Effective inter-agency collaboration is key to combatting 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 delivering effective training programmes to prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials is critical to ensuring long-term and robust counter-terrorism efforts.
UNODC’s train-the-trainer activities for criminal justice officials plays a pivotal role in ensuring long-term sustainability of counter-terrorism efforts in Mozambique. With the support of the German Federal Foreign Office, UNODC conducted a follow-up train-the-trainer workshop in Maputo for previously trained public prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials on 16-19 May, building upon a training held in Portugal in November 2022. The activity, implemented in close collaboration with the Centre for Legal and Judicial Training (CFJJ), equipped trainers with essential knowledge and tools needed to effectively tackle terrorism-related challenges, as well as create a sustainable framework for detecting, investigating, and prosecuting acts of terrorism and terrorist financing.
Participants, representing the Office of the Attorney-General, the Supreme Court and the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) of Mozambique, as well as CFJJ, contributed to sessions that covered adult learning methodologies and strategies to design, prepare and deliver trainings and evaluate their effectiveness. The 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 multi-disciplinary approach of the training also allowed for collaboration between participating agencies.
One judge highlightedthat 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 use this expertise to inform his own trainings.
To ensure the sustainability of UNODC’s counter-terrorism support to Mozambique, UNODC will continue to implement further train-the-trainer activities, ensuring that the knowledge and skills gained through capacity-building assistance will be transferred to peers and new generations of law enforcement and criminal justice officials in the country.
UNODC works to build the capacity of national criminal justice systems to prevent and counter terrorism more efficiently through capacity-building workshops at the national, sub-regional and regional levels, sharing expertise on implementing anti-terrorism legislation and other measures in compliance with the rule of law and international norms and standards on human rights, and promoting regional and international cooperation between Member States. For more information, click here.
