Overview

From early 2009 through March 2010, the University of Utah‘s S.J. Quinney College of Law promoted fundamental rule-of-law objectives in Iraq through the law school‘s Global Justice Project: Iraq (Project). The Project received funding from the U.S. Department of State (USDOS) to help build a more democratic and stable Iraq by: offering advisory and capacity-building assistance to the Government of Iraq (GOI) in constitutional and legislative development; promoting development of an interconnected legislative process system among all Iraqi law-making institutions; facilitating the development of a national electoral framework; and assisting Iraqi anti-corruption legislative reform and related public outreach.

The Project fielded a team of legal experts in Baghdad‘s International Zone, backed by expert advisors in the United States and Europe and by Global Justice Project Think Tank law student researchers in Salt Lake City. Project team members worked closely with the U.S. Embassy Baghdad‘s Office of Constitutional and Legislative Affairs (CLA) and its Anti-Corruption Coordination Office (ACCO) to provide technical legal assistance and advice to the GOI. A parallel grant from the Embassy‘s Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) funded the Project‘s assistance to the Iraqi judiciary in reviewing and proposing revisions of the country‘s criminal procedure code.

The Project had five specific objectives and a general research dissemination objective which were accomplished through the over 100 deliverables listed immediately following this Executive Summary and through the activities described in this Report. A number of other deliverables that were provided to USDOS were regarded by USDOS as sensitive (e.g., papers dealing with the 2010 Iraqi election process and analyses prepared for briefing the U.S. Ambassador) and therefore are not attached to this Report.

The Report also covers coordination with and cost sharing on a parallel grant from the USDOS Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. The Report concludes with discussion of the Project‘s lessons learned. A final Project financial report has been submitted separately.