Soros Foundation Moldova (FSM)

The violation of the Right to Liberty and Security of Person in Moldova is not occasional. It represents a systemic and continuous phenomenon. Moldova is constantly condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for violation of this particular fundamental right, especially because of a poor motivation of arrest warrants issued by investigative judges. There are 44 investigative judges in the country and their mandate is to ensure the judicial control over rights observance at pre-trial stage and to apply certain preventive measures during the criminal procedure, including pre-trial detention. Although their decisions directly affect the liberty of persons, these are literally “empty nutshells” since in an overwhelming number of cases they lack reasoning. Both civil society organizations and judicial self-governing bodies lack appropriate tools for permanent monitoring of investigative judges` activity and for making them responsible for their lack of appropriate motivation in applying pre-trial detention.

There is a serious external pressure from international and European institutions to reform Moldova’s justice system, especially the judiciary. However, the actions that both judicial regulating authorities and the government undertake in this respect have been quite inconsistent so far. Therefore, there is a good opportunity at present to mainstream public discussions and increase pressure to improve the performance of the judiciary from a human rights perspective.

In the aforementioned conditions, the Justice Program (the Program) of the Soros Foundation Moldova is currently implementing the project “Improving the observance of the Right to Liberty and Security of Person in Moldova” which aims to establish coherent and sustainable public watch mechanisms over the judiciary through active involvement of NGOs and media representatives. The project also advocates for the development of internal accountability mechanisms for judges.

One of the project activities foresees the development of a pocket guide for Moldovan investigative judges on how the legal reasoning should be made. The guide should be based on a thorough analysis of international and national experience and should include samples of legal reasoning from advanced countries, but also from Moldova. The guide will be further widely distributed amongst judges with full implication of the Superior Council of Magistrates and Association of Judges.

To better address the activity above, the Program plans to hire one international consultant and one national to work as a team.

Objective: To assist the Program in proper implementation of one essential activity foreseen within the project: “Improving the observance of the Right to Liberty and Security of Person in Moldova”.

Scope of work and main tasks:

• To thoroughly analyze international and national experience re legal reasoning during pretrial phase.
• To develop a necessary brand new reasoning tool for Moldovan investigative judges based on existent experience at both national and international level.

Specific activities:

In the frame of the aforementioned tasks the selected consultant will be expected to undertake the following activities:

• Collect all relevant documentation, including legislation, re legal reasoning by investigative judges in Moldova and submit it to the international expert.
• Assist the international expert prior and during his/her two-day documentation visit to Moldova to get familiar with national context and meet various relevant stakeholders.
• Assist the international expert in designing the concept of the pocket guide.
• Assist the international expert in developing the first draft of the pocket guide.
• Assist the international expert in finalizing the pocket guide based on the feedback received from the project expert team representing national justice institutions, i.e. Supreme Council of Magistrates and Supreme Court of Justice.
• Participate in a half-day launching event along with the international consultant.

Desired outputs/expected deliverables:

• Relevant documentation collected and submitted to the international expert.
• International expert assisted prior and during his/her documentation visit to Moldova.
• The concept of the pocket guide designed.
• The first draft of the pocket guide developed.
• The pocket guide finalized based on the feedback received from the project expert team and submitted to the Program.
• Inputs provided during a half-day launching event.

Timeframe: The consultancy should start in June 2012 and end in September 2012 for a maximum of 30 working days.

Qualification/experience required:

• University Degree in Law. Advanced university degree in Criminal Justice, International Human Rights Law or other related fields will be an asset;
• Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in Criminal Justice field with particular focus on pretrial phase;
• Consistent experience in developing tools for criminal judges or reasoning legal documents;
• Strong analytical and communication skills;
• Very good command of spoken and written English;
• Knowledge of the country context re current HR situation and challenges will represent a strong asset.

Performance indicators:

The performance of work will be appreciated based on following indicators:

• Consultancy provided with required quality;
• Compliance with the established timeliness;
• Demonstration of good cooperation with SFM and counterparts.

Financial terms:

The financial terms are negotiable. The consultant shall make proposals on the expected fee (net amount) for a maximum of 30 working days.

All business related expenses, as local transportation and other of this kind, will be covered by the SFM.

Recruitment process:

All prospective consultants should send a cover letter and a CV/resume by 7 June 2012, 6 pm EET, to the following e-mail: rdanii@soros.md

For further information, please contact Mr. Radu Danii at rdanii@soros.md or (373 22) 270031.