The IIJ CT PHARE team spent four days in Algiers, Algeria, conducting CT PHARE’s Capacity Building Activity focused on Pre-Trial Detention and the Right to a Fair Trial,organised in collaboration with the African Union Counter Terrorism Centre (AUCTC).This initiative involved Algeria and nine s Francophone West African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal, Chad, and Togo.
CT PHARE Project Lead Paul Madden met with GBA Member and Director General for Asia and Oceania, Ambassador Abdelmalek Bouheddou, at the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad. The team also met with Simone Petroni, Deputy Head of Mission at the EU Delegation, and the EU Counter-Terrorism expert, Emmanuelle Caffaro, and had the pleasure of engaging with AUCTC Interim Director Mounir Idriss Lallali and Col. Christian Emmanuel Mouaya Pouyi, Head of the Training & Equipment Unit.
The objective of this initiative was to strengthen criminal justice practitioners' engagement and peer-to-peer discussions on six key areas: pre-trial detention, trial without undue delay, public hearings, presumption of innocence, legal representation, and the protection of vulnerable populations. This was built on the findings of the GCTF CJ-ROL WG Survey Report on Fair Trial Rights, co-chaired by Italy and Nigeria and supported by the IIJ EU -funded CT PHARE. Experts from distinguished backgrounds in human rights and counter-terrorism were involved throughout the programme, including from AUCTC and the EU-funded CT JUST Facility.
Project Lead Paul Madden had the pleasure of opening the Capacity Building Activity alongside Ambassador Abdelmalek Bouheddou, Italian Ambassador to Algeria Ambassador Alberto Cutillo, EU Counter-Terrorism expert in Algeria Ms. Emmanuelle Caffaro, and AUCTC Interim Director Mr. Idriss Mounir Lallali.
Throughout the four-day programme, practitioners engaged in working groups and case studies, sharing experiences on the gaps and vulnerabilities within their national legal frameworks for processing terrorism cases. The objective was to draft a list of recommendations on pre-trial detention and the right to a fair trial , grounded on the principles of presumption of innocence, due process, proportionality and human rights.
The closing ceremony, hosted by the AUCTC, was chaired by Project Lead Paul Madden, Ambassador Bouheddou, and Col. Christian Emmanuel Mouaya Pouyi.. They shared remarks on the importance of fostering collaborative efforts aligned with human rights principles to advance counter-terrorism policies and practices in the region.