In November 2020, the IIJ and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), convened a Second Online Expert Meeting on Remote Access to Judicial Proceedings in Terrorism Cases. The meeting gathered more than 25 defence counsel, prosecutors, judges and information system experts from across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the United States and international organisations to review a first draft of the IIJ-UNODC Recommendations on Remote Access to Judicial Proceedings in Terrorism Cases.
The draft recommendations were developed from input and recommendations received during the First Virtual Expert Meeting held in July 2020. Once finalised, these important and timely recommendations will guide practitioners on the legal framework needed to support remote judicial proceedings and technological solutions for implementation, while safeguarding the rights to a fair trial and access to justice.
Following input received during the Second Expert Meeting, the IIJ and UNODC will refine the draft and re-circulate it for a second review. These recommendations will then serve as the foundation for a series of regional pilot training programmes, led by the IIJ and UNODC, to support criminal justice practitioners in East and West Africa, and the MENA region, in conducting rule of law- and human rights-compliant remote judicial proceedings.
For more information on this project, please contact Programme Manager Miram Shafik.