Consultancy to Develop an Analysis on Viet Nam and Some African Countries’ Legal Framework for (MLA)

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I.          Background: 

Mutual legal assistance (MLA) in criminal matters is an international legal procedure to handle criminal cases with foreign elements in fighting against transnational crimes, including wildlife crimes. The prosecuted agencies cooperate and support each other in   collecting and providing information, evidence, testimonies and other relevant documents... on the basis of international convention and domestic law.

Criminal cases involving foreign elements that are handled by Vietnamese procedure-conducting agencies and which have arisen requests for mutual legal assistance sent abroad must strictly comply with the Criminal Procedure code's regulations on procedural time limits. However, in reality, MLA request to foreign countries (including African countries - where there are many wildlife-related criminal syndicate) faces many difficulties such as: cooperation goodwill; it take long time from sending to receiving the request and handling the cases (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic- outbreaks in many countries around the world, including Vietnam, international postal services could not be as fast as usual; the law enforcement agencies also need more time to handle the MLA request due to the effects of social distancing), language restrictions, and MLA request must be sent through diplomatic channels that also incurs more procedures and time. In addition, the MLA request receiving countries require the request must be fully satisfied the legal conditions as prescribed by the law of the requested country. The process of exchanging to supplement information for the original request often takes a lot of time, which significantly affects the time limit and progress of criminal cases settlement of Vietnamese legal proceedings.

From the reality of implementing the MLA request between Vietnam and other countries, there are shortcomings in Viet Nam law of MLA such as not fully internalizing the provisions of regional and international treaties/conventions of which Vietnam is a member, leading to confusion in operational practice.

Realizing the matters, since 2015, WCS has provided support to relevant law enforcement and judicial agencies in Viet Nam, Mozambique and South Africa to enhance their cooperation in combating against transnational organized crime including wildlife crime. Especially, WCS Viet Nam has participated in the facilitation of cooperation among law enforcement and judicial agencies of Viet Nam and Mozambique.

Up to now, there is a variety of bilateral cooperation documents between Viet Nam and Mozambique. Two Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) between government agencies of Viet Nam and Mozambique were signed in August 2017. One MOU on cooperation in wildlife species conservation and protection was signed between Mozambique’s Ministry of Land Environment and Rural Development and Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the Viet Nam’s CITES Management Authority (MA) and Mozambique’s National Administration of the Conservation Areas (ANAC) as focal point agencies. The other MOU focuses on strengthening cooperation in prosecution and combatting transnational organized crime signed between the Viet Nam’s Supreme People’s Procuracy (SPP) and the Mozambique’s Attorney General’s Office (PGR), with the SPP’s Department for International Cooperation and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and PGR’s International Cooperation Division as coordinating authorities. Furthermore, a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) on criminal matters between the two countries was signed in December 2018 by Prosecutor General of Viet Nam’s SPP and the Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs of Mozambique. This MLAT was ratified by the President of Viet Nam in 2019 and Mozambique’s Prime Minister on behalf of the Ministers’ Council in 2020. Viet Nam and Mozambique also signed two agreements on Extradition and Transfer of Sentenced Persons in December 2019. However, the implementation of those agreements/treaties, especially the MLAT, has not yet achieved the desired results.

In that context, WCS continues to support the Department of International Cooperation and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (V13), the Supreme People's Procuracy (SPP) to develop an analysis in international and Viet Nam and some African countries’ legal framework for MLA. The final analysis will be shared with the Vietnamese and Mozambican procuracies and diplomatic organization to enhance international cooperation and to recommend for the revision of Viet Nam law for MLA.

II.         Objectives:

• Evaluate the implementation of MLA request/cooperation between Viet Nam and African countries;
• Evaluate law for MLA and the need for revising the law.

III.      Activity, Expected outputs/deliverables and tentative deadline 

Total allotted time (total working days): 22 days for the team member and 15 days for the team leader

IV.      Consultant Requirements:

• An advanced university degree in law is preferable;
• At least ten years of work experience in law related fields in Vietnam, with technical knowledge in the area of criminal justice and MLA in criminal matters;
• Experience in handling requests for MLA in criminal matters at a national authority;
• Familiarity with international, regional, and national legal frameworks for MLA in criminal matters;
• Demonstrated experience in developing legal documents, guidelines or handbooks for execution of MLA criminal matters for the Viet Nam and foreign prosecutors;
• Excellent English fluency and legal research skill required.

V. Application procedure:

Interested candidate(s) are invited to send to [email protected] before 16:00 pm (Hanoi time), February 13, 2022.

1. An email of interest
2. Curriculum Vitae which highlights relevant knowledge and working experience
3. Financial proposal (daily rate in VND including Personal Income Tax)

Note: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.