Criminal Law Reform and Anti-Human Trafficking

The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), through its local partners—the Center for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) and the National Center against Violence—works to deter human trafficking by enhancing legal advocates’ skills, supporting strategic litigation, and increasing awareness of human trafficking among key criminal justice stakeholders and vulnerable groups. ABA ROLI and its local partners support attorneys in providing free legal services to victims of human trafficking and in pursuing strategic litigation aimed at increasing victim and witness protection and compensation, bolstering law enforcement accountability and strengthening anti-human trafficking laws. Our legal specialists and National University of Mongolia professors have implemented trainings on relevant domestic and international laws, on human rights-based and gender-sensitive approaches to representation, on successful litigation strategies and on evidence collection. Advocates participating in the trainings come from major cities and border areas. Our legal specialists also work one-on-one with attorneys to boost the attorneys’ litigation skills and case strategies. ABA ROLI and local partners also support the development of reference materials for legal practitioners and other human trafficking stakeholders. We distribute these materials to non-governmental organizations, anti-human trafficking community networks, law schools, libraries and lawyers. ABA ROLI and CHRD have helped establish multi-disciplinary networks in the three border provinces of Umnugovi, Dornod and Hovd that advise lawyers, conduct victim outreach, help identify human trafficking cases and educate vulnerable communities in these areas. The networks have educated high school and college students on human trafficking, counseled at-risk groups and distributed human trafficking-related information through television, newspapers and online forums.