The UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch (UNODC/TPB) held a regional training entitled "Strengthening regional cooperation in foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) criminal cases", in Tangier, Morocco, from 14 to 16 March 2017.
The event took place within the framework of UNODC's Global Initiative on Strengthening the Legal Regime against FTFs in the Middle East, North Africa and South-Eastern Europe (2015-2020), funded by Canada and the European Union.
The regional training brought together about 20 senior criminal justice and law enforcement officials representing key counter-terrorism institutions from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. UNODC/TPB experts were joined by regional international experts representing Belgium, France, Spain and the League of Arab States.
The three-day event offered a forum to discuss practical methods and tools to further increase the cooperation on criminal matters in FTF-related cases at the regional level. Judicial, procedural and operational challenges in this respect were exposed through presentations and constructive discussions about concrete terrorism cases involving regional cooperation. The sessions generated a rich debate on how the challenges faced by the Maghreb region in this field have been addressed and how the good existing cooperation could be further enhanced.
As a result of the training, the participants were provided with a set of recommendations and concrete measures likely to improve mutual legal assistance and extradition requests at the regional level. This includes modernizing the respective national laws and regulations as well as the setting up of informal mechanisms to facilitate the judicial cooperation while complying with domestic and international legal frameworks.
