Senegal – annual report 2024

Details: Published: September 4, 2025

Strategic Framework

Legal Policy Starting Point

The legal situation in the African partner states is tense, dynamic and faces numerous challenges. While some countries have made progress towards democracy and the Rule of Law, in particular Morocco with the introduction of alternative sentences and alternatives to pre-trial detention; and Zambia in the fight against corruption and the digitalisation of the judiciary, other partner states face significant complex and multi-layered difficulties as well as significant international criticism. Despite efforts to introduce democratic reforms, there are still significant human rights problems in some partner states, including political persecution and restrictions on freedom of expression. In addition to the problems associated with the migration of refugees, which present the region with various legal and humanitarian challenges, economic instability and high unemployment, particularly following the pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which has had a global impact, have contributed to social unrest and hampered overall political stability. These challenges highlight the need for a comprehensive and coordinated regional approach to promote the establishment of Rule of Law structures and thus create a framework for a better functioning economy that leads to greater stability and development in the region.

Overall Concept

Despite the political and economic upheavals in the African partner states, IRZ has continued its work on reforms in the judicial field, in some cases with greater involvement of civil society. Judicial reforms in the African partner states are ongoing processes that require considerable effort and long-term commitment in order to achieve the desired results. As many countries in the region face similar challenges and reform needs, the issues were often dealt with at the regional level with the involvement of several partner states. Ministries of Justice and the judiciary are the central partner institutions alongside the Bar, universities and civil society stakeholders. In Tunisia, IRZ cooperation is increasingly focussing on civil society stakeholders such as the legal profession, notaries and law faculties.

In Zambia and Senegal, the focus of commercial law topics was on commercial mediation and arbitration in particular, while in Tunisia the focus was on investment promotion and investment protection with the involvement of other partner states in the region.

In addition to the focus on commercial law, support for the reform of the criminal justice system and criminal legislation has been another pillar of IRZ’s activities in Africa for several years. Here, the core topics of cooperation were the modernisation of criminal law in Mauritania and further training of prison staff in Algeria. In Morocco, on the other hand, cooperation on the protection of minors in civil and family law was intensified.

Focus of Activity in 2024

Civil und Commercial Law

Regional conference on “Optimising the investment climate and promoting investment incentives and investment protection” in Tunis in cooperation with the German Federal Bar and the Ministries of Justice of Algeria, Morocco and Jordan

Criminal Law and Penitentiary Law

Online workshop with the Legal Aid Board Zambia and the German Federal Bar on the topic of “How lawyers deal with forensic medical experts”
Cross-thematic study trips by representatives of the Moroccan General Prosecutors’ Office to the Observatory on Crime and Preventive Criminal Policy in Berlin
Implementation phase of the tandem project of the BMJV and the Federal Foreign Office in Algeria – Seminar on “Modernisation of the initial and further training of prison staff” in cooperation with the Algerian prison authorities in Algeria
Regional conference on “Alternative sentencing and alternatives to pre-trial detention” in Morocco in cooperation with the Moroccan Public Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministries of Justice of Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania

Administration of Justice

Training courses on the introduction of the electronic mailbox with the Zambian Ministry of Justice and the German Federal Bar in Zambia
Workshop on modernisation in arbitration in cooperation with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) – Zambia Branch, the German Institution of Arbitration and the German Federal Bar in Zambia
Online seminar series on “Twinning of Mediation and Arbitration” in cooperation with the Africa Mediation Association (AMA), Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) – Zambia Branch and the German Institution of Arbitration
Further training for the legal profession on “Access to the judiciary and protection of vulnerable groups” in cooperation with the Tunisian Bar Association and the German Federal Bar

Basic and Further Training

Training courses for civil society stakeholders on the protection of vulnerable groups in prisons and the role of civil society in the resocialisation of prisoners in Tunis
Further training on alternative sentences and alternatives to pre-trial detention in Tunis
Publication of the specialised legal magazine “Ecrits” in Arabic and French with articles by authors on current legal policy issues
Blog for African and German law “IRZ Dialogue Juridique Afro-Allemand” in German, Arabic and French with ongoing online contributions by authors on current legal policy topics from the IRZ partner states Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Senegal as well as from Germany

Project funded by the European Union
EU Twinning Project “Peer-to-Peer institutional support to the Anti-Corruption Commission in Zambia”

Together with the lead partner HAUS (Finnish Institute of Public Management), IRZ has been implementing a project for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Zambia since August 2021. Following a six-month extension until February 2025, the project has a runtime period of a total of 42 months. The project volume amounts to two million euros.

The overall goal of this project is to expand the capacities of the ACC and thereby improve accountability, transparency and effectiveness in the management of public resources. The project also aims to strengthen the management and technical capacities of the ACC and to optimise cooperation with other institutions involved in the fight against corruption.

While the project activities in the first years of implementation were still dominated by SWOT- and needs analyses and recording the status quo of the fight against corruption in Zambia, the assignments in 2023 and 2024 were aimed at concrete recommendations for action and training measures.

The introduction of a whistleblower system was of particular interest to the ACC. A team of IRZ experts suggested setting up a web-based whistleblower system for this purpose. This concept has also been successfully implemented by many German federal states and guarantees the anonymity of a whistleblower. It was officially introduced in the first half of 2024.

The work of the IRZ experts also focussed on the preparation and implementation of training sessions aimed at improving the detection, investigation and prosecution of corruption cases. The ACC has a keen interest in best practices from the field of financial investigations. The basic seminar, which has already been successfully completed, was followed by further workshops and training sessions on the topics of money laundering, cryptocurrencies, asset recovery and asset tracing and freezing in the course of 2024.

The “Transformation Talk on Asset Recovery & Forfeiture” conference held in May 2024 at the University of Zambia (UNZA) in Lusaka was attended by the ambassadors of Germany, Finland and the European Union, the Director General of the Zambian Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Dean of UNZA, representatives of the Zambian National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Transparency International, among others. The Director General of the ACC emphasised the importance of the anonymous online whistleblower system developed in cooperation with the Twinning Projects, which represents a major step forward in Zambia’s fight against corruption. The differences and similarities between the various legal systems and practical issues relating to the confiscation and recovery of assets were the subject of lively discussion. All participants agreed that asset recovery and confiscation are important aspects of the fight against crime and that these issues are of great importance.

Outlook

Based on the current reform needs of the partner countries, the activities planned for 2025 in the region also aim to support the implementation of legal and judicial reform in the partner countries. Cooperation in the areas of modernising civil und commercial law, civil and criminal law and combating corruption in cooperation with state and civil society stakeholders remain important topics. The protection of vulnerable groups in the judiciary is also expected to remain an important topic in 2025.