From 6-7 September 2016 in Vienna, the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch (UNODC/TPB) held an Expert Group Meeting to review a training module on the investigation and adjudication of cases involving foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) in South-Eastern Europe. The meeting was attended by criminal justice sector practitioners from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (under Security Council resolution 1244 (1999)), Montenegro, Serbia, and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
During the Meeting, prosecutors, judges and representatives of national judicial training academies from South-Eastern Europe discussed the module, while also sharing experiences and challenges in the investigation and adjudication of cases involving FTFs in their respective jurisdictions. Furthermore, the experts reviewed chapters of the module, discussing in detail some aspects of it. During these discussions, online investigations and the collection of e-evidence were highlighted as important aspects of criminal cases related to the FTF phenomenon.
The finalized module will serve as a basis for national workshops which will take place in each jurisdiction throughout 2017. The project aims to create a training module adapted to the needs of the national judicial training academies in South-Eastern Europe. Thus, the module will be tailored to ensure its effectiveness and relevancy in each jurisdiction and will be incorporated into the regular curriculum of participating national judicial training academies.
The expert group was organized under the project on "Strengthening the Legal Regime against Emerging Terrorist Threats, Including Foreign Terrorist Fighters in the Balkans (Training Module Development)", generously funded by the Government of the United States of America.
