Terms of Reference (ToR)

Project Title: Support to the Justice System Reform.

Assignment title: Legal Consultant to support the development of the Justice System Reform framework and legislation.

Targeted Contractor: Individual Contractor

Duty station: Home based and with frequent travel to Dili .

Duration: 1 year.

Expected starting date: May 2019

1. Background and Project Description

The Timor-Leste’s justice system is complex in character as the results of its historical circumstances. Various legal frameworks are currently applied in the justice processes which include the Indonesian’s legislation, UNTAET regulations and the Timor-Leste’s laws and regulations. The traditional justice practices are also still applied in the justice processes in particular in the rural areas.

Significant changes in the justice sector had taken place since 2002 with the adoption of the laws and regulations by the Timor-Leste’s Legislative Organs which aimed to gradually replace the Indonesian’s legislation and UNTAET’s regulations in order to put in place a harmonized legal order which reflects the socio-cultural and political situation of the country and in order to comply with the internationally recognized legal standards. Nevertheless, the Government of Timor-Leste had made a strong commitment to continue strengthening  the justice sector. To achieve the goal, the Government has developed and approved the Justice Sector Strategic Plan which set out five pillars which are deemed necessary to strengthening the justice sector. The five pillars include a). Institutional development; b). legal framework reform; c). human resources development; d). Infrastructure and Information Technology; and e). Access to Justice.

Given the current state of the justice system, the Government has also considered that a justice system reform is necessary to build a momentum around the State’s overall reform process in order to achieve the alignment with the internationally recognized democratic standards. More importantly, the justice system reform is necessary to ensure equal access to an efficient, transparent and reliable justice system by all citizens of Timor-Leste in particular the vulnerable groups.

An initial work on justice system reform had been undertaken previously by the Government. A Legislation Reform Commission was created to implement the reform initiative which later produced a proposal for the Government to develop and implement a legislative package for the reform of the justice sector.

Within this context and after a thorough consultation of the Government and all national Judicial bodies, the National Parliament of Timor-Leste took the initiative to advance the implementation of the targeted interventions set out in the reform documents which are to design, develop and implement the justice sector reform framework to ensure achievement of an independent, efficient, impartial and a transparent justice system.  

As the long term development partner of the National Parliament, UNDP Timor-Leste was then requested to support the implementation of National Parliament’s initiative by sourcing and providing technical expertise in the areas of Rule of Law, Access to Justice and strengthening Justice Institutions. The technical expertise is expected to identify gaps and legal constraints in the sector in order to facilitate the amendment of structural bills and drafting new legislation in the criminal sector.

Accordingly, a Project Initiation Plan (PIP) on the Support to the Justice System Reform was developed by UNDP to response to the request of the National Parliament. The overall objective of the PIP- Support to the Justice System Reform is to assist the National Parliament in reviewing and formulation of the following:

• Legislation to complete the organizational structure of the country's judicial system;
• The Superior Council for Magistrates and Prosecutors legal framework which includes the level of authority and autonomy in supervising the functioning of the respective portfolio;
• Legal mechanisms for the performance of judges, prosecutors and public defenders, within a new framework that will allow a merit evaluation model;
• The Criminal Law which include the definition of new crimes and their compliance with international instruments;
• The Criminal Procedural Law, specially the extension of deadlines and the creation of the preliminary hearing phase (pre-trial phase/instrução);
• A Legislation to define the relationship of customary justice to formal justice - delimitation of legal spheres - subject to consultations with traditional authorities and civil society organizations;

For the purpose, UNDP is seeking to engage a Legal Consultant to provide services to conduct the necessary review of the above mentioned legal documents based on the legal criteria, previous related reports and studies on justice sector reform, research papers and consultations.