The former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs hands a certificate to one of the trained prosecutors. © IOM Somalia 2015

The Office of the Attorney General (AGO) of the Federal Government of Somalia is responsible for all matters relating to crime investigation and prosecution. The Office also represents the State in pursuing criminal justice and in safeguarding the interest of law. The capacity of AGO to deliver better services to the public remains weak, following decades of the lack of an effective central government in Somalia. This has resulted in the loss of confidence from the public with the Attorney General’s Office as well as the absence of a systematic case record system, thus making it difficult to track individual cases.

To address this particular challenge, the International Organization for Migration in a bid to restore public confidence and ensure good service delivery by the office recruited a Strategic and Policy Advisor to build the capacity of the Attorney General’s Office. The Advisor reviews existing policies and acts as well as assists in developing new ones. The Advisor also regularly conducts training programs as a means of transferring his skills and expertise to the local staff. To date, 25 prosecutors and 10 local staff from the Counter Terrorism and Piracy department have been trained through the Training of Trainers workshop organized by the Advisor. The expert has, in addition, reviewed important laws and acts, including but not limited to judicial organizational law; Constitutional Court establishment act; Anti-corruption Commission establishment act; and Auditor General establishment act.

Furthermore, the Advisor contributed to the establishment of seven new sections within the Attorney General's Office to improve service delivery namely; Case Verification unit; Sentence Exaction; Police Corporation unit; Case Prosecution unit; Criminal Record unit; Gender-based Violence unit; and Justice Cooperation unit.

The Attorney General's Office is now in a good position to deliver better services as the access to office services by the public has increased by 63%. “The services of the Attorney General's Office have now enormously improved. We are now able to get the information and services that we need in a very easy way. I believe the establishment of the new sections was a good move,” one office client said.