Colette Rausch
Acting Director, Rule of Law Center of Innovation

Contact
Phone: (202) 429-3860
E-mail: crausch@usip.org
Colette Rausch is the acting director of the Institute's Rule of Law Center of Innovation. Her focus is on criminal justice and police reform initiatives that have included missions and projects in Afghanistan, Liberia and Nepal. Before joining the Institute, she worked at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Mission in Kosovo, serving first as head of the Rule of Law Division and then as director of the Department of Human Rights and Rule of Law.
Previously, Rausch was with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), serving as the DOJ’s resident legal adviser in Hungary and later in Bosnia. In Hungary, she worked on the development of a crime task force. She also served as the DOJ program manager for Central and East Europe, establishing criminal justice development and training projects in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Macedonia.
In addition to her international assignments, Rausch was a federal prosecutor with the DOJ in Las Vegas, Nevada, working in both the white collar and violent crime units. Before joining DOJ, she was with the state of Nevada’s Attorney General’s Office, where she was instrumental in creating the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud Unit. She also served as an assistant federal public defender in Nevada.
A recipient of numerous DOJ performance and special achievement awards, Rausch received a B.A. from the University of Nevada, Reno and a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law.
Multimedia
Publications:
- "Model Codes: Laying the Foundations of the Rule of Law," Civil War and the Rule of Law: Security, Development, Human Rights, co-authored with Vivienne O'Connor, Agnès Hurwitz, with Reyko Huang, eds. (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008).
- Model Codes for Post-Conflict Criminal Justice: Volumes I-III, co-editor (USIP Press, 2007-2008).
- Constituent Assembly Elections and Security in Nepal
USIPeace Briefing (July 2007) - Nepal in Transition: Developing Security and Rule of Law Strategies
USIPeace Briefing (May 2007) - "Justice and Police Reforms in Kosovo," in Constructing Justice and Security after War, edited by Charles T. Call (USIP Press, 2007).
- Combating Serious Crimes in Postconflict Societies: A Handbook for Practitioners and Policymakers, co-author, (USIP Press, 2006).
- "Foreign Assistance, Human Rights and Post-Conflict Societies," Australian Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 11(2), 2006).
- "A Toolbox to Tackle Law Reform Challenges in Postconflict Countries: The Model Codes for Postconflict Criminal Justice," International Peacekeeping: The Yearbook of International Peace Operations, co-authored with Vivienne O'Connor (Volume 10, 2006).
- Nepal: Rule of Law and Human Rights Challenges
USIPeace Briefing (August 2005) - "The Assumption of Authority in Kosovo and East Timor: Legal and Practical Implications," Executive Policing: Enforcing the Law in Peace Operations, Renata Dawn, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2002).
Resources & Tools
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January 2010
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Peace Brief
by Robert M. Perito and Members of USIP's Haiti Team
USIP assesses the damage done by the devastating earthquake, and recommends strategies for Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction. Countries: Haiti
| Issue Areas: Civil Society, Civil-Military Relations, Early Warning & Conflict Prevention, Economics and Development, Environment and Natural Resources, Governance, Humanitarian Efforts, International and Regional Organizations, Nongovernmental Organizations, Peacekeeping, Security and Strategy
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September 2009
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Book
by Colette Rausch, editor
This path-breaking volume presents broad guidelines and specific prescriptions for combating serious crime in societies emerging from conflict. |
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September 2009
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Book
by Colette Rausch, editor
This path-breaking volume presents broad guidelines and specific prescriptions for combating serious crime in societies emerging from conflict. |
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March 2009
USIP has supported over 300 products, projects, and activities related to human rights and peacebuilding. From grants to fellowships, from training to education, from working groups to publications, the Institute strives to encourage more practice and scholarly work on the issue of human rights, and seeks to deepen understanding of the role human rights play in conflict and in peace. Issue Areas: Human Rights, Peacebuilding
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October 2008
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Book
by Vivienne O'Connor and Colette Rausch, editors / Hans-Joerg Albrecht and Goran Klemencic, contributors
Volume II of Model Codes for Post-Conflict Criminal Justice continues the path-breaking work of volume I, providing an indispensable resource for those striving to reestablish the rule of law in societies recently wracked by violent conflict. |
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September 2007
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Book
by Vivienne O'Connor and Colette Rausch, editors / Hans-Joerg Albrecht and Goran Klemencic, contributors
Of unparalleled breadth, depth, and authority, the Model Codes for Post-Conflict Criminal Justice is a criminal law reform tool tailored to the needs of countries emerging from conflict. Its three volumes present four complete legal codes that national and international actors can use to create, overhaul, update, or plug gaps in the criminal laws in individual post-conflict states. |
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August 2007
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Peace Brief
by Karon Cochran-Budhathoki and Colette Rausch
What are the security challenges Nepal faces in the run up to the November 2007 constituent assembly elections? Lack of resources, the need for training and retraining, violence in the Terai (plains), and increased crime and lawlessness are only a few of the challenges identified through a series of meetings and group dialogue sessions held by USIP. |
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May 2007
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Peace Brief
by Karon Cochran-Budhathoki and Colette Rausch
In February 2007, USIP facilitated a series of dialogues between civil society, the Nepal police, and representatives of political parties to identify areas of mutual concern related to security and the rule of law in Nepal. This USIPeace Briefing presents a list of high-priority issues developed as a result of these meetings. |
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December 2006
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Book
by Colette Rausch, editor
This path-breaking volume presents broad guidelines and specific prescriptions for combating serious crime in societies emerging from conflict.
Countries: Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone
| Issue Areas: Civil Society, Rule of Law
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Events
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October 14, 2009
In the aftermath of violent conflict in countries such as Nepal, public distrust of the police can undermine justice and security sector reform efforts and weaken the rule of law. How can justice and security sector reform be approached in a way that strengthens the rule of law? Countries: Nepal
| Issue Areas: Civil Society, Civil-Military Relations, Governance, Rule of Law, Security and Strategy
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July 15, 2009
Nearly a decade ago with the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325, the United Nations and member states made a commitment to promote the participation of women in decision-making levels in conflict resolution and peace processes, expand the role and contribution of women in UN field-based operations, and to integrate gender perspectives and training into peacekeeping. Where are we now, what has worked, what has not worked, and why? The panelists will address these questions on women as peacekeepers, and other policy-related questions. Issue Areas: Identity, Ethnicity, and Culture, Peacekeeping, Women
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April 27, 2009
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June 18, 2008
Countries: Nepal
| Issue Areas: Human Rights, Peacebuilding, Political Systems and International Relations
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April 22, 2008
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April 28, 2008
To aid in the development and reform of Afghan criminal law, USIP, in partnership with the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, organized a workshop on law reform in Afghanistan held at ISISC's headquarters in Siracusa, Italy from April 22 - 28, 2008. |
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November 6, 2007
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July 17, 2007
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October 26, 2006
Issue Areas: Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict Activities, Rule of Law
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