The second Regional Conference entitled "The Role of the Criminal Justice System in the Implementation of Preventive and Repressive Strategies against Foreign Terrorist Fighters: Analysis of Specific Cases and Sharing of Good Practices" was held in Saint Julian's, Malta, from 27 to 29 October 2015, by the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch (UNODC/TPB), in consultation with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate and in cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
This regional conference followed the successful launching event on 23-25 March 2015 of the UNODC/TPB Five Year Initiative on Criminal Justice Response to the Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs), funded by Canada, Japan, the United States and the European Union. The initiative seeks to build upon and complement UNODC/TPB's ongoing cooperation with Member States from the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) and South-Eastern Europe for the development of an effective and sustainable legal regime against FTFs, embedded in the rule of law, due process and human rights.
Seventy-two senior representatives and criminal justice practitioners from 25 European and MENA countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen, as well as the Balkan countries - among them Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)), Montenegro, Serbia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, participated in the conference. Additionally, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, the Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States were represented, together with four United Nations agencies and nine international and regional organizations, including the Arab Maghreb Union, Eurojust, INTERPOL, the League of Arab States and the Monitoring Team of the Security Council's 1267 Committee.
Based on the gaps and needs identified during the first regional conference, this second regional event focused on common operational challenges and measures related to the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of FTF cases. The conference aimed at developing targeted approaches and identifying ways to share efficient good practices in the operational fields among criminal justice practitioners involved in counter-terrorism cases at the national level. Dozens of cases from all participating countries' jurisdictions underlining judicial, procedural and operational challenges were extensively shared. The participants discussed, in a very practical and concrete manner, every stage of the FTF criminal justice process, from formal and informal means to prevent departures, to challenges in generating admissible evidence to support cases and prove criminal intent. The development of a sustainable strategy for countering radicalization in prisons and for the rehabilitation and reintegration of FTF returnees as part of the judicial response was also further analyzed.
As a result, a detailed report compiling good practices and valuable national experiences will be disseminated with an aim at contributing to a better criminal justice response to the FTF threat.
This second conference was the closing point of the first phase of the five year initiative. The second phase started in November 2015 with the implementation of a national activity in Egypt on countering financing of terrorism in the FTF context and will be followed by several activities in the MENA and Balkan countries as of December 2015.