows or stalls its 
implementation in transitioning countries. 
Third, coordination between the Constitutional 
Commission and the Judicial Commission appears to 
be strained, as indicated by the Constitutional 
Commission?s unwillingness to share a copy of the 
draft Constitution with the Justice Commission. 
Problems in coordination will hinder the ability 
of the Justice Commission to do some of the work 
mandated by Bonn, such as the creation of a draft 
law on the constitutional curt and the law on 
justice administration. 
 
FINN