International consultant to enhance the collaboration and uniform approaches within the system of forensic institutions of the Republic of Moldova
Location : Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, MOLDOVA
Application Deadline : 06-Apr-21
(Midnight New York, USA)
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : International Consultant
Languages Required : English
Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start)
23-Apr-2021
Duration of Initial Contract : April 2021 - October 2021
Expected Duration of Assignment : Up to 70 working days
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
Background
The UNDP project "Strengthening Efficiency and Access to Justice in Moldova" (A2J) is a multi-year institutional development project designed to contribute to an increased efficiency of justice services and to improved access to justice of men and women in Moldova, in particular from vulnerable and marginalized groups, through enhanced capacities of forensic institutions to provide qualitative justice services, strengthened capacities of the justice sector actors in the selected pilot areas to provide coordinated response to men's and women's justice needs and strengthened civil society able to claim the respect of rights and engage in a constructive dialogue with the justice chain actors. Project interventions will offer and encourage equal opportunity for the participation of men and women.
Although important efforts have been deployed at national level during the last years to advance the efficiency, transparency, fairness and accessibility of the justice sector, improvement is further required to ensure coherent coordination among law enforcement, security and justice institutions for effective administration of justice, so that men and women, particularly from marginalized or minority groups, are able to claim their rights and access justice effectively.
The system of forensic institutions [1] is an integral part of the justice system. The expert conclusions provided by these institutions are critical for the objective and evidence-based delivery of justice. The quality and accuracy of forensic investigations and examinations have an extensive impact on the quality of justice and affect the overall perception of users about the justice system.
A well-established forensic infrastructure, compliant with the international quality standards, with better capacities of the experts, more transparent and efficient institutional processes, standardization in line with the ISO requirements and automation of internal workflows is crucial for the ability of forensic evidence to adequately put the case under review at all stages of the judicial process. Despite their importance for the administration of justice, forensic institutions benefited from limited assistance and support in their modernization endeavours as compared to other justice chain actors.
One of the latest assessments of the forensic infrastructure in the Republic of Moldova was conducted in 2011 by UNDP [2]. The assessment identified a number of areas which required improvement, amongst which is the lack of uniformity across the forensic institutions in the processes of judicial expertise and forensic investigations, as well as the necessity of improving forensics' regulatory framework.
The Law no. 68/2016 on the Judicial Expertise and the Status of Judicial Expert [3] provides for the regulatory framework and the requirements on the functionality of the judicial expertise system on such issues as the coordination and methodological mechanisms, admission to the profession, training and qualification/licensing, etc.
The current practice of forensic institutions has revealed a number of inconsistencies between various parts of the existing legal framework regulating the forensic expertise and forensic organization in Moldova, that require alignment and convergence among them. Therefore, UNDP also conducted the review of the current Law on the Judicial Expertise and the Status of Judicial Expert and connected normative acts, identifying shortcomings and formulating recommendations for the improvement of legal/normative acts regulating the area of judicial expertise.
The preliminary findings of the analysis point out issues related to the uneven interpretation of legal norms and use of legal notions, the absence of clearly set admissibility requirements for the judicial expertise report, the inconsistent functioning of the mechanism of admission to the judicial expert profession and subsequent assessment, namely problems related to establishing and functioning of the Commission for qualification and evaluation of judicial experts, as well as Commission members' mandate, lack of clear regulations on the curriculum for the initial and continuous training of judicial experts, as well as there is no national institutional system for professional training of judicial experts in place.
UNDP is currently addressing the national forensic system's needs by supporting the institutional development of forensic institutions [4], providing support to review and amend the regulatory framework, as well as supports development of e-tools aimed at integrating isolated and uncoordinated forensic investigations into a consistent and coordinated process.
Recognizing the important role of forensics in ensuring a fair access to justice, aiming at improving forensic infrastructure and assuring its compliance with the international quality standards, as well as equipping national forensic institutions with relevant capacities and tools for an efficient and evidence-based performance, UNDP Moldova seeks to contract an International Consultant to enhance the coordination and collaboration within the national forensic institutions system, through creation of a representative platform for the national forensic system to coordinate the work and quality of forensic science in the country. The International Consultant shall also contribute to the harmonisation of the approach to career development of the national judicial experts (admission to the profession, initial and continuous training, qualification/licensing, performance evaluation, professional conduct and disciplinary proceedings, etc).
[1] The system of forensic institutions includes public institutions of judicial expertise and private forensic experts' bureaus. In line with the art.65 para.(2) Law no. 68/2016 on the Judicial Expertise and the Status of Judicial Expert, the system of public institutions of judicial expertise includes the specialized institutions of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, the operative technical-forensic subdivisions or judicial expertise of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Anticorruption Center. The state can also create other public institutions of judicial expertise.
[2] The Feasibility study on the forensic infrastructure in the Republic of Moldova and Findings of the external audit of the Centre of Forensic Medicine of Ministry of Health of the Republic of Moldova, conducted within the context of the "Strengthening the forensic examination of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in Moldova" project implemented by UNDP with the European Commission support
[3] https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=93158&lang=ro
[4] Within the scope of the A2J technical assistance is provided to the following three institutions the National Centre for Judicial Expertise (NCJE), Forensic Centre of the General Police Inspectorate (Police Forensic Centre ) and Centre for Legal Medicine (CLM).
Duties and Responsibilities
The expected output for the International Consultant's assignment is to review the current career development system for judicial experts (admission to the profession, initial and continuous training, qualification/licensing, performance evaluation, professional conduct and disciplinary proceedings, etc) and provide recommendations which would ensure efficient and uniform approaches to admission to profession of the judicial experts and professional progression and connected processes, as well as alignment of these processes to the international best practices. The consultant is also expected to conduct the assessment of the collaboration and coordination within the national forensic institutions system, establish the gaps and opportunities and provide solutions for enhancing the existing relationships, by means of recommending alternative models and associated implications for changing the existing status quo.
In order to achieve the stated objective, the Consultant shall perform the following tasks and activities:
* The responsibility for facilitating the consultation process for the purpose of completing the tasks outlined hereto will be borne primarily by the consultant. The consultant shall be responsible for preparing working materials and agendas and will be supported by the Project team to ensure participation, communication and coordination with invited stakeholders.
** For the scope of this assignment the coordination of consultant's outputs will be ensured through the Working Group to be established by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova to review the Moldovan regulatory framework related to the area of judicial expertise and experts.
For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 - Terms of Reference.
Competencies
UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.
Required Skills and Experience
Academic Qualifications:
Work experience:
Language:
Application instructions: Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
Note: For complete information about this vacancy including detailed tasks and responsibilities, full and detailed description of the evaluation procedure which will be applied please refer to the Terms of Reference, the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice as well as the UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract, published at the UNDP Moldova website, Jobs Section:
https://sc.undp.md/jobs/2229/
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This vacancy is archived.