Promoting regional cooperation in Control Delivery and Joint Investigative Teams
Almaty, 13-17 April 2015
17 April 2015, Almaty - The second Regional Workshop on "Promoting regional cooperation in Control Delivery and Joint Investigative Teams" was held on 13-17 April 2015 in Almaty (at CARICC Premises) and was successfully concluded by adopting a set of recommendations in promoting "regional cooperation among the countries in West and Central Asia" on the subject matter. The above Regional Workshop was organized under the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring countries, in close cooperation with CARICC and with the technical support provided by EU (the EU Project on Heroin Route II- Information Networks) where senior legal and law enforcement experts from Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (all RP countries), as well as experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Russian Federation, EU, CARICC, EUROJUST and Interpol were in attendance.
Developing control delivery techniques and improving special investigative skills (with the aim to enhance the capacity of the judicial and law enforcement agencies/institutions in the region) were at the focus of the above regional workshop which also created a platform for the participants to discuss legal tools, operational practices and material resources to carry out effective controlled delivery operations; the way to improve their ability to detect sources and destinations of drug shipments; and how to effectively dismantle organized criminal groups involved in drug trafficking.
The main topics discussed at the Regional Workshop were: i) the further promotion of regional co-operation amongst the countries in West and Central Asia (as well as with countries located along the heroin route) on issues related to "Control Delivery" and "Joint Investigative Teams", ii) effective use of cross-border controlled delivery operations in defeating the activities of organized criminal groups/networks, iii) review of international legal instruments/standards on Control Delivery, iv) a table top exercise and creation of syndicates to replicate the use of JITs (examples and lessons learnt), by participating in scenarios based on "Controlled Deliveries" and "Joint Investigation Teams" - in order to, amongst other things, explore the legislative and operational compatibilities as well as differences between neighboring countries, to identify best practices when working at international/regional basis (lessons learned and the results, including inputs from the prosecutors regarding the legal issues), v) further promote networking among the relevant judicial and law enforcement agencies in the region and, and vi) identify the needs and challenges of the regional countries with regard to enhancing regional cooperation on "Control Delivery" and "Joint Investigative Team".
The above Regional Workshop concluded by adopting a set of recommendations in promoting regional cooperation among the regional countries on "Control Delivery and Joint Investigations" related matters. The recommendations/conclusions of the meeting will be used by UNODC and its Regional Programme Team to provide future related technical assistance to the countries in the region to further promote their cooperation on the subject matter.