Foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) continue to pose a growing threat, and South Eastern Europe is one of the regions that remains vulnerable to it. The Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB) of the UNODC provides capacity building assistance to requesting Member States with the aim to further enhance their criminal justice structures, and thus strengthening their respective responses to combat terrorism. In this context, UNODC/TPB conducted a national workshop for Montenegro on normative and administrative challenges relating to the FTF threat in Podgorica from 21 to 22 September 2017.
The workshop was attended by judges, prosecutors and representatives from the Ministries of Defence, Interior and Justice, the National Security Agency, Police Directorate and other national institutions, as well as experts from the United Kingdom and INTERPOL.
International experts and national participants delivered presentations and held discussions on the international legal framework applicable to the phenomenon of FTFs, the domestic legal framework and national experiences related to FTF cases, and INTERPOL's support in enhancing counter-terrorism investigations. Participants also learned from the shared experiences from the United Kingdom in handling cases of terrorism, including cases involving FTFs.
The workshop was organized under UNODC/TPB's project on Strengthening the Legal Regime against FTFs in the Middle East, North Africa and South Eastern Europe, funded by the European Union.