On 31 January – 1 February 2019, the IIJ was pleased to welcome to Malta criminal justice experts from eight countries and international organisations to contribute to the development of a dynamic new curriculum to support the implementation and operationalisation of the IIJ Good Practices for Central Authorities. The IIJ Good Practices – published in 2018 and developed under the auspices of the IIJ Global Central Authorities Initiative – are a set of internationally-recognised good practices for Central Authorities addressing the institutional, legal and practical considerations needed to facilitate effective international cooperation in terrorism and transnational crime cases.
During the two-day curriculum development meeting, the national criminal justice experts, along with representatives from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), identified and exchanged views on challenges to effective international judicial cooperation common in regional criminal cases and developed practical case studies addressing these challenges for use in forthcoming workshops. Participants also formulated suggestions on how Central Authorities should operate – including in regard to sharing evidence (formally and informally) and responding to extradition requests – that will be highlighted at the regional events.
The new curriculum will guide IIJ-led regional workshops in 2019 and 2020 that will bring together judges, prosecutors, and investigators for multi-stakeholder capacity building on judicial cooperation and to encourage participating countries to adopt legislation, policies and procedures in line with the IIJ Good Practices for Central Authorities.
Both the expert meeting and the upcoming regional workshops also support implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2322 (2016) and 2396 (2017), which call for national and international measures to strengthen and facilitate effective judicial cooperation.
For more information on this expert meeting or the IIJ Global Central Authorities Initiative, contact Programme Manager Adrian Carbajo.