By: John L. Withers, II
Over 230 years ago, a very wise man said: “The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice . . . ”
These are the words of John Adams, the second President of the United States, and date back to 1776, the very founding of the United States.
These words are just as important today and should be a reminder to everyone that the administration of justice, in a fair and equal manner, is essential to a just society.
We are here today to join with our Albanian partners to begin the creation of six regional Joint Investigative Units, modeled after the Tirana JIU, in Vlor묠Fier, Korc묠Gjirokast첬 Durr쳬 and Shkod첮
This ambitious project is just one component of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Threshold Program, Stage II, in Albania.
Our OPDAT program will work with all of the agencies represented here to help establish and train these units and to provide the necessary equipment for them to accomplish their work.
The people in this room, the prosecutors, police officers and the others who are working to fight economic crime and corruption, are on the front lines of insuring a skillful administration of justice.
The members of the Tirana JIU, and all of the liaisons working with them, are to be commended for “doing justice” by fighting corruption.
The Tirana JIU is the model for cooperation between prosecutors and police. All of you are to be commended for your hard work, your cooperation, your courage in the face of much adversity, and for refusing to let outside pressures affect the important work that you do.
The Tirana JIU is not only a model for this country but for others as well. Just to the north, Montenegro has organized a new task force of prosecutors and police, using the Tirana JIU as a model.
Prosecutors from as far away as Kyrgyzstan want to visit this JIU to learn how and why it is so successful.
Despite the many successes, there is much work to be done. Late last week, USAID released its 2009 Survey of Corruption in Albania, Perception and Experience. Not all the news in the report was good.
Overall, the survey showed that the Albanian public still has a negative view of its public institutions in general, but especially in the ability of those institutions to fight corruption.
The good news, however, is that the public’s perception of the prosecution office in the fight against corruption showed the most improvement of any public institution (a 6.1% increase from 2005 to 2009).
For this same time period, there was also a 10 point increase in the public’s trust of the prosecution office, again a greater increase than for any other public institution. Even with this marked improvement, the prosecution office still lacks the trust and support of a majority of the Albanian public.
In order to continue this upward trend and build even more confidence in the integrity of the criminal process, the prosecutors, judicial police officers and liaisons selected to be a part of the regional JIUs must be above reproach. Prosecutors, especially, have enormous power to conduct investigations and to use all the tools available to them in doing so.
Such power, however, must be treated with the respect it deserves. Because with this power comes huge responsibility. The ability to take away someone’s freedom is a responsibility only for those with the highest integrity and moral character. Those who are named to head these JIUs, and indeed the leaders of each of these six offices, must be held to this exacting standard.
Prosecutors have a very difficult job here in Albania, in part because of the size of this nation. Like many small states in the U.S., everyone knows everyone. In spite of this situation, prosecutors must remain independent and free from any coercion or political influence. They must be free to follow the evidence wherever it may lead, and they must have the courage to do so.
Albania must commit to protecting the independence of prosecutors to ensure its democratic progress forward. Any threat to this independence is a clear step backward. There must be no political pressure on prosecutors.
I began with a quote from a U.S. President, and I will leave you with one: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Those are the words of the 44th President, Barack Obama
Remarks by U.S. Ambassador Withers at the Signing Ceremony Creating Regional JIUs MCC Albania Threshold Program II (May 6, 2009)
