ANU College of Law lecturer Moeen Cheema has been granted an Australia Awards Fellowship to assist with reform of the criminal justice system in Pakistan. The Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced the awards earlier this week.

Mr Cheema will bring together several organisations involved in litigation, research and public advocacy under this Fellowship program, including the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (Islamabad), Momina Cheema Foundation (Lahore) and the Legal Aid Society (Karachi).

“The program is designed to enhance the research, advocacy, public policy and law reform oriented skills of the Fellows and the capacities of their organisations,” said Mr Cheema.

“The program also aims to develop a broader network of partner organisations working on criminal justice research and reform in Pakistan.”

The project will be delivered in phases, with the first phase including a visit to the ANU College of Law by Fellows from the partner organisations from November 2016 to March 2017. During these visits, the partners will conduct comparative and inter-disciplinary research on issues of criminal (in)justice in Pakistan.

In the second phase of the project, several workshops will be held in Pakistan from April to June 2017.

“At the end of the Fellowship we hope to produce an edited book on the state of criminal justice in Pakistan,” said Mr Cheema.