EVENT RECAP: ABA ROLI holds a panel at ABA 2020 Midyear in Austin entitled "ROLI at 30: What We Do and How ABA Members Can Get Involved"

Judge Judith Chirlin answers a question during the Q&A session of the "ROLI at 30: What We Do and How ABA Members Can Get Involved" panel. Pictured from left to right: Hilarie Bass, Judge Judith Chirlin, Nolen Deibert, and Lt. Col Jody Young (USAR). 

To view additional photos from the event, visit the Facebook Album.

 Earlier this month, on February 15, ABA ROLI held the following event "ROLI at 30: What We Do and How ABA Members Can Get Involved," during the ABA's 2020 Midyear Meeting in Austin, Texas. In celebration of ROLI's 30th Anniversary, this event focused on our history of using pro bono legal expertise to promote the rule of law around the world, while highlighting ROLI's work in Tajikistan and Central Asia.

 Hilarie Bass, ROLI Board Chair and President and Founder at Bass Institute for Diversity and Inclusion, moderated the panel alongside the following speakers: Judge Judith Chirlin, Retired Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court and a Neutral with Judicate West; Nolen Deibert, Central Asia Program Manager, ABA ROLI’s Europe and Eurasia Division; and Lt. Col Jody Young (USAR), Assistant US Attorney at the US Attorney’s office, Brownsville Texas. Lt. Col Young has been doing pro bono work with ROLI for years and recently returned from Tajikistan. 

 Judge Chirlin presented on ROLI's history spanning 30 years, her work with the organization since the early 1990s (notably her pro bono trips), and ROLI's current Pro Bono Legal Specialists Program. Deibert discussed ROLI's work across Central Asia and in Tajikistan, as well as the technicalities and logistics pertaining to pro bono volunteering. Lt. Col Young presented on his recent ROLI Pro Bono trip to Tajikistan. From 2018-2019, Lt. Col Young worked with ROLI to develop a joint-training curriculum for investigators and prosecutors working in Tajikistan's border regions on topics related to international criminal activity.


Lt. Col Jody Young presenting on his recent Pro Bono work with ROLI in Tajikistan during ROLI's "ROLI at 30: What We Do and How ABA Members Can Get Involved" panel in Austin on Saturday, February 15, 2020.

After the civil war from 1992-1997, Tajikistan’s economy and legal reform efforts stalled. As a result of these challenges, ABA ROLI opened a field office in the country’s capital, Dushanbe, in 1997. For 23 years, ABA ROLI has been delivering technical assistance to strengthen the capacity and independence of rule of law institutions in the country. We introduced programs that assisted Tajikistan’s transition to an adversarial system of criminal justice in a post-conflict environment. 
Pictured here is a judicial conference that took place in Tajikistan in 1997 - the same year ABA ROLI, then-CEELI, began work in the country to strengthen the capacity and independence of rule of law institutions.

 Since 2016, ABA ROLI has supported the Justice Sector Equality Program in Tajikistan. This program included a Legislative Reform Working Group for joint review of the country's Domestic Violence Law and Anti-human Trafficking Law, and an initial analysis of the legislation. In Tajikistan, after a year of deliberation, Parliament approved the recommended legislative amendments for the trafficking in persons law. These amendments were developed through ABA ROLI’s supported Legislative Reform Working Group, and will align the country’s criminal code with international law. 

 In May 2018, the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations awarded an 18-month grant to ABA ROLI for the Tajikistan Subnational Analysis Program. This program will produce research on the drivers of violent extremism in Tajikistan. In addition, it will inform and improve policy solutions, and understandings of community resilience. To implement this program, we partnered with the Sharq Research Center and Tajikistan’s State Center for Strategic Research. The research will be conducted in five regional areas, the Isfara and Panjakent districts of the Sughd Region, the Shahritus district of the Khatlon Region, the Rasht district of the Republican Subordinated Districts, and the Khorog city of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region. 


Pictured from left to right: Hilarie Bass, ROLI Board Chair and President & Founder at Bass Institute for Diversity and Inclusion; Judge Judith Chirlin, Retired Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court and a Neutral with Judicate West; Nolen Deibert, Central Asia Program Manager, ABA ROLI’s Europe and Eurasia Division; and Lt. Col Jody Young (USAR), Assistant US Attorney at the US Attorney’s office, Brownsville Texas. 

ABA ROLI's work is made possible through the generous support of pro bono volunteers, individuals, and organizations who have worked alongside us for the past 30 years. ABA CEELI and, later, ROLI, has worked in more than 100 countries connecting over 8,000 volunteer lawyers and judges to rule of law programs. Currently, ABA ROLI has roughly 500 professional staff working in the U.S. and abroad, including ABA ROLI donors and loyal supporters, talented staff, inspiring legal reformers, and the committed volunteers. In 2019, ROLI volunteers dedicated $701,000 in pro bono legal assistance, and third-party contributors contributed $684,000 in additional cost share.
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