Maputo (Mozambique), 19 May 2023 – Effective interagency collaboration is a key component of combatting the threat of terrorism. It enables multi-disciplinary agencies to work together in identifying, disrupting, and preventing terrorist activities. At the same time, a strong cadre of legal and judicial practitioners capable of delivering effective training programs to prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials is crucial to ensuring long-term and robust action in the field of counterterrorism.
UNODC’s trainings of trainers for criminal justice officials play a pivotal role in ensuring the long-term sustainability of counterterrorism and counter-terrorist financing efforts in Mozambique. With the support of the German Federal Foreign Office, UNODC conducted a follow-up train-the-trainer activity for previously trained public prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials in Maputo, from 16 to 19 May, building upon an earlier training held in November 2022 in Portugal.
This training, implemented in close collaboration with the Centre for Legal and Judicial Training (CFJJ), aimed to equip participating trainers with the essential knowledge and skills needed to effectively tackle the challenges posed by terrorism and to create a sustainable framework for detecting, investigating, and prosecuting acts of terrorism and terrorist financing.
Attendees, representing the Office of the Attorney-General (PGR), the Supreme Court (TS) and the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) of Mozambique, as well as CFJJ, were engaged in sessions that covered adult learning methodologies and strategies to design, prepare and deliver trainings and evaluate their effectiveness. These sessions were tailored to focus on technical elements concerning the investigation and prosecution of terrorism-related cases, particularly inter-agency cooperation and coordination, information sharing, evidence gathering and the implementation of existing legal frameworks applicable to combating terrorism and terrorist financing. The training’s multidisciplinary approach also fostered collaboration and cooperation between participating agencies.
One participating judge highlighted that the skills acquired during the activity would “allow for greater dynamism and simplicity in the process of transmitting knowledge and delivering trainings to officials and agents,” stating that he would be using this expertise to deliver his own trainings.
