Belarus Cd Form Free Request Submit
Ukraine
The Constitution includes procedural provisions to ensure a fair trial, including the right of suspects or witnesses to refuse to testify against themselves or their relatives; however, pending the passage of legislation to implement these constitutional provisions, a largely Soviet-era criminal justice system remained in place, which limited these rights. While the defendant is presumed innocent, conviction rates have changed little since the Soviet era, and nearly all completed cases resulted in convictions. According to the most recent official statistics available, in the first half of 2000 there were 113,902 convictions and 375 acquittals. However, since judges frequently sent back to the prosecutor for "additional investigation" cases that lacked sufficient evidence to support the charges (which usually led to the dropping of the case), these statistics are somewhat misleading. During the period of 1999-2000, the courts returned more than 10 percent of pending criminal cases to i ... [Read More]
US Dept of State - Monitoring and Enforcing Trade Laws and Agreements
11111111111111111 [Read More]
Europe and Central Asia
AlbaniaI. Summary Drug trafficking is a significant problem in Albania, which is a major transit country for heroin from Afghanistan and Turkey destined for markets throughout Europe. Organized crime groups use Albania as a transit point for drug and other types of smuggling due to the countrys strategic location, weak police and judicial systems, and porous borders. The most common illegal drugs are heroin, marijuana, and to a lesser extent, cocaine. Heroin is typically transported through the "Balkans Route" of Turkey-Bulgaria-Macedonia-Albania, and on to Italy, Greece and the Netherlands. Cocaine is smuggled from South America, via the United States, Italy, Spain, Greece or the Netherlands, and ... [Read More]
Moldova
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and AssociationThe Constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government generally respected this right in practice. Mayors' offices issue permits for demonstrations and may consult the national government if a demonstration is likely to be extremely large; permits were issued routinely and without bias. From January 9 to April 29, the opposition PPCD organized unauthorized protests against certain policies of the Communist authorities, such as measures to make Russian a second official language, extension of the teaching of Russian language in schools, and changing the history curriculum in schools from the current "History of the Romanians" course to a "History of Moldova" course. Protesters, who called for the resignation of the Communist party leadership, numbered at various times between several hundred and an estimated 30,000 supporters, though the opposition-contro ... [Read More]
Slovak Republic
The Slovak Republic became an independent state in 1993, following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The Constitution provides for a multiparty parliamentary democracy, with power shared between a popularly elected President and the 150-member Parliament. Rudolph Schuster was elected for a five-year term in the first direct presidential elections in May 1999. In the fall, a reform-oriented government, led by Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, was reelected after parliamentary elections. Both elections were declared free and fair by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and several amendments to strengthen the status of the courts were implemented during the year; however, corruption and inefficiency within the judiciary were serious problems.The national police had sole responsibility for internal and border securi ... [Read More]
Poland
Poland is a multiparty parliamentary democracy in which executive power is shared by the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers, and, to a lesser extent, the President. Alexander Kwasniewski was reelected President in free and fair elections held in October 2000. The Parliament is bicameral (Senate and Sejm). Free and fair parliamentary elections held in September 2001 resulted in a change in Government. The social democratic (post-Communist) Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) formed a majority coalition government with the Union of Labor (UP) and the Polish Peasant Party (PSL). The judiciary is independent; however, it was inefficient.Internal security forces consist of local police, a national office of investigation, and city guards, who are uniformed, unarmed officers. The armed forces were subject to effective civilian control. Since 1996 the civilian Minister of Defense has had clear comman ... [Read More]
IV. Country Narratives: Europe and Eurasia
The Government of Switzerland funded several anti-trafficking information and education campaigns in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia, and South America, targeting potential trafficking victims. In 2003, the government co-financed an anti-trafficking radio program in Bosnia, a trafficking awareness campaign in Colombia, a mobile theater project in Ukraine, and an information campaign in Sri Lanka warning against illegal immigration. The government also continued to partially fund the Womens Information Center, a victims assistance NGO, that has established an international network of contacts for victim repatriation and distributes trafficking information in origin countries. Switzerland established a national action plan to combat human trafficking, and the Swiss Federal Council has tasked each federal department to take steps to implement the plan. In collaboration with the Interior Ministry, a Swiss NGO trained Swiss consular officials to educate visa applican ... [Read More]
Lithuania
The Constitutional Court, at the request of the President, members of the Parliament, the Government, or the judiciary, reviews the constitutionality of laws and other legal acts, as well as that of actions by the President and the Cabinet. The main function of administrative courts is to investigate the legality and validity of administrative acts and conflicts in public administration and taxation. Administrative courts may perform judicial review of documents regulating the implementation of laws, except decisions by the Cabinet of Ministers. The Ministry of Justice continued to move towards a system of specialization of judges in district and local courts.There are no special family courts, but judges in the district courts hear juvenile criminal cases and cases related to children's rights (for example, domestic adoption and paternity matters). If the ECHR determines that courts have violated the European Conv ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
Family members who are interested in working are encouraged to contact the administrative officer, personnel, or CLO to inquire about positions available during their stay at post, at the same time providing information on prior work experience and current interest. They should reference INFOFORMS #OF306Declaration for Federal Employment, #OF510Applying for Federal Employment, and #OF612Optional Application for Federal Employment or contact the Family Liaison Office (FLO) at DOS for procedural information. They should also complete SF86Request for Security Clearance, also available on INFOFORMS. ... [Read More]
|