Background

The US Institute of Peace is a congressionally funded, non-partisan institution dedicated to preventing and ending international conflicts, and strengthening reconstruction efforts in post-conflict countries. USIP does this by giving peacebuilders the knowledge and tools needed for success, as well as by establishing peacebuilding programs. My internship supervisor, Vivienne O'Connor, is a USIP specialist on rule of law training and criminal justice reform in post-conflict countries. Over the summer, we will focus on developing rule of law training programs for use in post-conflict situations. USIP emphasizes the importance of tailoring rule of law initiatives to the specific needs of each post-conflict country with the idea that programs best suited to the society's needs will have the most long-term success. The goal is to create tools that can be used in the rebuilding process by people on the ground in, especially nationals. The Model Codes for Post-Conflict Criminal Justice are a promising example of the kind of tool USIP creates.