Beginning in the early 2000s, the transit of illicit drugs though Central Asia—often originating in Afghanistan and destined for western Europe, Russia, and East Asia—has affected stability, security, and public health in the region. To curb drug trafficking and related crimes, the governments of the Central Asian republics made targeted amendments to their national legislation and policies in recent years. Nonetheless, the region’s nations continue to have relatively low drug seizure rates and few successful prosecutions of drug-trafficking suspects. Most criminal arrests are small quantity possessions of illicit substances, which suggests that drug users, rather than traffickers, are targeted.
The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) recognizes the complexities of prosecuting narcotics-related crimes, including the prevalence of organized criminal enterprises, the cross-border nature of the crimes, and the need to coordinate across government agencies and between governments. Further, it can be difficult to monitor the implementation of disparate, yet interconnected, drug policies; this also presents challenges in assessing where policies and practices are effective and where they need further improvement.
From 2014-2017, ABA ROLI implemented a regional court monitoring program in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and, through partners, Uzbekistan. This program, which is funded by the US Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, examined trends in criminal investigations and prosecutions of narcotics-related cases with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of the criminal justice systems in Central Asia to address such crimes. Building off our long-term presence in Central Asia and previous successful court-monitoring and criminal law-related programs, ABA ROLI leveraged strong relationships with representatives of the governments, the legal community, and civil society to undertake this work.
