International Consultancy to Develop a Position Paper for Strengthening Criminal Procedure in Lao PDR

UNDP CO in Lao PDR: Guided by the global UNDP Strategic Plan (2018 – 2021) and UNDP Country Programme for Lao PDR (2017 – 2021), the UNDP Country Office (CO) in Lao PDR works closely with the line Ministries, mass organizations, civil society, development partners, and the private sector at both national and sub-national levels in pursuit of the national socio-economic development priorities defined in Lao PDR’s five-year National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) and localized Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UNDP CO’s work is strongly focused on the provision of policy advice and technical support to the Government in the design and implementation of national legislation and strategies across four broad Priority Pillars – (1) inclusive growth and reduced inequalities, (2) UXO clearance and risk education, (3) natural resources, climate change, and disaster risk reduction, as well as (4) effective, responsive and accountable governance.

UNDP CO, Governance Unit: The UNDP CO’s programming on effective, responsive, and accountable governance, inter alia, focuses on the provision of policy advice and technical support to the Government to (1) enhance the rule of law and access to justice, (2) strengthen the role and capacities of the National Assembly and People’s Provincial Assemblies, (3) streamline the public administration reform and national initiative on decentralization (Sam Sang Directive), as well as to (4) expand public participation in the national policy and decision-making.

UNDP CO, Rule of Law: In the area of the rule of law, UNDP CO partners with a number of the line Ministries (MoJ, MoFA, MoPS, MPI), Office of Supreme People’s Prosecutor, People’s Supreme Court, National Assembly, Lao Bar Association, etc., to expand evidence-based national legislation and policy development, improve access to justice and provide legal empowerment to marginalized and vulnerable populations, domesticate and fulfill Lao PDR’s international human rights obligations, particularly through the implementation of the “Strategic Support to Strengthen the Rule of Law” Project (3S-RoL Project). In the framework of the Project, UNDP CO has assisted the Government in developing the next Legal Sector Master Plan (2021-2025) and establishing the priority areas and indicators for new legislations, streamlining judgment procedure and court notary work, enhancing the legal aid service provision, strengthening capacities of law enforcement personnel, legal practitioners and law students, etc. To support the implementation of the Master Plan and the priority activities relating to legal aid services of the 9th NSEDP (2021-2025), the Project has recently initiated the development of the National Strategy for Legal Aid Service Provision. In the area of crime prevention and criminal justice, three activities of the Project (2.4, 3.3, and 4.5) aim to conduct a legal audit of and amend the Criminal Procedure Law and Law on Prosecutors to harmonize the police and prosecution SOPs with the International Human Rights Treaties that Lao PDR is a party to, and streamline the criminal justice administration. The Project’s M&E Framework has been evaluating the capacity building of the police, prosecutors, and lawyers, as well as the decline in violations of criminal procedures.

Crime and Criminal Justice Data: Under the achievements of the 8th NSEDP, the Government has reported that between 2016-2020, a total of 45,825 court judgments were implemented, of which 32,660 were criminal cases, with 4,964 criminal case court judgments being successfully enforced. However, outside the quantitative data outlined in the NSEDP reporting, the localized SDG baseline data and fragmental National Submissions to the International Human Rights Mechanisms, official data on crime and criminal justice remains scarce in Lao PDR. This is particularly apparent when measuring qualitative gains in service delivery, access to justice, legal aid and defense, and the prevalence of crime with a lack of secondary reports publicly available or independent monitoring services. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the gaps in criminal justice data collection, reporting, and monitoring as the Criminal Justice System has been significantly disrupted by frequent lockdowns and movement restrictions, yet little data is available to determine the extent of the backlogs and the fallout of the delays.  

OBJECTIVE:

The overall objective of the assignment is to develop a Position Paper that provides an overview of criminal justice in Lao PDR and identifies the priority areas for programmatic interventions to strengthen criminal justice procedure, with the focus on the gaps and challenges in the following areas:

• (Overview) Legislative framework and its compliance with Lao PDR’s international human rights obligations and Compendium of the UN Standards and Norms in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice;
• (Overview) Institutional framework at both national and sub-national levels, including the organizational structures, responsibilities, and jurisdictions of the Police, Judiciary, Prosecution, Correction Systems, as well as legal aid and defense;
• (Analysis) Criminal procedure, including the in-practice steps in the formal criminal justice process, as well as informal community-level dispute resolution mechanisms.

The Position Paper shall also aim to overview the new challenges faced by the Criminal Justice System due to the COVID-19 crisis in Lao PDR and provide recommendations on the sectoral preparedness, response, and recovery, in line with the UNDP-UNODC Guidance Note on “Ensuring Access to Justice in the Context of COVID-19”.

SCOPE OF WORK :

Under the supervision of the UNDP Team Leader for Governance, the International Consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Conduct a Desk Review of (1) the criminal procedure laws, policies, and strategic plans, (2) terms of reference and SOPs of criminal justice institutions, both formal and informal, and law enforcement personnel, (3) secondary knowledge products on criminal justice, (4) analysis and concluding recommendations on criminal justice by the International Human Rights Mechanisms, (5) trends and good practices of strengthening criminal procedure, particularly in the ASEAN region;
• Verify and complement the Desk Review throughout at least eight Stakeholder Interviews with (1) the governmental criminal justice institutions, both formal and informal, (2) individual law enforcement personnel, (3) international development partners, and (4) CSOs – operating at both national and sub-national levels;
• Develop a draft Position Paper in English (approximately 15 pages) that provides an overview of the gaps and challenges in criminal justice in Lao PDR, as well as practical recommendations to strengthen criminal procedure, based on the UN standards and norms in criminal justice, including in the context of COVID-19, trends and good practices, as well as the concluding recommendations by the International Human Rights Mechanisms;
• Prepare and present the final Position Paper at a multi-stakeholder platform.

Administrative Support

Administrative support to the International Consultant will be provided by the UNDP Governance Unit Programme Associate and UNDP Operations Team. The UNDP Governance Unit will ensure the liaison between the International Consultant and national governmental/non-governmental stakeholders and translation of the relevant research materials into English, as required.

Reference Documents

• National Legal Sector Master Plan (2021-2025)
• (Draft) National Strategy for Legal Aid Service Provision
• 9th NSEDP (2021-2025)
• Compendium of the UN Standards and Norms in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
• UNDP-UNODC Guidance Note on “Ensuring Access to Justice in the Context of COVID-19”
• UPR Outcome Report for Lao PDR, 2020
• Lao PDR Addendum to the UPR Outcome Report, 2020
• CCPR Concluding Observations and Recommendations to Lao PDR, 2018
• Lao PDR Initial National Report to CCPR, 2017
• CEDAW Concluding Observations and Recommendations to Lao PDR, 2018
• Lao PDR National Report to CEDAW, 2017
• CRC Concluding Observations and Recommendations to Lao PDR, 2018
• Lao PDR National Report to CRC, 2017
• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children, including Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and other Child Sexual Abuse in Lao PDR, 2017
• Concluding Observations and Recommendations to Lao PDR by CRC-OP on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (CRC-OPSC), 2015
• Lao PDR National Report to CRC-OPSC, 2013
• Non-Governmental Stakeholder Submissions to the International Human Rights Mechanisms

• Strong analytical and writing skills
• Skilled usage of computers and office software packages
• Fluency in English

• Advanced University Degree (Master’s level) in Law or a related field (e.g., Criminal Justice, Criminology, Governance, Public Administration, Political Science, International Relations, Security, Human Rights, etc.)
• At least 8 years of professional experience in the fields of criminal law, crime prevention, investigation and prosecution, law enforcement, or related fields; working experience in Law Enforcement Crime Units at the national and/or international levels would be an asset
• Demonstrated experience in conducting comprehensive research studies in fields of the rule of law, justice, and criminal law; experience in country-level legal assessments would be an asset
• Experience within the UN system would be an asset
• Experience with the legal systems in the ASEAN region would be an asset

Requirements for submission of proposals 

All interested and qualified International or National Independent Consultant should apply on-line using the following links: 

UNDP Lao PDR Country Office website at https://www.la.undp.org/content/lao_pdr/en/home/jobs.html  or  

In order to make your submission, please read the relevant documents available on the link below 

1. TOR (Annex I) 
2. IC General Terms and Conditions _ Annex II; 
3. OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY _ Annex III 
4. P11 Form 

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals: 

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications: 

1. Technical Proposal 

            (i)  Explaining why you are the most suitable for the work; 

            (ii)  Providing a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work including the work 

                  schedule for the delivery of outputs/deliverable; 

1. P11 Form  Education and work experience, including past experience in similar projects and contact references of at least 3 references for whom you have rendered preferably the similar services; 
2. Financial proposal:  Detailed financial proposal: Lump sum offer with clear cost breakdown against each deliverable. Please use this template OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY _ Annex III 

Instructions for on-line submissions: 

Step 1:  Please prepare all required documents electronically; 

Step 2: Combine all documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF however Word format can be also accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs using the links above; 

Step 3: After that you will receive an auto reply from the UNDP jobs if your offer is received successfully. 

Incomplete proposals or proposals received after the deadline will be rejected. 

Note:  Any request for clarification must be sent in writing before the submission deadline to the following emails:                                 

[email protected] with copy to [email protected]