A/HRC/21/36 persons, as well as victims, while addressing the needs of special groups, such as women and children. 79. As part of the UNODC counter-piracy programme, a piracy prisoner transfer programme has been developed to allow pirates convicted in countries of the region to return to Somalia on a voluntary basis to serve their sentences. The programme will include the construction of a new prison and the refurbishment of existing ones, with separate facilities for children, in order to allow prisoners to be located close to their families and to take part in suitable educational and training programmes. The programme also includes the training of prison staff, while an independent international committee will guarantee compliance with human rights standards and outreach to young Somalis, with the aim of preventing them from becoming involved in piracy. 80. In its submission for the present report, UNODC informed that joint activities with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict were being developed in the areas of justice for detained children, child trafficking and child pirates. 81. As the guardian of the United Nations standards and norms on crime prevention and criminal justice, including the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, and author of the Handbook on police accountability, oversight and integrity, UNODC also offered to complement existing training activities for law enforcement officials, with the overarching aim of preventing human rights abuses. 3. United Nations Development Programme 82. UNDP development strategies have a particular relevance for human rights in that they seek to increase public participation through partnerships with civil society, empower vulnerable groups such as women, children, minorities and the internally displaced, and strengthen rule of law and governance. Its efforts in the area of rule of law have focused on strengthening legal assistance, bringing justice to rural areas and promoting access to justice for women. 83. UNDP supports lawyers and paralegals throughout “Somaliland”, “Puntland” and in Mogadishu to provide no-cost legal aid, in partnership with law faculties, bar associations, women’s associations and non-governmental organizations. Through the programme, women in camps for the internally displaced, individuals in pretrial detention and detainees on remand or in appeal process receive legal representation. In “Puntland”, legal aid was provided to 850 clients, 402 of whom were released or acquitted, many of them internally displaced. A further 830 cases were assisted by paralegals, who may either refer cases for assistance or seek to settle them through arbitration or mediation at the level of the camp for the displaced. In “Somaliland”, legal aid providers represented 500 people in 2008 and more than 6,000 in 2011. The programme is also an important avenue for collecting information regarding human rights violations in prisons, police stations and camps for the internally displaced. 84. Regional and appeal courts in “Somaliland”, “Puntland” and Mogadishu travel to around 50 districts and villages in mobile courts once every quarter. The court sessions have proved useful in settling disputes where local problem-solving mechanisms have failed. They also help to educate communities on existing legislation. Judges in mobile courts are perceived as neutral arbiters in that they are not from the same subclan. The beneficiaries of the programme have reported that, without mobile courts, they would not have been able to seek justice, considering the distance between the villages and their regional capitals, as well as associated costs. 15

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