Strengthening Forensic Expertise and Management of Scenes of Crimes in the Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS) in Uganda

Project description

Forensic institutions worldwide are confronted with a number of challenges – in process management, in quality assurance, in governance and accommodation, as well as in the interaction with partners in the enforcement, legal and medical worlds. This project was designed to help improve the use and management of forensic investigation in Uganda through legislative changes, capacity building and awareness raising. Against the more general effort of providing advice and assistance on improving the Ugandan forensic practices, an important outcome of the project is the successful shift of focus achieved for policy makers and practitioners in Uganda towards the management of crime scenes as an essential and fundamental step in establishing the facts in a criminal investigation. Furthermore, we were able to contribute to an improved forensic awareness in Uganda, i.e. the understanding that in order to operate efficiently, forensic experts need the full cooperation of stakeholders who precede or rely on their work in the investigative process. Most specifically, the project gave incentives for the Government Analytical Laboratories (GAL), the Forensic Police Directorate and the Pathology Department of Makerere University to work more effectively together and have greater respect for their mutual roles and responsibilities.

At CILC, we believe in legal cooperation on an equal footing. In all projects and assignments we strive to take a balanced, open-minded position, without the intention of imposing our ideas on others. Staying true to this vision, we carefully select our partners from like-minded organisations with strong technical backgrounds. For this project, CILC was able to match top quality technical expertise from the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) and The Maastricht Forensic Institute (TMFI) with the specific needs in Uganda.