The second regional seminar of the four-year joint initiative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), funded by the European Union (EU), was held within the Italian Senate, in Rome, Italy, from 26 to 27 February 2015. The joint EU-UNODC-CTED seminar was organized in cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) and the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) based in Malta.
Within the context of this important initiative, launched in June 2014 at a regional conference in Tunis and aimed at strengthening the capacity of countries of the Maghreb region, especially Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, in investigating and prosecuting counter-terrorism cases while respecting human rights and the rule of law, this seminar was the first of its kind.
Twenty senior members of parliaments of the beneficiary countries and several other parliamentarians from EU countries attended the seminar, which was inaugurated by H.E. Senator Pietro Grasso, President of the Italian Senate. Participating parliamentarians debated on the role they play and could play in overseeing the security services and law enforcement agencies' use of powers to prevent and investigate terrorist acts, underlining the importance of this oversight to the protection of human rights and the rule of law.
Discussions focused on both the importance of empowering those agencies to effectively conduct investigations into terrorist cases, as well as the need for those agencies to be adequately controlled in order to avoid the development of a "State within the State" mentality. Parliaments, considering the power vested in them, are granted with the mandate to promote a democratic culture and attitude within the security forces, and within the societies in general, and to promote the end of impunity in the security field. Moreover, parliaments while entrusted with providing effective legal, administrative and financial frameworks to such agencies, shall also provide these agencies with the ultimate legitimacy and authority.
The countries' delegations, as well as keynote speakers, offered a comparative approach on how parliamentary accountability could be designed to provide these agencies with the powers they need to conduct effective intelligence work or investigations, while ensuring the appropriate use of these powers and avoiding their abuse.
During this two-day seminar and thanks to UNODC, CTED and PAM facilitation, the delegations also exercised their "parliamentary diplomacy" among themselves. The direct and personal contacts between members of parliament of the different States enhanced mutual understanding and were conducive to the establishment of alternative channels of communications for bilateral relations between the countries. Indeed, while in Rome, the members of the democratically elected, as well as internationally recognized government of Tobruk, Libya, had the chance to engage in a number of bilateral meetings with senior members of the Italian Parliament, as well as with the President of the Italian Foreign Affairs Committee, currently involved in the talks aimed at seeking a resolution for the Libyan crisis.
The talks that took place between Members of the Parliament of Libya and Morocco, at the margins of the seminar, were also instrumental in the Libyan delegation resuming the peace talks aimed at resolving the crisis in Libya, with the mediation of the Government of Morocco, the week immediately after the seminar.